Why Moms Are Weird [Paperback]

Pamela Ribon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2006

From the acclaimed author of Why Girls are Weird comes a second hilarious and surprising novel about love and family and the weirdo inside us all.

Belinda "Benny" Bernstein doesn't brag about her life in Los Angeles, but she is proud of her independence. She's got a job and a place to live, and she even goes out on dates now and again. But when Benny's mother and sister get into a car accident, she drops everything to fly across the country and help her injured, unemployed mom. The only problem? She wasn't exactly invited -- and back in Virginia she finds herself confronting every issue her family has avoided for years, including her mom's thriving sex life and her sister's wild nightlife.

Benny sets about fixing everything she thinks is broken at home, including mounds of clutter and the personal lives of the women she loves. But she soon stumbles upon a stack of letters that may reveal her mother's darkest secret. Benny only begins to understand her mom when she finds herself in a similar dilemma -- torn between someone she can't have and someone she thinks she shouldn't have. If Benny doesn't sort things out before she's sucked into the family vortex of dysfunction, there's no telling when she'll be able to go home again . . . unless this is home, after all.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Twenty-seven-year-old Benny Bernstein struggles with her weight, her insecurities and a sinkhole of family love and dysfunction in Ribon's compassionate follow-up to her debut, Why Girls Are Weird. Three years after her father's death, Benny has shed 50 pounds, built a life for herself in Los Angeles and just begun what might be her first successful relationship with hipster Mickey. But a distraught phone call from her mother, who lost her job and broke her leg in a car accident, brings Benny home to Virginia, since her younger sister, Jami, still living at home, can't be relied on. Back east, Benny discovers her mother's house has become an animal shelter, and she has three secret boyfriends and a red-hot sex life at age 53. As if that weren't overwhelming enough, Jami is dating an abusive ex-con. Benny hires a hot handyman to help clean up the house and finds herself enjoying his teases and flirtations while missing Mickey. Between her mother's eccentricities, her sister's stubbornness and her own self-doubt and confusing love life, Benny isn't sure she'll ever be able to return to L.A. Chick lit fans will identify with this kind, imperfect heroine.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

As in her debut novel, Why Girls Are Weird (2003), Ribon's central character is a bouncy and articulate twentysomething struggling to find her niche in the world. Belinda Bernstein, aka Benny, has an art history degree and works in a travel agency in Los Angeles, where she followed her actor boyfriend, who is now out of the picture. When her mother breaks her leg and loses her job, Benny returns to Virginia to help out, abandoning her current boyfriend in the process. There she finds her widowed mother juggling three suitors and Jami, Benny's younger sister, "dating another gangbanger." Benny adds to this manic mix by carrying on a flirtatious relationship with her mother's yardman, who has a master's degree yet sounds like a hillbilly. Another mystery is why Jami keeps going back to her abusive boyfriend. Although several characters remain sketchy, there are lots of humorous moments as Benny attempts to untangle these entwined relationships. Deborah Donovan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books; Original edition (August 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416503854
• ISBN-13: 978-1416503859
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 6.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #855,844 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Pamela Ribon is a bestselling author, tv writer, screenwriter, retired derby girl, and Wonder Killer. In addition to her novels (one of which landed her a spot in the Oxford English Dictionary under "Muffin Top" (look it up.)), Pamela continues to work in television, notably having written for the Emmy award-winning show Samantha Who?. Her stage productions have become international cult sensations (Call Us Crazy: The Anne Heche Monologues), and she's been a featured performer at HBO's US Comedy Arts Festival. On the Internet she's known as "Pamie," where she's been running her wildly successful website pamie.com for a very long time, long enough to have been nominated for a "Lifetime Achievement" Bloggie. Pamela lives in Los Angeles, where she writes and writes and writes.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pamie has done it again!, July 26, 2006

By 

P. J. Rose (Warwick, RI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Why Moms Are Weird (Paperback)

I literally could not put this book down and read it in one sitting. I've always been a fan of The Ribon Writing, and this may be her best yet. Buy this book - you won't regret it!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read!, August 17, 2006

By 

Little D (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Why Moms Are Weird (Paperback)

I read 'Why Girls are Weird' and thought the whole situation was really funny. I was expecting this book to be the same way. I was wrong, but not disappointed. I think this book was a bit more on the serious side and there's some heavier things going on with the main characters, Benny and her family.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading it and hope Pamela Ribon decides to write a third book soon!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it Loved it Loved it Loved it, August 15, 2006

By 

Sharon Magner (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Why Moms Are Weird (Paperback)

This book was just so great. Pamie developed the characters so well, and has such a talent for being funny without killing the jokes. My heart was pounding during a few of the situations, and other times I was laughing and other times tearing up. It also kept me guessing until the end what Boobs was going to do with her life.
Pamie is much more talented than many of the more famous chick-lit writers out there already, and I can only imagine who she'll cast to play Boobs when this is made into a movie.