Customer Reviews

Wiped!: Life with a Pint-size Dictator

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I'm not really sure where to begin. This book is a complete disaster, well actually Rebecca Eckler is a complete disaster as a writer and possibly a mom. Her writing is completely uninspired and pretty hokey not to mention the unnecessary bad language littered throughout. As a new parent, I was hoping to get some comic relief along with finding some relatable situations and hearing how someone else dealt with them but the entire book is filled with superficial complaints that come off as an adult tantrum rather than anything else and none of it is funny. I actually worry for the Dictator's future...Eckler is the epitomy of the problems with parenting today. I want the 2 days of time back that I spent reading this drivel (my money back would be nice too). I hope this review saves you from losing the same 2 days (and your money).

Here's a summary of the book:

- the baby is loud and soils itself
- the mommy is physically uncomfortable and moody
- the daddy is not helpful

I really hope that "Rebecca Eckler" is a fictional character created by an author named Rebecca Eckler, as I find it hard to believe that anyone could really be this whiny, obnoxious, and self-centered about parenthood. Sure, there's a "culture shock" that all new parents go through (I myself am one), but rather than provide humorous new insight on the transition process and the joys of parenthood, this book reads like the badly-written blog of someone desperate to impress their friends back home.

With all the things that can go wrong with a pregnancy, this person (the character and/or the author) needs to be told to shut up, quit whining, and count their blessings. It's as if she's the first person IN THE WHOLE WORLD EVER to have a baby. Ugh.

There's a lot to laugh about when it comes to babies and parenting (especially first-time parenting). Unfortunately, Eckler seems to think that throwing around swear words and playing to predictable caricatures is a substitute for actually being funny.

A complete waste of time. Avoid.

The only reason I finished this book is because I kept waiting for it to get better. Steer clear of this one unless:
-You are too lazy/dumb to figure out how to use a diaper pail
-You own a Porsche and want everyone else to know about it
-You own two Bugaboo strollers and want everyone to know about it
-You refer to Grover as "the blue bear"
-You live in a two bedroom condo, A TWO BEDROOM CONDO (oh the horror)
-You have the ability to go to Hawaii for a few months and want everyone to know about it
-You get a nanny in Hawaii and you want everyone to know about it
-You only spend two hours a day with your child but are "wiped"
-You are too lazy to microwave the home made baby food that your nanny made, so you buy some instead
-You have a nanny and want everyone to know about it
-You are too lazy to baby-proof your own home so you "write a big check" to a "professional"
-You are so self-centered that you continue to take your child to restaurants despite misbehavior
-You enjoy books that have enough substance for 20 pages but are stretched out to 307

I could go on and on. The only props I give the author is for addressing her postpartum depression.

If you like your heroines brainless, self-centered, and altogether unlikeable, you may enjoy this book. You may otherwise feel more compelled to burn it than risk killing cells in some other poor soul's brain.

Rebecca Eckler seems to see herself as the stereotypical overwhelmed mother. While I can understand the feelings that she was typing, I have no idea why she would be feeling them. She moans about how nobody will take pity on how she is so tired, and so busy with the baby. I don't see why this would be the case, when she has a nanny during the daytime hours. She even admits to a guilty pleasure of bad talk shows, and sleeping in. These are all luxuries, but still she whines as if she's the Everywoman, so burdened with her new responsibilities.

She goes on to complain about people that don't do things her way, like the in-laws that have a suggestion about diaper brands. In spite of being so "busy" with motherhood, she has ample opportunities to harangue her fiance at work. She consistently fails to see that he might - just might - have at least as rough a time as her adjusting, and then some, since he still works.

All in all, this book is terrible. It will definitely be kindling at my next barbeque.

Not a good book. Not a funny book. It's an expletive-riddled story written by a self-centered, abrasive, irritating, whiny, egomaniac who is impossible to connect with. How many of us have nannies, can spend $5000 on our child's first birthday party, keep a second apartment in another city, and vacation in Hawaii for 2 months because being a new mommy is just so very stressful?! And then whine about it?!

I'm sorry I wasted my money...and the hours of my life I spent reading it that I'll never ever get back!

Spare yourselves! Don't buy this book! If you absolutely have to read it, go to the library! Do not! I repeat, DO NOT waste your money!

As my title says it is gaulling that she writes a book called "Wiped". Why?

1. She has a nanny to hand the baby off to.
Really that's enough said right there.

Right now my wife is trapped in the house with a 3 week old. Her entire day and night revolves around 2 hour shifts of feeding, sleeping if possible, changing diapers, spending meaningful time with the baby and daily work around the house....repeat. There is no calvalry coming in the morning. I help as best I can but she is breast feeding so HAS to be up every 2 hours either pumping or actually feeding. She gets no rest. While I am at work she is TRAPPED in the house. She can't go anywhere cause the baby will either have to sleep or eat every 2 hours. She is wiped right now. She is lonely all day. She is tired all day and night. She is busy all day and night. There is no end. But she gets through by sheer determination and love. I am very proud of her and all the never ending work she is doing.

To have some stuck up "mom" talk about how tired and worn out she is when she gets to hand off the baby to a nanny and actually leave the house and lead a normal life, and simply use her fiance's money to pay to make her life easier and dare write a book of her hardships makes me sick.

Fortunately for me, I found this book at the library and therefore was spared from wasting $15 dollars on quite possibly one of the worst books I have ever read in my life. The author has obviously given no consideration to the fact that her child may one day read this book...or in-laws. If I were her child, reading this book would probably make me suicidal....or make me feel very unloved at best.


It's a good thing the baby in the book has a Nanny....at least there is somebody that can properly take care of her. I am not a mom, and have no desire to become a mom, so I thought I might learn a thing or two from this book that might potentially change my mind - what I have learned: the author is self-centered, curses WAY TOO MUCH, not very informed about mothering or in touch to what those of us without children really feel like, and she is excessively frivolous with her money (seriously - who just rents an apartment for two years that they aren't living in because they just can't "let it go"?!?!?! Who just goes and spends $850 dollars on a new stroller because one wheel broke - call the manufacturer, who buys four DVD players for their baby before the age of 2 - babies really aren't even supposed to be introduced to television until age 2!)

Basically, I have learned that Rebecca Eckler is quite possibly second in line to Miss Hilton (I think you know who I'm talking about); she is selfish, snobby, needy, ditsy, high maintenance and unable to take care of herself, let alone a child....that poor, poor, child....

Do yourselves a favor and don't read anymore than the back cover of this book.

This book should have been funny. The perils of being a new mother, from the confusing plethora of "must-have" baby products to the endless sources of annoyance (yes inlaws, well meaning advice givers, sleeplessness, and often clueless husbands) are all fodder for hilarious anecdotes. However, all this book offers is the grating whining of a self-obsessed, spoilt, unfunny and sometimes scarily inept princess. This woman should not be allowed to write books let alone raise a child.

I have an embaressingly high tolerance for chick lit, especially new mother chick lit, but this was crazy bad. I think what caused me to actually write a review is that a) it could have been funnier if she stopped pointing out her jokes (just make the joke, we'll get it!) and b) by how annoyingly priviledged she was (it was marketed to be more like a contemporary of the other funny new mom books). Can't believe I'm writing a review of this, but after being stuck with it on a six hour flight, I feel the need to warn others.

Rebecca Eckler may be the most annoying,self indulgent, pathetically materialistic, whiny, human I have ever had the misfortune to read about. I picked this book up recently, being a new mother I thought I could find some humour in it. What I found instead was the prattling on of a woman who clearly should not have had a child and who often acts like a spoiled child herself. In fact, the baby is just a prop in the book filled with her own self obsessive thoughts which are neither funny nor are they insightful. Boo Hoo, you have a nanny. Boo hoo, you have a two month vacation in Hawaii. Boo Hoo, your butt is fat. When I picked this up, I knew I was getting a light read. I didn't expect much but a few quirky stories and some comraderie with a fellow mom who had a baby and put her career aside for a bit. What I really didn't expect was to throw this book in the recyclables half way through thanking God that I will never come across this woman. I would like to thank Rebecca for making me realize that I am a really good mother who cherishes her child and enjoys spending time with him, even though he can be a dictator. I also realize that the sterotype of the spoiled princess does exist out there in America. Save your cash!