Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After the birth of his first child, bestselling writer Lewis (Moneyball) felt he was a stranger in a strange land, puzzled at the gap between what he thought he should be feeling and what he actually felt. While he expected to be overcome by joy, he often felt puzzled; expecting to feel worried over a child's illness or behavior, he often felt indifferent. Lewis attempts to capture the triumphs, failures, humor, frustration and exhilaration of being a new father during the first year of each of his three children's lives. In one especially hilarious moment, Lewis is in a hotel pool in Bermuda distantly observing his children. When some older boys start teasing his oldest daughter, the youngest daughter, three years old at the time, lets fly a string of profanities at the top of her lungs. The boys retreat and then regroup for a second attack; when they return, she lets fly another string and tells them that she has peed in the pool, causing the boys to go away. All the while, Lewis watches from afar, too embarrassed to claim this youngster as his own but also proud that she has handled herself so smartly. Although Lewis is correct that his fatherhood moments might be more interesting to him than to anyone else, his reflections capture both the unease and the excitement that fatherhood brings. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The Washington Post

From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Reviewed by Amy Joyce Let's get this straight: Michael Lewis is not his father. So who is this father of three? He's still trying to figure that out. And lucky us, we get to go along for the journey. Like many other middle-aged men, Lewis, who writes about sports and finance, is a little stuck between roles. On one side is the generation of his father, who once told him, "I didn't even talk to you until you went away to college." On the other side is the new generation of dads, who will read this book as "a snapshot of what I assume will one day be looked back upon as a kind of Dark Age of Fatherhood," Lewis writes. "Obviously, we're in the midst of some long unhappy transition between the model of fatherhood as practiced by my father and some ideal model." The fact is, in this delightful book, Lewis doesn't fit that ideal model, but he's clearly a man who spends his days figuring out how to come close. From the first laugh-out-loud anecdote about his toddler daughter fending off bully boys with words that make Lewis blush and beam, to his wife's nightmarish postpartum depression, he illustrates the life of a modern-day dad who is, yes, much more hands-on than his father, but who still tries to justify not spending time with his second infant after birth. (Hey, he has a book to write, and it's not like she'll miss him at that blob age!) When each of Lewis's children was born, he kept a record of what actually happened -- wisely, since we all know something makes us block out much of that early time (probably so we'll reproduce again). "Home Game" is the result of those records. And in that sense, it's similar to Anne Lamott's wonderful "Operating Instructions." It's hard to believe anything could compare to her painfully and wonderfully honest book about the first year of her son's life. But here it is. And in a dad's voice, no less. How so not our father's generation. In "The Book of Dads" some of your favorite authors (Rick Bragg, Charles Baxter, Nick Flynn) describe how they raised their kids, thought about raising their kids and tried not to raise their kids the way their own fathers did. These involved and thoughtful dads share insights dark, deep, light and mesmerizing. In one lovely essay, Anthony Doerr points out the difference between raising twins in the United States vs. in Italy: "In the States, practically every time someone would stop us on the street or in the grocery store, they'd gesture at the stroller and say, 'Twins? Bet you have your hands full.' . . . To be reminded of something you can't forget is debilitating." "I prefer the Italian mothers," he writes, "who lean over the stroller and whisper, 'So beautiful.' . . . The old Roman who stopped us today outside the cemetery and grinned at Henry and Owen before shaking my hand and saying, with a half bow, 'Complimenti.' My compliments." Other essays are very funny, as when Neal Pollack's son broke a toy at a store and he told the cashier he wanted to give his son a lesson in morality. "I turned to the counter guy. 'How much do I owe you?' " 'Two bucks,' he said. " 'Oh, thank God,' I said. I hate it when doing the right thing costs more than five bucks." There's also a touching essay by Jennifer Finney Boylan, a transsexual with two sons who decided to call him Maddy. "That's like, half Mommy, and half Daddy," says Luke. "And anyhow, I know a girl at school named Maddy. She's pretty nice." In another piece, Brandon R. Schrand tells a triumphant tale of overcoming alcoholism and moving away from the dark shadow of a deceased ex-con father to become a loving dad. This entertaining and thoughtful collection will reassure fathers of all ages that they are, if nothing else, not alone.
Copyright 2009, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (May 18, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039306901X
• ISBN-13: 978-0393069013
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,309 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you're a dad, read this book., May 18, 2009

By	Jeffrey T. Vogel "JT" (San Diego) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have often said that being a father is both the best thing and the hardest thing I've ever done. This book parlays much of this ideal in a humorous way that should appeal to both new and old father's alike. The introduction had me laughing uncontrollably to which my wife asked what got my goat and so I read to her the highlights. However, as I continued to read I began to realize that women, or at least my wife, should avoid this book because it does delve into the male mindset enough to make me hide my copy for fear that my she might begin to see some of the absurdities of fatherhood. With that, every dad should read this book because it takes a very funny approach for many of the steps within early fatherhood (births, hospitals, children's minds, vasectomies, the woman who really runs the show, and so forth). As the father of three young children I keep thinking that one day I'll truly be appreciated by my wife and kids, but as Michael Lewis demonstrates, we are mere bystanders in our own lives. With this knowledge, I think the author points out with the birth of his son (Walker) that we get what we invest in our relationships and even though we are mentally and physically exhausted each day, we must find humor and strength for the fleeting time that is fatherhood.

27 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fun, but disappointing, June 1, 2009

By	Karczag (New York) - See all my reviews

After reading this book, I was left with a nagging feeling of disappointment. Sure, this is a fun book to read with some memorable and amusing quotes, but it pales in comparison with Michael Lewis' other work (like The Blind Side, or even his memorable recent article on Iceland in Vanity Fair, see link below). There is very little research here, and one is left with a feeling of "is this all he has to say after raising three kids?" The book feels like a hastily-put-together compilation of short and loosely-related essays, a deadline-driven book. Perhaps my expectations are to blame here, and this could have been great as a New Yorker article (or if it had remained a series of Slate articles), but from a book I was expecting more: more Michaelinian insights, more Lewisian ideas, more substance, more lessons.

[...]

21 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars EVEN FUNNIER BECAUSE IT'S TRUE, June 2, 2009

By	Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This review is from: Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood (Audio CD)

Since reading the first chapter of Liar's Poker I've been a fan of the writings of Michael Lewis. Certainly I admired his skill at capturing the contemporary business scene but little did I know he would some day also describe the home front with pinpoint accuracy and huge doses of his much appreciated humor.

When parenthood was soon to be come a reality in the life of Lewis and his wife, Tabitha, they felt the need for one more go at being carefree and adventurous. So, before they were really settled in they decided to move to Paris for a while. That was an adventure in itself, but becoming a father was also an adventure for Lewis, a totally unexpected one. His thoughts anticipating the birth of their first child are expressed as follows, "Parenthood loomed. There was a time when I suspected this wouldn't have much effect on me. I figured that the chemical rush that attended new motherhood might get me off the hook--that Tabitha would happily embrace all the new unpleasant chores and I'd stop in from time to time to offer advice. She'd do the play-by-play; I'd do the color commentary. Five months into the pregnancy that illusion had been pretty well shattered by the anecdotal evidence. One friend with a truly amazing gift for getting out of things he did not want to do wrote to describe his own experience of fatherhood. "Remember that life you thought you had?" he wrote. "Guess what. It's not yours anymore."

How true those cautionary words turned out to be. Lew is no longer, as he put it, the breadwinner, a well known author, he is a "go-fer," third in command as it were, directly behind mother and child.

Fortunately for us he decided to chronicle the immediate happenings following the birth of each of the couple's three children - most laugh-provoking, all true. And, how are these triple adventures concluded? With a vasectomy, of course.

"Home Game" is given a splendid reading by Dan John Miller, named as a "Best Voice" by AudioFile magazine. An American actor and musician he perfectly captures the stunned surprise of a pushing stroller Dad who recognizes the looks he receives from women as both warm and condescending. After all, they know exactly who's in charge.

Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke