Be Happy or I'll Scream!: My Deranged Quest for the Perfect Husband, Family, and Life (Hardcover)

by Sheri Lynch (Author) "I knew I was beaten on the day I finally admitted to myself that I was using the dog as a vacuum cleaner..." (more)
Key Phrases: Baby Jesus, State Fair, Pine Island (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Parents will love Lynch's faux interview with toddler Olivia: "I don't go to sleep; I pass out," the kid tells her. "And I try to take as many people down with me as I can." Lynch (Hello, My Name Is Mommy) cleverly captures the angst of child-rearing in this funny memoir. She works while her husband stays at home with their two children, but that doesn't squelch her desire to create a family like those on TV, with their touching moments and meaningful lessons. Thus she gives herself a year to transform her family. The theme peters out, but Lynch's stories are funny enough that readers won't care. Her subjects—the $850 toddler birthday party, the fact that "the first obstacle to hot marital monkey love is the crushing tyranny of one's own children," disastrous family vacations—have all been covered in other parenting memoirs, yet Lynch is so adroit, her material feels fresh. Working moms especially will applaud Lynch's insight: "if I were the one staying home, complete strangers wouldn't stroll up to him and coo: 'I think it's just so neat how your wife takes care of the kids. And she's adorable, too. Aren't you lucky?' " (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“…queen of the one-liners…”—Charlotte Observer
 
“(Lynch is) armed with a combination of brutal honesty and razor-sharp wit.”—The Business Journal of Charlotte, NC

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press (February 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312342330
• ISBN-13: 978-0312342333
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #657,911 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Next...on a Very Special Episode of a Regular Family's LIfe..., May 11, 2006

By	R. Rush (Columbus, GA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

We can't have it all, I've heard before.

But I think the more appropriate statement is: We can't *do* it all...or can we?

Just open Sheri Lynch's new book, "Be Happy or I'll Scream" to see for yourself how utterly impossible it is to live up to the television standards of the fun, frolicking happy life that pop culture is shoving in our faces, and more importantly, our kids faces.

Sheri's book taught me a huge lesson: Our kids could care less about Tee-pee Hotels and the World's Largest Ball of Yarn...until the grow up and turn into adults, have kids of their own and then lament or wonder why they never did anything special when they were kids...

That's right...corn mazes are the work of a Sadist, RV campers are best reserved for old age (unless you want to feed your babies beer and fried fish and then clean vomit off the fold-up couch at 3:00 a.m.) and husbands are notorious for rolling their eyes at their wives until they have been convinced that "it" was their own idea. But, oh the places we will go, and oh the lessons we will learn if we take travel with Sheri and her family up and down the east coast and it's interios.

Sheri's book shows us that the lesson isn't in the history plaques on the sides of the highways, but rather in the journey...and that the most important lesson of all isn't that we need to spend more time "doing" with our families, but rather we should spend more time *being* with our families.

Because in the end, that's what it all comes down to...time. And it's a limited resource, so we should grab it while the gettin's good.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I feel so much more normal now, April 18, 2006

By	Hope Duryea (Spring Hill, FL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm laughing out loud when I read this. At the gym, I'm laughing out loud, I'm laughing in the bathtub, I'm laughing in bed. I can't put the book down and I can't stop laughing. I think she is living 85% of my life and it make me feel so much more normal. Not to mention, it's funny. I might have mentioned that already.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fast and Funny Read, February 8, 2006

By	A. Garcia "Aruba60" (Huntersville, NC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a great read for anyone who has raised, is raising, or in the process of raising children. In pursuing her demented attempt at recreating a sitcom, Sheri touches on moments that everyone who has ever been part of a family can relate to. It is a fast, fun and extremely entertaining book.