Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year

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Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year

by Anne Lamott (Goodreads Author)

4.18 of 5 stars 4.18 · rating details · 12,118 ratings · 1,261 reviews

The most honest, wildly enjoyable book written about motherhood is surely Anne Lamott's account of her son Sam's first year. A gifted writer and teacher, Lamott (Crooked Little Heart) is a single mother and ex-alcoholic with a pleasingly warped social circle and a remarkably tolerant religion to lean on. She responds to the changes, exhaustion, and love Sam brings with apl...more

Paperback, 251 pages

Published March 8th 2005 by Anchor (first published 1993)

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Jun 02, 2010 Skylar Burris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: parenting, christianity, spiritual-autobiography

Anne Lamott is the epitome of the vitriolic, hateful liberal. The catch is that she actually seems to realize it. Throughout Operating Instructions, one finds scatterings of an understanding that there’s something not quite consistent about preaching love, mercy, and non-judgmentalism while simultaneously ripping apart Republicans as a group, actively training one’s child to revile them, and comparing them to the greatest of evils. She actually gets that there’s something not quite right about r...more Anne Lamott is the epitome of the vitriolic, hateful liberal. The catch is that she actually seems to realize it. Throughout Operating Instructions, one finds scatterings of an understanding that there’s something not quite consistent about preaching love, mercy, and non-judgmentalism while simultaneously ripping apart Republicans as a group, actively training one’s child to revile them, and comparing them to the greatest of evils. She actually gets that there’s something not quite right about running on hatred. But she doesn’t know how to let it go, either, because, in some ways, it defines her. This, I suppose is a reflection of her larger Christian journey – and perhaps the journey of nearly all Christians: seeing the new man at last, but still struggling to shed the old one.

Although Lamott does not seem to feel that there’s something not quite right about sleeping around casually and having numerous abortions, this time she does feel that there’s something not quite right about aborting this particular child – she wants it, even though the father doesn’t, even though she’ll have to face the difficult challenge of raising it alone. (Not that she’s really alone; she has amazing friends and family, a loving church, and, of course, her faith.) So she has Sam, and she writes a journal of his first year, or, more accurately, a journal of her first year as a mother – a raw, honest journal that reveals feelings most mothers would be loathe to confess. There are moments of great beauty in this journal – wonderful turns of phrase, graspings of the magnificence of mercy, glimpses into Christ reflected in the love and compassion of everyday people. The book is an easy read, because she writes well. I just wish I could like the author more. She describes herself well – an egomaniac with a low self-image problem. But maybe that, in the end, is what makes the book so interesting – it’s human-ness, it’s bold honesty, it’s revelation of the flawed and fallen yet – ultimately – redeemed human being, the mother struggling to make it through her first year.

The book has passages that are achingly beautiful, as well as passages that are achingly pretentious. Some sentences caused me to laugh, others caused me to cry, and still others caused me to roll my eyes. Lamott employs so many impressive analogies for faith, stories and descriptions that demonstrate the tentativeness, the tenderness, the necessity, the beauty, the not-quite-sufficient sufficiency, the depth, and the difficulty of faith – how faith is like waiting, expectantly, half-hopefully, for our next operating instructions from God.

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Sep 16, 2007 Keri rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: new parents who are losing their minds

This is the best parenting book ever! Right when you feel like you have hit the wall, Anne Lammott makes it OK to feel all the frustrations and pain as well as the awe and overwhelming love for your little offspring. When my second child refused to sleep more than 2 hours at a time for 3, count em, 3 months while I was working full time...I bought every book about getting your child to sleep that I could find. I finally called in sick, sent my kid to day care, and read this entire book in one da...more

10 likes · like · see review

Nov 22, 2008 Bonnie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed-books, recommended

Even if you have never been a parent, your kids have grown up, read this for the sheer pleasure of it.

5 likes · like · see review

Apr 27, 2010 Alla rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

This is not an empowering book. This is a let-me-feel-sorry-for-myself kind of book. At some point, it has become hip and "good writing" to use profanity and say shocking things like "I hate my baby". While I acknowledge that feeling overwhelmed is very real for some mothers, especially those without a partner (myself included in the latter category), reading "Operating Instructions" gave me a dark feeling, somewhat akin to the feeling that reading Dostoevsky causes (minus the mastery of the pro...more

7 likes · like · see review

Jun 18, 2008 Andrea rated it 5 of 5 stars

Hold your hats, folks. I’m about to get all “over-the-top” in this review.

I needed this book right now, with all it’s one-lines that make me laugh out loud. You should have seen me last evening, lying in the grass outside my church (it was only in the 70s yesterday, and today, with a light breeze - perfect grass lying weather) and laughing like a maniac. I’m sure all the Amish people who came by in their buggies must have thought I was nuts.

So this book is the journal that Lamott kept during her...more Hold your hats, folks. I’m about to get all “over-the-top” in this review.

I needed this book right now, with all it’s one-lines that make me laugh out loud. You should have seen me last evening, lying in the grass outside my church (it was only in the 70s yesterday, and today, with a light breeze - perfect grass lying weather) and laughing like a maniac. I’m sure all the Amish people who came by in their buggies must have thought I was nuts.

So this book is the journal that Lamott kept during her son’s first year of life. It’s a story of love and fear - all that stuff that comes with a kid, I assume - and is so honest, so so honest. And funny, really funny.

Take this, for example:

November 22 - I wish he could take longer naps in the afternoon. He falls asleep and I feel I could die of love when I watch him, and I think to myself that he is what angels look like. Then I doze off, too, and it’s like heaven, but sometimes only twenty minutes later he wakes up and begins to make his gritchy rodent noises, scanning the room wildly. I look blearily over at him in the bassinet, and think, with great hostility, Oh, God, he’s raising his loathsome reptilian head again.
When I go over to the bassinet to pick him up, though, he looks up at me like I’m Coco the clown - he beams, and makes raspberries, and does frantic bicycle kicks like he’s doing his baby aerobics. Then I feel I can go on.
I’ve never been so up and down in my life, so erratic and wild. My body is slow getting back to normal, except for my butt and thighs. I have to keep remembering the line about the little earth suits and that I am a feminist, because the thighs are just not doing all that well. I lay in the bathtub yesterday looking at them, thinking of entering the annual Hemingway write-alike contest with a piece called, “Thighs like White Elephants.”
And then part of me thinks, Hey, who fucking cares.

That voice, that sarcastic, bitter but ultimately beautiful voice is what I love about Anne Lamott. I’m going to give this book to every friend of mine who has a kid - which is most of them - so that they don’t feel so alone when they think their baby has a reptilian head. And I’m going to remember this book when I hold their babies and wonder what goes on in those little brains.

The only sad part about having finished this book is that now I’m out of Lamott books to read. Annie, get writing would ya? (less)

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Mar 12, 2008 Rachel Bash rated it 5 of 5 stars

I teach at Creighton University, and so (like most instructors) was appalled when Lamott was "disinvited," but never more than after I read this book. It's been a long time since I've laughed out loud while reading a book, and longer since a book has provoked guffaws (seriously, hearty laughter) AND reflection, revelation, and grief. "Honest" is a perfect word to describe this book, which bravely (I think) puts out there the concept that being a mother isn't always being 100% in love with your c...more

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Feb 07, 2008 Joanne rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: parents, pregnant couples

A friend of mine gave me a copy of this book while I was pregnant, and he never knew what a favor he truly did for me.

Anne Lamott writes all the gritty details of the thoughts that go through any sleep deprived parent's mind, but we aren't ever brave enough to admit them, sometimes not even to ourselves.

Having already read about some crazy lady (Anne Lamott) wondering if she could leave her baby out in the cold and see if that whole "survival of the fittest" thing would work out, I was far more...more

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Feb 08, 2008 Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Emily by: Melisa, Amy, Noelle, Carrie, etc., etc., etc.

Just finished this one this morning. This was the kind of book that I resisted because everyone else kept telling me to read it. Also, because I'm writing a lot, I was afraid I'd start writing like Lamott and BINGO! I am. Anyhow, that said, I'm glad I've read it. The end is very sad, sadder because it is true. Reading it also fulfilled that promise that you'll think about your own new motherhood and think: "At least I'm not Anne Lamott." I was going to give the book three stars instead of four b...more

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Dec 04, 2008 Ann rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

Oh how I wish I had read this book when my children were babies! Then perhaps I would have realized I was not alone in finding new motherhood so hard while loving my children so unbearably much. Annie Lamott just nails it.

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Mar 13, 2012 Aditi (READioactive Book Blog) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: my-little-library, non-fiction

This book is like visiting a cousin's baby over the weekend and laughing at his antics or cooing over his cuteness and in between being horrified at the sheer insanity of raising small humans!!
That's the see-saw Lamott puts you on and you are fairly disappointed when the last page is turned.
I loved how she solemnly declares that her baby's got "testosterone poisoning" Him being a boy and all. If that doesn't get you in splits, then you're a robot. It's also a bit sexist, but she does balance se...more

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Feb 27, 2008 Kimberly rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book- written from the prospective of someone who finds themselves shocked and amazed to be performing the role of "mother" Lammott grinds her way through her son's first year with humor and brutal honesty. While I hope I don't think about leaving my son on the porch overnight so that I might gain a few more hours of sleep, I appreciate the author's honesty about her wishes to do so, and am sure that I will sympathize even more once the little guy is finally on this side of...more

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Feb 16, 2009 Kirsten rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: world-of-baby

I loved this book. I had never read anything by Anne Lamott before, but after this small memoir/journal, I feel as though I know her well and anything else I read of hers will be like returning to a familiar friend. Operating Instructions made me realize that babies, mothers and the experience of mothering are not unique. I've tried for 5 minutes to get that sentence to say what I mean and I can't quite do it. It may be because I am a mother. But the point is that I spent most of the book thinki...more

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Nov 20, 2008 Tricia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008

After stopping reading because I'd started when I first got pregnant and stopped when I had my first miscarriage (who needs someone exuding pure love and delight about their baby when you've just lost yours), I finally picked this up today almost two years later to decide about getting rid of it. My place was still marked, so I polished it off this afternoon. It was a good read, but is so very baby-centric that you should only read it if you are a new mother yourself, pregnant at a safe late sta...more

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Dec 23, 2012 Deborah rated it 2 of 5 stars

I thought this book was alright. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone but a new or about-to-be-new parent. I certainly don't think it's the best book Anne Lamott has ever written. I liked Bird by Bird and a couple of her novels a lot better than this.

It's written as if it really were Lamott's journal, and maybe that's true. But I didn't like the structure because it jumped around between different subjects and moods too much.

I only gave it two stars mostly because I was uncomfortable about the way...more

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Dec 21, 2012 Terri Sinclair rated it 4 of 5 stars

The truth is there is very little Annie Lamott writes that I don't enjoy. I'm sure I'd find her grocery list fascinating...I never read her without longing to call her to go for coffee or want to ring her up when I need advice. I want to go to church with her and stop by her house with some special tea I think she might enjoy...I know, CRAZY right? Well, fortunatley for Anne I rarely leave the house, don't often have a car and suffer from depression and occasional agoraphobia too often to be muc...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Converse rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir, non-fiction

Operating instructions is based upon a journal kept by the author during the first year of her son's life. The book was originally published in 1993. The book preserves the journal format entries by date. At the time Lamott had her son, Sam, she was a published but still poor author of about 35 years. She had also become sober and stopped using drugs 3-4 years before her pregnancy. The father of the child had urged her to get an abortion and wanted nothing to do with the child. Lamott considere

...more

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Jun 20, 2012 Carolyn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: parenting

I can see why some would consider this the original mommy blog. She fits the genre perfectly but was writing about 20 years before it really took off. Which means her writing is fresh, honest, witty, and at times, TMI.

On a personal level...

As a mother, I could really relate to her emotions as they ran the gamut from adoration to exhaustion.

As a Christian, I could really relate to her dependance on Jesus and her faith to get through just about everything.

As a personality, I could hardly relate...more

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May 15, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars

I do so love Anne Lamott. She's funny, she's smart, she's neurotic. This is a journal of her life raising her infant son by herself. Everything she says makes sense--and ends up making me feel sane and normal. At first, I kept cringing at her honesty--I kept wanting her to be graceful, or dignified about it.
Nope--that is NOT her style.

I started loving her more and more as the book progressed, but this passage made me catch my breath, and warrants a quote here:

"The slow pace and all this rumina...more

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Dec 23, 2011 ellen rated it 3 of 5 stars

I am going through my daughter's first year, so I identified with some of the issues in the book, and it was a humorous voice. Lamott was depressed and really self absorbed (which happens in a journal of course). When I journal it is often to vent, so the entries are perhaps colored on the depressed side. She had some therapy talk that I literally did not follow. She was surrounded by friends and family, which seemed wonderful. Her character made the book more dramatic for sure; my journal would...more

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Nov 15, 2011 Julia rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a well-written memoir of one single mother's first year of parenting. If I were rating it just on its readability and interest, I might have given it four stars, but I think that some aspects of her personality are just flaky enough that I could only bring myself to give it three. It's not the story of an average person's journey through their baby's first year. Lamott is prone to anxiety and depression, she's only three years sober, and even though she's met with some success as a write...more

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Sep 29, 2011 Craig rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction-and-memoir-favorites

Sometimes I really hate this site. This is easily the third or fourth time this month I have written a multiple-page review only to have it deleted when I click on the "save" button. Sigh. Let me begin again...

I love this book. I love this author. I love the honesty of this approach. I love a parent that doesn't buy into the idea that a good parent keeps their damned mouth shut.

I love the viewpoint from a parent of a cholicy child (even if her child did start sleeping through the night fairly e...more

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May 18, 2011 Rebecca rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

Liked this one better than the first two. I'm starting to get the hang of Anne Lamott. If anyone had suggested that I read a book about a baby's first year, I would have said, "No, thanks." But I laughed out loud on the Metro, several times. Some of my favorite parts:

pages 84-85 on saying no to party invitations
page 85 "that beautiful old movie by Vittorio de Sica. A Brief Vacation
page 166 ". . . and I thought about how great a few hundred lines of cocaine would feel. I kept remembering that old...more

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Jan 22, 2011 Brooke romney rated it 3 of 5 stars

What's great about this book? The writing, the writing, the writing. Her fabulous humor, her honest portrayal of the first year of being a mother, her honesty about her baby not having a father, her grief at her friend's diagnosis, the way she hysterically talks about Republicans, the support so many give her, and especially her true deep belief in a loving God (though it completely contrasts with who she is) and watching her faith ebb and flow.

What is not so good? The language...too often, and...more

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Apr 08, 2010 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

I cam across this book by random accident. I think I posted about my disastrous trip to Barnes & Noble during the height of Aidan's colicky days. Well, this is one of the books I bought.

You see, I was looking through the parenting books, and came across this one. Aidan was in full on meltdown, when I turned to a page that mentioned something about the feeling a mother *really* has when her baby is colicky, and I knew this was the book for me.

Thankfully, it's an easy read. Good for nibble re...more I cam across this book by random accident. I think I posted about my disastrous trip to Barnes & Noble during the height of Aidan's colicky days. Well, this is one of the books I bought.

You see, I was looking through the parenting books, and came across this one. Aidan was in full on meltdown, when I turned to a page that mentioned something about the feeling a mother *really* has when her baby is colicky, and I knew this was the book for me.

Thankfully, it's an easy read. Good for nibble reading, which is about all I can do right now. This is the book that every new mother needs, especially if she has a particularly colicky baby. Lamott touches on so many things that we're all going through, remarks about the milestones, and comments on regaining her life back, all with a sarky, dark humor. I laughed out loud nearly every night when I read this book.

It's interesting, there's a review on amazon where the reader says it's "too painful" for first time moms. Huh? I don't think so, this book was my best friend, a reminder that the colic ends, that it's OK to hate my baby, and that I'm not the only person in the world who thinks that when my child smiles, I have reached nirvana.

I would seriously consider giving this to new moms as a present.

At one point in the novel Lamott comments:

I just can't get over how much babies cry. I really had no idea what I was getting into. To tell you the truth, I thought it would be more like getting a cat.

I found it interesting, while reading the book her comments about the evil President Bush. Interestingly, this was written during Daddy Bush's administration, but it's interesting how it's still the same.

The downside to the book is mainly it sometimes gets a little too religiousy for my tastes. Not preachy, but just a little over the top... but then again Lamott writes about religion, so this is likely toned down compared to most. There were parts of the book that I rushed over because I was less than interested, or just couldn't relate. I was bored stiff by her comments about her alcoholism and spirituality, then again, it's part of how she handled those rough first years.

For the most part, if you haven't been through raising a sprog from scratch, this book won't be interesting. I don't think I would have gotten through the first three pages (needless to say believed anything I read) until I went through it myself. I'm thankful I'm not alone.

She now has a book about her teenage son. I'm tempted to read it. I read an excerpt and didn't find it as interesting. Maybe I need to wait 15 years.(less)

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Nov 01, 2009 Christina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: parenthood, non-fiction

My lust for books that are about motherhood has led me to "Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year" by Anne Lamott. This book chronicles the experience of Anne's first year as a new mother. A single mother. Anne wries boldly. Possibly because she did not intend to publish her personal journal. However, I am glad that she did. Her innermost thoughts are right there on the page. Thoughts that all new mothers have but none will admit to. Anne admits these thoughts. She deliciously...more

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Oct 20, 2009 Marieke rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, read-in-2007

My friend Michelle lent me this book after we were talking about feminist books about motherhood. I haven’t read anything by Lamott before, but after reading this one I definitely want to read more of her books, both fiction and nonfiction.

She has a book about writing called Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life that sounds interesting; I might look it up. Operating Instructions is presented in the form of a journal, excerpted from the personal journal she kept during her first ye...more

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Oct 05, 2009 Ciara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: autobio-memoir, read-in-2009

i picked this up because i really liked anne lamott's book about writing, bird by bird (occasional religious asides notwithstanding). i'd heard good things about this book, a journal/memoir she wrote during her first year of parenthood. the book spans the fall of 1989 to the fall on 1990 as lamott recounts her insecurities about being a single mom, raising a child after overcoming addiction, trying to make ends meet on a writer's salary, & eventually, her best friend's late-term breast cance...more i picked this up because i really liked anne lamott's book about writing, bird by bird (occasional religious asides notwithstanding). i'd heard good things about this book, a journal/memoir she wrote during her first year of parenthood. the book spans the fall of 1989 to the fall on 1990 as lamott recounts her insecurities about being a single mom, raising a child after overcoming addiction, trying to make ends meet on a writer's salary, & eventually, her best friend's late-term breast cancer diagnosis. the majority of the book is devoted to chronicling the ups & downs of new motherhood, dealing with the baby's colic, anxieties over not having a father in the picture & trying to find male friends to be positive male role models. the seesaw of new parenthood is well-documented, oscillating between wonder & amazement at all the fascinating new things the baby learns to do, & frustrations & resentment when the baby won't stop crying or getting into things he shouldn't be getting into. lamott's best friend gets her cancer diagnosis when the baby is about seven months old, & the journal seems to kind of drift off or take on a new, more austere tone after that. i mean, imagine being swamped with the responsibilities of taking care of a seven-month-old infant all on your own--that's just about the time when they can start crawling & getting into everything that you leave out & you barely have a moment of peace. & then you're dealing with this awful thing on top of that. unfathomable.

the whole time i was reading, the narrative voice was ringing a lot of familiar bells for me. i felt like i'd read a similar voice before, a lot, & i couldn't place it until the end--cindy ovenrack from "doris" zine! i was psyched about this, because i love cindy's writing, & part of what i like about it is the very intimate, conversational tone. this book has that same feeling. as much as i didn't want to get drawn into lamott's recounts of showing off her baby at church (sigh), i couldn't help but go along for the ride. a lot of parents i know like this book. i think it would be an especially good read for folks thinking about having a baby. it's a good warning for what you may be getting yourself into!

(sorry this review is so...blah. the tone of it strikes me as facile, but i don't know how to fix it because i haven't had enough coffee yet this morning. i am out of practice writing these things!)(less)

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Apr 27, 2009 Connie Kuntz rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Those who are interested in different parenting perspectives

This is a truthful, dark, insightful and funny book about the first year of single motherhood for Anne Lamott. Up until this book, I was unfamiliar with Anne Lamott and this was a great book to help me get to know a little bit about her.

What Lamott did was courageously and honestly document the first year of her son's life with his milestones from her perspective. Lamott is not only a single mother, but is also a recovering addict. Because of those two factors and her lack of income at the time...more

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Apr 24, 2013 Tiayra Tucker rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: mommies

I read this after reading Some Assembly Required & hating it. Reviewers swore up & down that even if I thought Anne Lamott was an ape-shit mother-in-law, I'd like her as a mom. So I gave her writing a second chance. I do not like her at all. In fact, I dislike her more than I did before reading this.

In theory, I should like her. Like me, she is a female writer, a mother, a liberal, a Christian. Every negative review I found for this book was someone complaining about her political &...more I read this after reading Some Assembly Required & hating it. Reviewers swore up & down that even if I thought Anne Lamott was an ape-shit mother-in-law, I'd like her as a mom. So I gave her writing a second chance. I do not like her at all. In fact, I dislike her more than I did before reading this.

In theory, I should like her. Like me, she is a female writer, a mother, a liberal, a Christian. Every negative review I found for this book was someone complaining about her political & religious views. That was not my problem with this book. However, I found countless other things about it to be problematic. For example:

1. She's a closet racist. It was apparent in the book about her grandson, but even more in this one. She goes on and on about how some friend or acquaintance of hers is gay, or "very black" - whatever the hell that means. She clearly wants everyone to know how liberal & open-minded she thinks she is. But she never says anyone is her straight, Caucasian friend. I guess she thinks that goes without saying, and doesn't need pointed out. She talks TWICE about her hair being nappy, like black people's, and how she's so glad her son got white people hair. It made me very uncomfortable to read. Kind of like all her stereotypes about her Mexican daughter-in-law in Some Assembly Required.

2. Her comments about uncircumcised penises were absolutely disgusting. Especially the part where she makes a joke about how hard an uncut baby penis would be to clean - proving that she has no idea what the hell she's talking about, and also she's kind of a bitch. I found it creepy that she decides to get her son's genitals cut based on her own sexual preference. Unless she was planning on having incest with her son, I can't see how that's relevant.

3. She is SO whiny. She spent the entire book complaining about not having a partner to raise her son with, even though she knew that beforehand. The father made it very clear that he would not be in the picture. In fact, he wanted her to abort. She chose to raise the baby on her own. She wasn't blindsided, like moms who have their husbands abandon them & their children one day. She constantly talks about how it's so hard to be a single mom.. But she has a huge support system! She has countless friends, family & church members, as well as a babysitter. They do everything. Bring her food, do her laundry, clean her house, watch her kid, give her baby items. A lot of single welfare moms, or even married women, don't have that kind of help. Not to mention the fact that she has a career as a published author. Teen moms can't say that.

4. The way that she talked about her son truly repulsed me. She'd use vulgar language to describe him, say she hated him, and admit to fantasizing about physically abusing him. This is an innocent & helpless infant she was talking about. He didn't understand why he was in pain. He didn't have the ability to process those emotions, or do anything to make himself feel better. He didn't even have a way to communicate, except to cry. And she admits that his gas pains were caused by her diet while breastfeeding. I have no idea why she'd have so much anger towards her baby. Even on the worst days with my son, when he screams for hours & I'm completely alone, my husband deployed and no friends or family for thousands of miles, I don't feel nasty towards him. I just want to comfort him somehow. Then again, she is your typical privileged white woman. She's never had to think of anyone but herself her entire life, so a baby is an annoying inconvenience. He gets in the way of her "me time" & neurotic self-pitying uselessness.

5. I could not believe how immature she was. She was 35, not 15. She acted like a child, wanting God to wipe her ass for her. I guess that's why she used to be a coke head. Some people can't handle life, even if their life is relatively easy.

6. This entire book was one simile after another. Everything was like some show she saw or poem she read, or moonlight or stars. I'm not exaggerating.

The only reason I finished this book was because I was mildly entertained by it. She's such a train wreck. This was the literary equivalent of trash TV. Like watching Jerry Springer. (less)

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Mar 10, 2011 Carin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir, women-authors

I picked this up at the used bookstore 2 days ago, having always heard about it. I'm not a parent and intend not to be one, but I read all sorts of memoirs about things I intend to not do, so I figured why not. And I'm thrilled I did, because I loved this book!

It was a very fast read. And for once I don't only mean that I whipped through the pages very quickly (3 hours). I mean it was fast-paced and I felt like I had to speed-read to keep up. It was an interesting feeling, being whipped through...more

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About Anne Lamott

Anne Lamott is an author of several novels and works of non-fiction. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, her non-fiction works are largely autobiographical, with strong doses of self-deprecating humor and covering such subjects as alcoholism, single motherhood, and Christianity. She appeals to her fans because of her sense of humor, her deeply felt insights, and her outspoken views on topics such...more

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Books by Anne Lamott

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith

Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son

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Quotes from Operating Instructions...

“And I felt like my heart had been so thoroughly and irreparably broken that there could be no real joy again, that at best there might eventually be a little contentment. Everyone wanted me to get help and rejoin life, pick up the pieces and move on, and I tried to, I wanted to, but I just had to lie in the mud with my arms wrapped around myself, eyes closed, grieving, until I didn’t have to anymore.” — 569 people liked it

“I don't remember who said this, but there really are places in the heart you don't even know exist until you love a child.” — 234 people liked it

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Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year

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