Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood by Michael Lewis

Aug 15, 2009

Ceridwen rated it

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Recommends it for: people who swear too much, have children

Recommended to Ceridwen by: Eric_W Welch rocks the mic

Shelves: daddy-drinks-because-you-cry, memoir

Talking about your children in public is like talking about sex: it's Freudian as hell, the things you say tend to be gendered, and you upset your audience with all the stickiness, cussing, and genitals. But like sex talk, it can be totally fun, as Lewis' book shows. When I was pregnant with my first kid, my mother gave me the best advice I've ever heard about parenting: never read parenting books. I ignored her, of course, choosing instead to learn from hard experience. I ended up embroiled in ...moreTalking about your children in public is like talking about sex: it's Freudian as hell, the things you say tend to be gendered, and you upset your audience with all the stickiness, cussing, and genitals. But like sex talk, it can be totally fun, as Lewis' book shows. When I was pregnant with my first kid, my mother gave me the best advice I've ever heard about parenting: never read parenting books. I ignored her, of course, choosing instead to learn from hard experience. I ended up embroiled in a nightmare of attachment parenting, Ferberizing (could anything sound more sinister?), the Mommy Wars and and spanking. (I said it was like sex talk, right?) But this book is to parenting books the way home-made pornography is to soft-focus douche ads. Instead of being cloying, euphemistic and off-topic, it's affectionate, explicit, and a little gross.

This was another back-porch read, gulped down in a sitting while my daughter rolled around in the dirt and repeatedly leaped off the unoccupied chair yelling “Princess!” as some sort of insane little-girl battle cry. When I started laughing out loud, I would read out sections to my husband, mostly centering on Lewis' kids' cussing in public. I'm almost physically restraining myself, but I could tell hundreds of stories about trying to reconcile my love of cussing with my desire to not get busted by my kids' teachers. Fuck, it's no good; here's a story from yesterday: I'm on my way to Giant Warehouse Store, to buy a pallet of fruit stacks and other sundries. Some gentleman in a truck doesn't let me merge in, and I politely request, “Let me in, you fucking dick.” There's silence, as I navigate the lanes. I begin to apologize, as per social conventions. The boy responds from the back, “Fucking's not a good word, mum.” He starts giggling, “Neither is dick.” I can't argue with this. Then, “What does dick mean?”

This book is almost offensively slender – I'm not sure that if I had paid money for this, I wouldn't be angry about how short it is. I suspect it may be better on audiobook, as the anecdotal quality would be intimate and familiar. (Eric W rocks the mic for all time for sending me an audio copy, but due to technological incompetence, I ended up checking it out of the library.) It's light in other ways too: the tone stays pretty comically observational, but Lewis' observations tend to be pretty astute.

In my quest to learn things the hard way, I read a fair amount of stuff written for women about parenting, or books that were ostensibly for couples, but were secretly just about being a mother. They tend to be overly earnest, moralizing, and fear-inducing. (What to Expect When You're Expecting is at the very tippy-top of my shit list.) It's rare enough to find a voice that isn't a buzz-killing finger-wagger in parenting books; finding one that is distinctly male even harder. I kind of love when a writer captures how darn funny being a parent can be, even if he uses rather more baseball metaphors that I would.

So, like home-made porn, this book is going to be more interesting to the fetishists involved, who in this increasingly overworked metaphor are parents of small children, or children who were formerly small. If you have kids, you may enjoy it. If not, might I offer you some Edward Gorey?(less)

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Feb 15, 2009

Jackie rated it

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Shelves: work-review-related-reading, nonfiction

This is a hilarious account of learning to be a father in the 21st century. I actually gave this book to a guy friend of mine who is struggling with the idea of marriage and fatherhood in the near future, and he stayed up all night reading and laughing, which is amazing since he's even more of a reluctant reader than he is a reluctant grownup. Myself, I was able to read it in just a few hours--it's light and amusing but makes some real points about the naturalness of maternity versus the lear...more

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Feb 03, 2012

Nancy Kennedy rated it

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I think I was meant to be a father. I sympathize completely with Michael Lewis's take on the divide between what men are supposed to feel upon becoming a father and what they actually do feel. "Maternal love may be instinctive," he says, "but paternal love is learned behavior." He admits to feelings of indifference, resentment and even "the odd Murderous Impulse."

Be assured, Mr. Lewis, that you're writing for a certain portion of the maternal community, ...more

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Sep 27, 2011

Anne added it · review of another edition

My husband is a fan of Michael Lewis's books, in particular Moneyball and The Blind Side, so when I saw that Lewis had a book about fatherhood, I figured it would be a good one for him to check out. I think I was right. As he read in bed next to me, he laughed out loud and even read me a couple passages (usually one of my annoying habits that I really appreciate seeing in others). He finished the book quickly, and mostly took away from it that Ferberizing is out of date, and that having more ...moreMy husband is a fan of Michael Lewis's books, in particular Moneyball and The Blind Side, so when I saw that Lewis had a book about fatherhood, I figured it would be a good one for him to check out. I think I was right. As he read in bed next to me, he laughed out loud and even read me a couple passages (usually one of my annoying habits that I really appreciate seeing in others). He finished the book quickly, and mostly took away from it that Ferberizing is out of date, and that having more than one kid might require a little more thought (and for both insights, I thank Mr. Lewis). I then decided to read it for myself...and I didn't find it quite so amusing. Michael Lewis might be a brilliant writer and astute investigative journalist type, but he is a class A doofus when it comes to raising his children. Of course, that's part of the point of the book - to get a laugh at his own expense and to heap credit on to his wife (former MTV news anchor, Tabitha Soren), but I don't find it endearing when fathers pretend then can't figure out how to dress their children or pack a lunch. But, despite Lewis's at-times seeming indifference to parenting, he did have some good insight on rolling with the punches (I especially liked the stories about his oldest daughter heaping contempt on him following the arrival of her younger sister), and his efforts to be with his kids even when the experiences weren't exactly fun (like camping overnight in Fairyland - which is just down the street from us). This book can be read in one sitting - and while it may infuriate the parents who are the ones keeping track of all the doctor's appointments and waking up multiple times in the night for feedings, I think it's a good book for those other parents - the ones who might not always feel like their kids necessarily need them, or like they might have missed the day when they were supposed to have developed a deep-seated bond with their child - it will help them realize that kids always need more people in their lives that just love them and appreciate them for who they are, and that your love for a child will come, maybe when you least expect it, but always when they need it most. (less)

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Dec 02, 2010

Michael Batz rated it

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Shelves: essay-memoir

When I read this book, I was a new dad. Seven weeks or so. I had a lot of doubts and feelings that I was embarrassed of (nothing major, just not understanding how I could get so frustrated so easily), and this book landed in my lap at the right time (Father's Day). Although it's not written as a simple pop psychology how-to book, that's the role it filled for me. I related to it so strongly that I can't really review the book on its merits.

I related to it so strongly because Lewis's s...more

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Nov 04, 2009

Tony rated it

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Shelves: nonfiction

It's kind of interesting that two excellent Berkeley-based writers named Michael both happened to come out with a book of ruminations on modern fatherhood (and its corollary, manhood) within a few months of each other. Since we added a second child to our own household a few months ago, and I'm now on (unpaid) leave to take care of him for a few months, this struck me as a good time to check out what two writers I greatly respect have to say on my current profession. (The other book is Michael C...moreIt's kind of interesting that two excellent Berkeley-based writers named Michael both happened to come out with a book of ruminations on modern fatherhood (and its corollary, manhood) within a few months of each other. Since we added a second child to our own household a few months ago, and I'm now on (unpaid) leave to take care of him for a few months, this struck me as a good time to check out what two writers I greatly respect have to say on my current profession. (The other book is Michael Chabon's Manhood for Amateurs). To a certain extent, both authors grapple with the state that Lewis articles in his introduction: "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."

Unfortunately, Lewis has set such a high bar with his past books (Liar's Poker, Moneyball, and The Blind Side), that this loosely assembled patchwork of journal entries and Slate.com essays ends up being a total disappointment. It's kind of stunning to me that someone with his powers of both analysis and storytelling managed to say absolutely nothing interesting, provocative, or even amusing about being a father in this new age of fatherhood. Instead, he paints himself in the usual self-deprecating colors of progressive fatherhood -- ever the bumbling idiot, an object of dismissive scorn by his partner, etc. Almost every situation reads like a story one's already heard before, and his ambivalence about fatherhood will be familiar to, um, pretty much any male reader who's had a kid in the last ten years or so.

I guess some people might find this "frank" male perspective enlightening or refreshing, but as a fellow guy, I was mainly bored. Maybe I'm the wrong audience for this book -- after all, I was a stay-at-home dad for about ten months with our first child. It may be that his incredibly minor trials and tribulations end up sounding kind of whiny. Ultimately, I wish he could have found a fresh angle to take on the topic of parenting. For example, he knows a lot about incentives, he could have examined his own parenting through the lens of incentives (and arrived at a better version of the book Parentonomics). Or, as in Moneyball, he could have taken a look at the historically dominant paradigm of contemporary fathering and examined why that's undergone a dramatic shift in certain demographics (such as his) over the last ten years or so.

Like I said, I really like Michael Lewis' past books, but this one is a dud. Skip it and try out Michael Chabon's much funnier, provocative, and more emotionally compelling Manhood for Amateurs instead. (less)

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Jul 26, 2009

Brian rated it

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A few hilariously funny anecdotal stories aside, this book by Michael Lewis is poison. While somewhat entertaining, and an extremely easy and quick read, this book provides little insight into 'real' fatherhood. It does little more than propagate the hideous fallacy that only mothers can be the true nurturers and care-givers for our children, and any attempts by a man to do so can only be inadequate. Furthermore, Lewis would have you believe if you are a father and you do feel confident in takin...moreA few hilariously funny anecdotal stories aside, this book by Michael Lewis is poison. While somewhat entertaining, and an extremely easy and quick read, this book provides little insight into 'real' fatherhood. It does little more than propagate the hideous fallacy that only mothers can be the true nurturers and care-givers for our children, and any attempts by a man to do so can only be inadequate. Furthermore, Lewis would have you believe if you are a father and you do feel confident in taking complete control of care-giving and child raising with confidence, well, then there must be something wrong with you. Because, after all,the men around you are only doing what is required of them, and begrudgingly at that, and like it this way. Well, I for one beg to vehemently disagree.

It has almost become cliche, this 'accidental guide'. The situation where the man is left with the children for only a short time, but manages to screw things up so badly that onlookers are left to wonder how the children will ever survive, only to be saved just in the nick of time by Mom. She swooshes in with her golden lasso and bullet deflecting bracelets and saves the day, but not without handing out a few back-handed comments about Dad's incompetence as a care-giver first. The crowd hardly notices Dad as he slinks off to the basement with his tail between his legs to "tinker" with something on his work bench or drink heavily in solitary confinement. No, this crowd of rubberneckers is too focused on Mom lavishing her children with copious amounts of love and affection after their near fatal incident, and think to themselves, as Mom thinks to herself, what a wonderful Mother she is, and how her children obviously "need" her every minute of everyday. Well, if I'm in this crowd of onlookers, I'm yelling "Bullshit!" at the top of my lungs. But it's this fallacy that Lewis calls Fatherhood and claims is normal.

While I agree there are obvious gender-based differences between men and women when it comes to being parents, I don't agree that it's these differences that make a Mom somehow more competent than Dad. That somehow Dad's are suppose to be less competent at providing for their children when Mom isn't around, and that's just how it is. However, I do believe, and often witness, Dad's being set-up by Mom's for failure, and when they do "fail" (or rather, just don't do things the exact same way Mom would have done them, without harm), they get chastised until they feel they are about as equipped to be a father as Pee Wee Herman. According to Lewis, with his experiences relayed in this book, that's just how it is. That may be, in your house Mr. Lewis, and in numerous households across this country, but it's not normal and NOT how it should be.

Or maybe it's the other way around. Maybe, it's really a self-depreciation that occurs with this dynamic, that allows a father to shirk his real responsibilities to his children without guilt. "Oh, well, experience has shown that she's better equipped to handle this, so I'll just let her take care of it." It seems to me this can only breed contempt in a relationship. Are you serious? Somebody actually pays you to write this dribble for a magazine. I shudder to think that there are probably thousands of readers out there who have read this excrement and thought because it was presented in a funny and witty way, that it was sound advice on fatherhood.

While I have enjoyed the previous two books I've read by Lewis on two subjects he is obviously well versed in, Home Game is a huge disappointment. A gentleman much wiser than me once told me that growing up and becoming a man involved a moment or a series of moments where you stopped doing things just for you and your personal satisfaction and started doing things for the benefit of those you care for and love. Not because some outsider said you are suppose to, but because you know deep down it's what is right and what you want the most. Given his personal past (2 divorces), Lewis might want to focus on his own personal development and maturation, before passing on his questionable at best advice on family life.(less)

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Jun 04, 2009

RandomAnthony rated it

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I have a request. Do NOT buy Home Team for anyone as a Father’s Day gift. DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT. Thank you.

Here’s why:

• This book is no-thought-necessary present for people who don’t know shit about the father in question. If you knew anything about the father in question, you would know he doesn’t want this book.
• The father doesn’t want this book if he’s a reader. The gauzy cover with the author drinking coffee while his child sits on his lap screams “Not a ...moreI have a request. Do NOT buy Home Team for anyone as a Father’s Day gift. DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT. Thank you.

Here’s why:

• This book is no-thought-necessary present for people who don’t know shit about the father in question. If you knew anything about the father in question, you would know he doesn’t want this book.
• The father doesn’t want this book if he’s a reader. The gauzy cover with the author drinking coffee while his child sits on his lap screams “Not a real book! Not a real book!” and the contents confirm said scream. It’s like the publisher’s marketing department took soulless, flowery Mother’s Day marketing strategies and applied them to Father’s Day. So you’d be buying a Father’s Day present based on Mother’s Day sell jobs for presents not even your mother would want except she’s probably just glad to get a present. Shame on you!
• There’s not much to this text; I read it in about the same time it takes me to read an issue of Wired, and the latter is smarter and better written. I procured my copy of Home Team from the library. Only suckers purchase this book. The book costs 24 bucks! Think of all the cool things you could buy for 24 bucks before you buy this title.
• The father doesn’t want this book if he’s a non-reader. You’d only be buying this for him because you can’t think of anything better and you happened to glance at a display that reeled in your desperate “I can’t think what to buy” ass at the wrong moment. Sure! I’ll buy him a book! You can’t lose with a book! Guess what? You sure fucking can. The father will thank you for this book but secretly wonder what the hell you were thinking.
• The author is married to former MTV news vixen Tabitha Soren. She is his third wife. I once had a thing for Tabitha Soren’s smart hottie persona even after her Celebrity Jeopardy Waterloo (in case you never saw that episode, Ms. Soren was in negative territory from the start and should have been removed early due to the slaughter rule). However, anyone can have a bad day on a game show, and Ms. Soren fueled enough of my college girlfriend dreams to earn fond memories. Lewis makes her sound like an insane bitch while tossing only the slightest of backhanded compliments in her direction. Leave him, Tabitha! I hope you didn’t sign a pre-nup. Take him for all he’s worth. I predict within ten years Lewis will write a post-split book called Blown Save. That title will be marketed towards recent divorcees.
• Lewis is a pussy who whines about his privileged life in Paris and Berkeley. Yeah. I feel sorry for him.
• Lewis is a name-dropper of affluence. He doesn’t just buy a tent, he buys it at REI.

Buying this book would support Lewis. And do you really want to support a guy like this? Or books like this? I don’t think so. I trust you. Make the right choice.
(less)

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May 30, 2009

Mike rated it

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Quite funny, and slight--which is not a snipe but a statement of fact. I loved these short, ragged essays the first time I read (the bulk of) them at Slate, and it was nice to see the rough arc across them.

Lewis is consistently funny--and not just because kids testing out profanities in shame-inducing contexts is funny, 'though we all could certainly stipulate that a sweet little child screaming some ungrammatical variant of "MOTHERFUCK" is invariably funny, unless it is...more

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Jul 17, 2009

Brian Ayres rated it

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Shelves: nonfiction

This book has no direction or purpose other than to state and defend what I believe to be the truest words ever spoken about family planning: "Memory loss is the key to human reproduction. If you remembered what new parenthood was actually like you wouldn't go around lying to be people about how wonderful it is, and certainly wouldn't ever do it twice." Lewis, the author of contemporary sports classics Moneyball and The Blind Side, provides vignettes of his experience raising three gir...more

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Nov 14, 2009

Shannon rated it

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Recommends it for: Todd Douthit

Recommended to Shannon by: Jason Truss

Shelves: nonfiction

Not many men write about fatherhood. And the ones who do write about it are rarely as honest as Michael Lewis. My husband brought this book home from the library and after he read part of the introduction aloud to me, I knew I wanted to read it after he finished. If I knew more men who read, I would buy this book for them. Sadly, very few of the dads I know would take the time to read this book, slim tome though it is.

So I'll just have to hope some fathers or fathers-to-be happ...more

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Feb 19, 2010

Katrina rated it

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Funny, honest, glib, self-centered (although this is acknowledged) account of fatherhood. I found myself laughing out loud at some of his stories. Lewis broke the book into three sections - one for each of his three children - but I found that most of his stories focus on his first-born. I cannot tell whether this is due to how he and his wife split the "division of labor" or because much of the lives of your successive children are intermingled with that of your first born. His wi...more

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Dec 05, 2010

Joseph rated it

Shelves: non-fiction

I'm not really sure why I read this. I'm not a father, and it seems increasingly likely that I'll never be one. I've liked Lewis' previous writing (although I've only read Moneyball, The Big Short, and a few of his articles), so maybe I was just hoping for a fresh take on a somewhat stale genre.

Instead, Lewis provides exactly what you might expect: a collection of humorous vignettes about a dumb father (a la Homer Simpson), his precocious kids, and his put-upon wife. It's certainly amu...more

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Mar 16, 2011

Brian rated it

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Taking new-fatherly sentiments to an extreme, which can be funny or horrifying...

Depending on several factors, readers may enjoy or detest this book. I can totally see that. But just make the assumption that he's not really as detached and defeated a man as he appears, and the read is actually quite humorous. Well, maybe you do need to be a father to at least appreciate where his extreme sentiments come from, but if you can at least identify with feeling superfluous in the delivery room, trying ...more

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Jun 13, 2009

Richard Lollar rated it

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Recommends it for: I would not.

Recommended to Richard by: I read a very overblown review.

I wonder if Malcolm Gladwell (author of The Tipping Point) who wrote a raving comment for the jacket of this book and I read the same book. I do not think Mr. Lewis is the "finest storyteller of our generation".

His guide to fatherhood reads like a series of newspaper columns, although, indeed, they are from a Web magazine he contributes to. Some are mildly amusing; just not those where he proudly recalls his little girls quoting his worst potty-mouthed, rapper ghetto-speak....more

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Sep 23, 2010

Jacob rated it

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There were only about 30 books at the Logan Airport newsstand and this was the best looking one. I don't know why there wasn't a bookstore in the terminal of a major American airport, but there wasn't. I've liked the other books of Lewis's more than this one, and this wasn't bad. "It was ok" as the 2 star rating says.

I wasn't wicked excited to read it, but it was short, paperback, and had the possibility of being interesting. It is now a week later and I don't really remem...more

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Jul 29, 2010

Jonathan rated it

A breezy, fun read that can easily be enjoyed in a sitting or two. Lewis steers clear of the overpopulated "personal epiphany" class of parenting books ("...and that special moment was when I really knew I loved my child!") and instead just shares anecdotes about his experiences as a father.

Lewis wins points for his honesty about his experience; he writes about the frustration of the modern father, who does not automatically feel all of the Right Emotions at the R...more

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Jun 16, 2010

Alyshia rated it

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I'm surprised this book has as many negative ratings as it does - I thought it was incredibly well written, funny, and easy to read. For example, his story about his three year old screaming "SHUT YOUR MOTHERFUCKING ASSHOLE" in the middle of a kiddie pool at a group of pre-teen boys was kind of the greatest thing ever.

I do think the book's back-cover description isn't done very well; this is more a collection of disconnected stories about Lewis' kids than it is a coheren...more

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Dec 09, 2009

Brian Sobolak rated it

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As always, Michael Lewis is insightful and delightful. It was the first book about parenthood I connected with, as I felt so many are written towards mothers or written for people who don't read. This was explicitly about the struggles of trying to be relevant and helpful when you're really a side-show for the first act of parenthood.

It was a collection of articles consolidated into a book, but that structure felt fine for me. Each was written long enough to have thorougly cover...more

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Mar 24, 2010

Alanna rated it

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I'm not sure if this was a really fast read, or if I'm just a much faster reader when you put me on a plane for eight hours with no kids. In any case, this was fun and I definitely enjoyed it. It's always nice to hear about the foibles of other people parenting so that I can pat myself on the back and say, "At least my kids haven't done that!" (Never mind the fact that his kids are older than mine, so there's actually plenty of time for that to still happen!) My favorite essay was ...more

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Jun 24, 2009

Chad rated it

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I hate to ever use the phrase "must-read" for anything, as tastes in books often wind up being a subjective thing, leaving no such room really for a "must" anything. However, I will break that personal rule in this case, and go ahead and declare Michael Lewis's "Home Game" a must-read, though with a caveat: it's a must-read for any one who became a Dad in the last ten years.

Bonus #1: it's less than 200 pages, a breezy read, and Lewis is a brilliant wr...more

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May 31, 2009

Andy rated it

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This is quite an entertaining and quick read. Lewis, a respected sportswriter, speaks of his experiences with his kids for the first several years after their birth. He holds nothing back. He talks about the problems that come up, and the struggles he experiences just trying to get through life with kids. It's interesting that it's a tell-all book about his little kids. The kids don't come off looking good, but that's what's particularly valuable about this book. Who is brave enough to tell what...more

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Jun 24, 2009

Eric_W rated it

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Teaser: If you have a weak mind, are unable to turn off your "I am sooo offended brain cells", wear polyester shorts, have plastic on your furniture, and just can't bear to see a naughty word, skip this review.

Take 1: My wife and I are listening to this while driving up into Minnesota on vacation (mixed in with some of my favorite old Booknotes shows with Brian Lamb -- the guy is the best, bar none, interviewer around -- when she nods off.) She's not nodding off because of ...moreTeaser: If you have a weak mind, are unable to turn off your "I am sooo offended brain cells", wear polyester shorts, have plastic on your furniture, and just can't bear to see a naughty word, skip this review.

Take 1: My wife and I are listening to this while driving up into Minnesota on vacation (mixed in with some of my favorite old Booknotes shows with Brian Lamb -- the guy is the best, bar none, interviewer around -- when she nods off.) She's not nodding off because of the book because it has had us laughing our heads off.

There are so many funny scenes, it's hard to pick a favorite, but I think the funniest was when, Dixie, his 3-year-old daughter runs to the defense of her 6 year-old sister who is being bothered by some older boys in the childrens' pool while Lewis is right next door in the adult wading area keeping an eye on things. "You teasing boys, you motherfucking assholes," she screams at them in his loudest voice, whereupon, the mother of one of the boys yells at her son for teaching bad words to the little girl. Lewis meanwhile, is imitating an alligator in the pool, only his eyes and ears showing. Not his kid. Priceless.

Another great episode is his camping outing with his older daughter at an amusement park where they serve a great meal for the kids, probably the only one any of the dad's had ever seen their kids eat without them whining or crying: hamburgers, chips, soda, and doughnuts. Of course, she wants her dad's sleeping bag and wants to exchange. Should be no problem except her's is 4 feet long. And it's necessary to wake dad up every 30 minutes to ask a question. And then the "fucking" birds start singing at 6 in the morning just as they drift off to sleep. Classic

Take 2 tomorrow. Finished the book shortly after leaving. If you have children, you will love this book. If not, too bad. Besides being quite funny, it has it very poignant moments. He makes a distinction between the almost instant bonding with the mother. Fathers bond more slowly, but he notes that you really never love someone until you have to care for it. The classic example was his newborn son, third child, who developed RSV (look it up) and had to spend time in the hospital to regain his strength to breath (it's a respiratory virus.) Lewis was finally so upset with the interruptions from staff to just check on his kid, waking him up and disturbing him that he barricaded the door, did the aspirations himself and checked the monitors. When a student doctor slipped in while he was in the bathroom, Lewis peremptorily threw him out. "Can't I just check him?" was the plaintive query. "No, get out." was Lewis' response. Great scene. His child got better faster too. \

I remember something happening with my daughter reminiscent of Lewis' experience. We found a book not long ago with "I hate Dad, he is so mean," carboned on the cover. My daughter, enamored of carbon paper had inadvertently permanently enshrined her feelings at that moment. Lewis' daughter did something similar, writing "Dad is so mean." But she forgot she had done it a week later.

Lots of fun to listen to with your spouse. Oh yes, the description of getting the vasectomy is classic too. As is the one where he thinks his daughter has reported to her teachers that Dad has a small penis. Very funny. (less)

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Sep 22, 2010

Patrick rated it

Shelves: books-read-in-2010

Reading Home Game, I wondered if Michael Lewis was aware that he’s not a normal person anymore, or if he’d simply spent too much time married to MTV News correspondents, hobnobbing with Wall Street bankers, rubbing shoulders with superstars of football and baseball, and jet-setting with wealthy college boosters to know what it’s like to be a normal father and husband. This is not to say that I didn’t enjoy Home Game—it’s a breezy read filled with interesting and humorous anecdotes that, even if ...moreReading Home Game, I wondered if Michael Lewis was aware that he’s not a normal person anymore, or if he’d simply spent too much time married to MTV News correspondents, hobnobbing with Wall Street bankers, rubbing shoulders with superstars of football and baseball, and jet-setting with wealthy college boosters to know what it’s like to be a normal father and husband. This is not to say that I didn’t enjoy Home Game—it’s a breezy read filled with interesting and humorous anecdotes that, even if they don’t apply directly to me, necessarily, still have their charm. At the same time, they should apply directly to me—the book was a gift from my parents to commemorate the birth of my first child. But I felt that they were just a little out of reach; stories that would speak to me in very real ways if it weren’t for one or two things that were just…a little…off.

Lewis just seems to have a habit of building relatable stories around a completely unrelatable premise, such as problems moving into his new French villa, or shelling out an insane amount of money and paperwork for private swim lessons, and then finding out they’re not private at all. I don’t know; maybe I just can’t get past the fact that anytime Lewis describes his wife (Tabitha Soren of MTV News fame) on the verge of tears over some small parenting issue (which is often), I just start thinking of her trying to keep a straight face while interviewing Courtney Love or some other ridiculous 90s music celebrity. Lewis is something of a celebrity, his wife is something of a celebrity—they’re just not normal people, and I can’t take their “adventures” seriously.

On a more relatable level though, Lewis is basically a robot. While the book is amusing, I did not feel a fatherly kinship towards him. When my daughter was born, it was the most amazing moment of my life, and while waking up 3 or 4 times a night to change and feed her can get a bit stressful, every time I look at her adorable face my heart melts. I never once had the urge to throw her out the window, as Lewis states is a universal feeling of new parents.

Given that this is Lewis’s attitude, and it’s entirely likely—probable, even—that he’s imbued his children with these types of views, it’s strange to me that he acts with such shock and disappointment when his daughter reacts to his parenting strategies in cold, calculating ways. At one point, when his wife is having a tough time, he states that his daughters are lucky to have such a great mother, to which his daughter replies that there are lots of great parents out there. He replies something to effect of “Well, I think she’s the best mom in the world and she does a great job providing for us.” To which his daughter states, not incorrectly, “You’re just saying that to make her feel better.” It’s a sad moment—something that seems more fit for one of those devil-child horror movies, like ‘The Omen’ or ‘Joshua’. But Lewis treats it with a wink and a crooked smile, as if to say, “Kids, amiright?” Maybe I’m still too early along in the process, but I don’t think that’s a universal kids thing—I think it’s a Michael Lewis thing.

And at the end of the day, that’s the problem with this book. It’s positioned as a secret guide to what most dads are really thinking, when really it’s just a cluster of anecdotes and vignettes from Michael Lewis’s decidedly atypical life. Once I got past that, it was a decent read.(less)

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Feb 18, 2010

Dwhren rated it

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I love it when I go through a spate of good books. This book was the most recent of several books in a row that I have really enjoyed. Too often I'm on the other end where I'm reading a bunch of not-so-good books in a row. The book is of stories Lewis wrote about his 3 children when they were small. Many of them were previously published in Slate magazine. Although he fleshes out the book with some previously unpublished tales. The book is broken up into three sections each encompassing sto...more

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Sep 05, 2009

Ted Kendall rated it

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I enjoyed reading this book, even if Mr. Lewis is someone that I would probably not get along with--he is too California, and too Yuppy,yep, I said that. But, his honesty and humor are fantastic. And he gets it right. So many of his situations rang true to my own experiences, and sadly, I guess, to my feelings at the time as well. So I now know, that like him, I am certainly far from the world's greatest dad, because when, for example, Jared was born, I was much more pre-occupied with the la...more

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May 23, 2010

Michael Coyne rated it

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An interesting and amusing, if slight, book on the joys on fatherhood. Lewis is an excellent writer - his work on the intricacies of the stock market crashes is accessible and illuminating - but this is a bit throwaway to be honest. For every "that's what I was thinking" anecdote and wry smile from me as I read it, there's some nonsense on how how difficult he found family life. In fairness, his description belonged in an aspirational soap - a job that pays well and requires few enough...more

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Aug 16, 2010

Craig rated it

- a very quick read. Finished it in a 3 hour flight and that included a small mid-air nap.

- some incredibly funny anecdotes. A couple almost made me laugh out loud.

But really, that is all this book is. A series of anecdotes, some funny, some merely amusing. Any lessons that the author may have learned and is trying to pass on feel a bit shallow (as does the author in this text, honestly. But that is a rant of a different kind.).

As a new father, I do h...more

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Nov 02, 2010

Cynthia rated it

This is a fearless and a hilarious look at fatherhood. I laughed out loud several times.Lewis has an amazing way of capturing both the trials and the joys of being a parent, the good and the bad, and the feelings you don't dare tell anyone you have. (I especially admired his wife Tabitha Soren for letting her post-partum panic and depression be portrayed.) I think this could have been a longer book, though: some of the chapters, like the section in Paris, felt like they could have been developed...more

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Jul 12, 2009

Andrew rated it

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Read mostly on a couple June plane flights, this book by Liar's Poker author Michael Lewis felt truer and more candid toward the beginning, and more like serial magazine pieces written under deadline toward the end, where its grumbling populism seems exhibitionist and forced. That's probably appropriate -- it's fairly clear that the early diaristic entries were observations secreted in some notebook under the duress of paternal supervisions, such that they were. The rest was serialized for Slate...more

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title link	preview: Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood
avg rating	preview: Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood Goodreads rating: 3.53 (1082 ratings)
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Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood

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