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 prose). Lamott describes herself as being in a dark hole most of that first year, unwashed, depressed, extremely tired and lonely, with rare glimpses of her son's beauty. I think a lot of her issues stem from the self-acknowledged substance abuse problems of the past and losing her father some years earlier though, not from having a baby on her own. All in all, I would much rather read a positive, upbeat book written by somebody who is capable of maintaining self-discipline and organizing their lives than an author who aims at being brutally honest but really sounds like another common wreck of a person.