Sign in with FacebookJennifer's Reviews > Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son
Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son
by Anne Lamott (Goodreads Author), Sam Lamott
by Anne Lamott (Goodreads Author), Sam Lamott
In the interests of full disclosure, I received a giveaway copy of this book via Goodreads, AND Operating Instructions is one of my all-time favorite books.
On that note, I liked this book, but I wanted to love it. Since Operating Instructions, I've developed a love-hate relationship with Lamott's authorial voice. When she nails it, oh, does she nail it, but sometimes she's just so....herself (as she would admit). Her 19 year old son and his girlfriend have a baby, and echoes of her memoir of single motherhood--as part of a nurturing tribe--follow. Jax, the baby in question, is a charmer. Reading about the turbulent relationship between the young parents perhaps should have had me rooting for them, but mostly I felt consternation. Lamott's son, credited as a co-author, is interviewed throughout the book, and his voice sounds eerily like hers. Nature, nurture, or editing?
It's hard to review the book without it sounding like a review of Anne. I love that she's so upfront about her foibles, yet mostly able to forgive herself. But there was a point, when she became completely pissed off that the baby was baptized in his mother's childhood church, instead of Lamott's, that made me squirm. I also love that she takes God both seriously, and lightly. Yet her priest friend's respectfully quoted assessment of Advent hit such a false note: "the church strives in Advent to make a large deal out of a fairly small idea....bland, tedious, and empty." Seriously? a joyful season of waiting for a baby to be born and God to become human, and she, of all people, missed it?
Anne Lamott, I still like you and your books, OK?
On that note, I liked this book, but I wanted to love it. Since Operating Instructions, I've developed a love-hate relationship with Lamott's authorial voice. When she nails it, oh, does she nail it, but sometimes she's just so....herself (as she would admit). Her 19 year old son and his girlfriend have a baby, and echoes of her memoir of single motherhood--as part of a nurturing tribe--follow. Jax, the baby in question, is a charmer. Reading about the turbulent relationship between the young parents perhaps should have had me rooting for them, but mostly I felt consternation. Lamott's son, credited as a co-author, is interviewed throughout the book, and his voice sounds eerily like hers. Nature, nurture, or editing?
It's hard to review the book without it sounding like a review of Anne. I love that she's so upfront about her foibles, yet mostly able to forgive herself. But there was a point, when she became completely pissed off that the baby was baptized in his mother's childhood church, instead of Lamott's, that made me squirm. I also love that she takes God both seriously, and lightly. Yet her priest friend's respectfully quoted assessment of Advent hit such a false note: "the church strives in Advent to make a large deal out of a fairly small idea....bland, tedious, and empty." Seriously? a joyful season of waiting for a baby to be born and God to become human, and she, of all people, missed it?
Anne Lamott, I still like you and your books, OK?
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Moira wrote: "JEN! HOW ARE YA....I love both Operating Instructions and Bird by Bird, and read all Lamott's other books, and oh, man, this one was just overfull of squirm-inducing moments. She really lost me w..."
Moira! hanging in there, kid! and you? yeah, the trip to India was pretty grisly. Oh, Annie, you can do better!
Now that the spring equinox has passed I'm sure I'll feel better....February always gets me pretty bad.yeah, the trip to India was pretty grisly
The whole "see, I told you not to give money to beggars!" bit was SO BAD.
Moira wrote: "Now that the spring equinox has passed I'm sure I'll feel better....February always gets me pretty bad.It really is the cruelest month. March is just busy, not mean.
yeah, the trip to India was pretty grisly
The whole "see, I told you not to give money to b..."
Ugh, I forgot that part!
Her description of India was just so patronizing and condescending and awful, and the way her friend Bill kept talking about her as his ex and there were ten kids and a bull in the hotel room and Coca-Cola &c &c was sort of funny at first, but it went on and ON and finally I was like, you know, you're a rich white Westerner basically having fun at the expense of people who don't speak English and are trying to make tourists happy. Gahh.It may sound awful but I don't think getting a lot of money has actually done her any favours. At one point she's upset about her church's Ash Wednesday service, and she says she's thinking about leaving with her money, and I was just like....okay, everyone gets unhappy with their church or surroundings once in a while, fine. But this is the place you always talk about that rescued you before you sobered up and when you were pregnant and before you were famous! &c &c and to put the emphasis on the money? The same thing happened when she was writing about her kid, how he had everything paid for by her and Amy's parents and didn't have to struggle like she did as a single mother, &c &c. I really didn't like the way she kept detailing how much money she gave Amy - fifty dollars, three hundred dollars on a shopping trip, &c. I can't stand that kind of thing where someone's pretending to be generous and open-hearted but in reality they're keeping track down to the last penny so they can guilt-trip you about how grateful you're supposed to be later.
....I love both Operating Instructions and Bird by Bird, and read all Lamott's other books, and oh, man, this one was just overfull of squirm-inducing moments. She really lost me with the trip to India in particular.