A Real Mother: Stumbling Through Motherhood

by Denise Malloy

Columnist, Denise Malloy, is A Real Mother. It took her three months to figure out she was pregnant and not suffering from chronic food poisoning. She's been parentally challenged ever since. For the last six years, Malloy has been amusing readers with tales of motherhood, relationships and mid-life. She waxes profound, and occasionally profane, on issues that touch every Real Mother's life - from diapers to dating. Malloy recounts her wild ride through the Stream of Consciousness Zone of Parenting to getting caught by her teens and, quite possibly, Scarring Them for Life. Denise Malloy inhabits a world that most parents will recognize, but few have described quite so honestly, or hilariously.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir

136 pages, Paperback

First published March 12, 2012

About the author

Although she was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Denise Malloy will never be confused with a Southern belle even though she still says y'all. Denise lives with The Husband and The Boys in Bozeman, MT. After working as a lifeguard, a Peace Corps Volunteer, a middle school teacher, a switchboard operator and finally, an attorney (but don't hold that against her) she is uniquely qualified to do absolutely nothing. That is why she writes.

Named to Kirkus Reviews' Best of 2012.

Reviews

[Gale]

The chapters were each like short essays on some of the tribulations of motherhood. Probably my favorite piece was about all you go through trying to come up with a name for your baby. I remember it being exactly like Ms. Malloy described it.i received this fun read Ina giveaway and immediately passed it on to a friend, pregnant with the first baby, to give her some idea the kinds of things you are forced to embrace after you become a parent. It' was an easy, enjoyable, true-to-life selection modeled from the author's actual parental experiences with her own family.

[Christine]

I LOVED this book! I won it from a Goodreads give-away and am quite happy I did.

I related very much to the author's stories and at times was actually laughing out loud at some of the stuff she had written (like the section about AXE). It was very refreshing to read about her trials as a parent because they truly were those of a "real mother." I also liked that each little story was only a few pages so I could pick it up between tasks or when I didn't have the time to sit and read it straight through.

[Carla]

Just finished re-reading "A Real Mother," the perfect thing to pick up and read when you need to sneak away from your kids (or spouse, or pets, or in-laws) a few minutes for yourself and have a good laugh. Nobody seems to capture the absurdity of modern parenting like Denise does, and you're always guaranteed several laugh out loud moments in every one of her essays. Pull up a chair, and let her spin you a tale...

[Tanya]

Written by a stay at home mom whose columns are in a Montana paper - most the columns hit close to home for any mother trying to balance the job of motherhood. Some were funnier than others - I find it always nice to read about another mom's adventures and remember I'm not alone in similar zany days with my boys.

[Heather]

A laugh out loud collection of short stories about a family raising two young boys. I could see my own self in many of the stories which only made them more true to life. Recommended reading for any mother.

[Katrina Stone]

Very blah. I really didn't find myself laughing much, I was bland humor

[Lori]

LOL Funny started reading it last night and I am half way through

[Sue]

This made me LOL.

[Jennibritt]

A cute collection of newspaper articles for n the joy of being a parent, more specifically a mother.
I had this on my kindle for years I’m ashamed to say before I decided to read this. Maybe if I read it when I first downloaded it the stories wouldn’t have felt so dated.
The humor was good though and I could still relate to her stories.

[Rachel]

3.5 Stars

This book was enjoyable, at times laugh at loud funny. It is very short - only 136 pages. It took me 3 months to read it only because I started reading it on a phone that my daughter took over, and I finally just not transferred the file to my new Kindle so that I could finish it. Once I finally picked it back up, I finished the last 55% or so in an hour. For me, some of the funniest chapters were: Some Assembly Required, Twas the Night Before Christmas, Mom, Interrupted, Frazzled Mom - Then and Now, Lucky 13, Reality Check, and Parenting Like Tony. If you get a chance to pick this up for free on Amazon, or even for a dollar, it's worth it even if you only read these chapters.

A word of caution - this book may not be for you if you are not a stay at home mother. Or if you are a stay at home mother and you feel like you have perfect children who never misbehave, then this book is also not for you. But for those of you who love their children fiercely, yet also are occasionally driven a little bit crazy by them, read on!

[Susan]

This is a very funny book about Motherhood. A great read for any mother - stay at home or working mom. As mother, we all have to deal with the situations in this book. This one made me smile, giggle and even laugh out loud!

[Linda]

She seemed to have had quite a time of being a mother, quite the opposite of my experience. Each of has a different path I guess.

[Miki]

More like "Stumbling through writing this book"

[Peggy]

it was cute. jumped around a lot.

[Rachel]

Had it's moments... but the mediocre outweighed the funny on this one.