Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year
Anne Lamott
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 aplomb or outright insanity. The book rocks from hilarious to unbearably poignant when Sam's burgeoning life is played out against a very close friend's illness. No saccharine paean to becoming a parent, this touches on the rage and befuddlement that dog sweeter emotions during this sea change in one's life.
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There's something very frank about the way Lamott writes that is refreshing, though there is also something about her comparisons and commentary that was odd for me, almost alien. It may have been that the references were just from another time and I didn't get them, but the couple of instances I'm thinking of off the top of my head were creepy. I remember reading them and feeling the hair on my neck stand up because it was a weird thing to read and made me uncomfortable.
I still enjoyed the book overall though.
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