How to Party With an Infant

De: Kaui Hart Hemmings

Narrado por: Joy Osmanski

“Mommyhood gets hilariously tricky in this novel from the author of The Descendents” (Cosmopolitan). How to Party With an Infant follows a quirky single mom who finds friendship and love in this “smart, funny send-up of modern motherhood, San Francisco-style” (San Francisco Chronicle).

When Mele Bart told her boyfriend Bobby she was pregnant with his child, he stunned her with an announcement of his own: he was engaged to someone else.

Fast forward two years, Mele’s daughter Ellie is a toddler, and Bobby and his fiancée want Ellie to be the flower girl at their wedding. Mele, who also has agreed to attend the nuptials, knows she can’t continue obsessing about Bobby and his cheese making, Napa-residing, fiancée. She needs something to do. So she answers a questionnaire provided by the San Francisco Mommy Club in elaborate and shocking detail and decides to enter their cookbook writing contest. Even though she joined the group out of desperation, Mele has found her people: Annie, Barrett, Georgia, and Henry (a stay-at-home dad). As the wedding date approaches, Mele uses her friends’ stories to inspire recipes and find comfort, both.

The “delicious” (The Seattle Times) How to Party with an Infant is a hilarious and poignant novel from Kaui Hart Hemmings, who has an uncanny ability to make disastrous romances and tragic circumstances not only relatable and funny, but unforgettable. “[Hemmings] perfectly captures modern parenthood among the privileged and, with moments of concise poignancy, the silent shames of motherhood...The pleasure of Hemmings’s levity and wisdom more than sustain the reader. We cheer for her warm, self-deprecating characters and hope they continue to laugh together instead of crying alone” (The New York Times Book Review).

liked it.

I liked the book. I liked how she related recipes to her stories. I however didn't much care for the blunt ending. It would be nice to get a second book to continue all of their stories.

Life in the Trenches of Affluent Parenthood

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

It's written with brilliant wit and the San Francisco location is a plus. The plot hops through a group of friends who bond at a playground / meet up through an often b*&$#y parenting "club". Threads of romance are intriguing, if a bit "fairy tale". Kaui Hart Hemmings truly nails contemporary family life (in an affluent american city, that is).

What was one of the most memorable moments of How to Party with an Infant?

The author does a great job exploring emotional interiors of the characters, pretty much throughout the entire book. A chapter where a 13 y-o boy hosts a co-ed birthday party gets to the heart of parental insecurities. There really aren't many infants in this book. And parenthood is not a party.

What does Joy Osmanski bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

There are many hilarious lines of dialogue, outrageous scenes and interior wonderings--all of which are brought to life well by the narrator.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Laughing out loud is a good thing in these times.

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed this audio book!