Operating Instructions
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Honest review of Modern Motherhood
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From the moment powerful men started falling to the #MeToo movement, the lamentations began: This is feminism gone too far, this is injustice, this is a witch hunt. In The Witches Are Coming, firebrand author of the New York Times best-selling memoir and now critically acclaimed Hulu TV series Shrill Lindy West turns that refrain on its head. You think this is a witch hunt? Fine. You've got one.
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Publisher's Summary
With the same brilliant combination of humor and warmth she brought to best seller Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott gives us a smart, funny, and comforting chronicle of single motherhood.
It’s not like she’s the only woman to ever have a baby. At 35. On her own. But Anne Lamott makes it all fresh in her now-classic account of how she and her son and numerous friends and neighbors and some strangers survived and thrived in that all-important first year.
From finding out her baby is a boy (and getting used to the idea) to finding out her best friend and greatest supporter, Pam, will die of cancer (and not getting used to that idea), with a generous amount of wit and faith (but very little piousness), Lamott narrates the great and small events that make up a woman’s life.
"Lamott has a conversational style that perfectly conveys her friendly, self-deprecating humor." (Los Angeles Times Book Review)
"Lamott is a wonderfully lithe writer.... Anyone who has ever had a hard time facing a perfectly ordinary day will identify." (Chicago Tribune)
Critic Reviews
"A funny, self-mocking, vivid account by a gifted novelist and journalist." (The Washington Post)
"An enormous triumph.... Charming.... Powerful.... A gracious book, with dozens of lovingly drawn characters and a deep, infectious religiosity throughout. It is also funny." (San Francisco Chronicle)
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 05-26-19
Intolerable
I listened to the sample of this, then downloaded the full book bc I enjoyed what I’d heard so far. Unfortunately the book quickly takes a weird turn. It becomes extremely religious and extremely political very quickly, and I realized that I (like some of the other reviewers) would not like to be friends with the author. I found this book bc I loved “Waiting for Birdy” and one review said this was similar. Not the case for me. “Waiting for Birdy” was beautifully sentimental and entirely focused on the author’s experience of becoming a mother. “Operating Instructions” is more like the author’s diary, and includes her thoughts on any topic that floats into her mind. For me, this was unwelcome and seemed unfocused and oddly argumentative.
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