Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Book Review: Some Assembly Required

This book was written by Ann Lamott, who is a best selling author. Some Assembly Required is a journal about her son having his first son - a grandmother's notebook.

While it tells you right on the cover that this book is a journal, I still expected it to be divided in some way; if not by chapters then by sections or parts. However, it is a continuous narrative separated only by entry dates.

I have to be honest and fess up that I struggled to finish this book. While it wasn't hard to read, I had a difficult time staying focused. Perhaps this was because Lamott spent approximately half of the book pondering and discussing things of a spiritual nature. I don't have a problem with the issue of faith; I just didn't expect the book to contain so much of it.

Or maybe it's because I'm too caught up in the land of Daven to be interested in baby Jax.

It surprised me that with as much Jesus talk that there was, sprinkled amongst that was also a few handfuls of the f-bomb. Jesus is my rock and savior - f***!

Since I am a newish mom and not a grandmother, I didn't really connect to the author's perspective. Instead, I felt more for her son's girlfriend, of whom Lamott spent considerable time bashing.

She also whined a lot about how miserable she was, even though she vacationed in India and Europe in the same calendar year. Yeah, I feel sorry for you.

If anything, this book gave me anxiety about the day far into the future (God willing) that I become a mother-in-law and grandmother. Will Daven still allow me to be closely involved in his life? Will he move far away? Will I get to spend enough time with my grandchild? Oy.

I do appreciate her honesty about her own faults. Lamott openly shares about her struggle with alcoholism and staying sober as well as raising her own son as a single mother.

This book brings another question to mind: where do you draw the line between not giving the grandparents enough time with their grandchild and taking advantage of them?

I am just thankful that we live so close to both sets of Daven's grandparents. I'm glad that he spends time every week with family that is so important to us.

No comments:

Post a Comment