 |
What Do You Do All Day? by Amy Scheibe
Book Summary InformationAuthor: Amy Scheibe Edition: Hardcover Audio: English (Published) Format: Bargain Price Published: 2005-10-01 ISBN: N/A Number of pages: 320 Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Summary of What Do You Do All Day?Amy Scheibe's debut novel is a fresh, funny, witty take on the magic manic days of young motherhood. Her Jennifer Bradley is a thoroughly modern mommy--a former club kid who is married to the man of her dreams and who quit a fabulous job as an antiquarian objects dealer to raise her two children: Georgia, a very advanced age 4, and baby Max.
But it's alarmingly easy to spin a stay-at-home mommy's world on its axis--and Jennifer's is whirling. If it's not her mother-in-law on her tail to expose her precious grandchildren to a better element (not to mention pointing out that dangerous concrete floor in their loft), it's her husband Thom announcing he'll be on the road to Singapore for the next who-knows how long. And is this really the right time for her dad to announce that her mother isn't exactly who Jennifer thinks she is? Or for the ex-boyfriend--aka the Adult Child Actor--to come back on the scene?
An American answer to Alison Pearson's I DON'T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT, WHAT DO YOU DO ALL DAY? is a sparkling, lovable novel for mommies of all kinds--whether in the trenches or out on the hustings.
In What Do You Do All Day, first time novelist Amy Scheibe chronicles the pains, pleasures, and play-dates of a stay-at-home-mother who's struggling to be the best parent on the block while retaining some sliver of sanity. The fast-paced, spirited story--a sort of Bridget Jones for the modern mother--answers the title question easily. Jennifer Bradley has a miles-long list of daily duties (compounded by the absence of her loving but always traveling husband), including urging one-year-old Max to crawl in her presence and handling precocious four-year-old Georgia (whose response to being bathed with her brother is, "I'm not down with this, Jen"). But the question Jennifer can't seem to answer is whether what she does all day really matters. Scheibe crafts a well-rounded, realistic character in Jennifer--a thinking mother who is brutally honest about her ambivalence. Some days she wants to spend hours just staring at her kids, but on others, she yearns for her old job as an antiquities dealer. And what about that biography of Hannibal she's always wanted to write? Jennifer's constant worry that her "hard-earned identity of career woman/neofeminist" has been "thrown out with the baby's bathwater" brings a manic, amusing energy to the story, and propels her pell-mell down the brambly path of motherhood. --Brangien Davis
|
 |
Mirth of a Nation: The Best Contemporary Humorby Michael J. Rosen Harper Paperbacks; Published: 2000-02-02; Paperback; BookBest price: $0.01Price in other shops: $15.95
The Gifts of the Bodyby Rebecca Brown Harper Perennial; Published: 1995-08-04; Paperback; BookBest price: $3.95Price in other shops: $12.00
Love and Liesby Kimberla Lawson Roby William Morrow; Published: 2007-01-30; Hardcover; BookBest price: $4.96Price in other shops: $23.95
Blues Dancing: A Novelby Diane Mckinney-Whetstone HarperTorch; Published: 2005-03-29; Mass Market Paperback; BookBest price: $8.00
Red, White & Liberal: How Left Is Right & Right Is Wrongby Alan Colmes William Morrow Paperbacks; Published: 2004-10-12; Paperback; BookBest price: $0.01Price in other shops: $14.95
Hunger Point: A Novelby Jillian Medoff Harpercollins; Published: 1997-02; Hardcover; BookBest price: $2.00Price in other shops: $24.00
The Price of Bloodby Chuck Logan Harpercollins; Published: 1997-01; Hardcover; BookBest price: $25.99
Blue Hour: Poemsby Carolyn Forche Harper Perennial; Published: 2004-03; Paperback; BookBest price: $7.93Price in other shops: $13.99
Blue Suburbia: Almost a Memoirby Laurie Albanese Harper Perennial; Published: 2004-03-16; Paperback; BookBest price: $0.01Price in other shops: $12.99
The Kindness of Strangers: A Novelby Katrina Kittle William Morrow; Published: 2006-01-31; Hardcover; BookBest price: $3.57Price in other shops: $24.95
|
|