Why Is My Mother Getting a Tattoo?
And Other Questions I Wish I Never Had to Ask
- اطلاعات
- نقد و بررسی
- دیدگاه کاربران
نقد و بررسی
May 11, 2009
Dunn's travails will be instantly recognizable to readers in their late 30s and 40s—a generation that's shifted the family bickering about what to serve at holiday dinners to conference calls and e-mails. Her parents are a bottomless well of comedy, sending her wacky newspaper clippings and grilling her loudly about her inability to go to the bathroom during their vacation. Her circle of friends is equally familiar, like the gay buddy who invites her over for TV-movie parties and can always be counted on to make catty remarks about strangers. Several chapters are filled with transcripts of phone conversations with her best friend, Julie, flitting from topic to topic, comparing the embarrassing songs saved on their iPods and wondering why their parents haven't figured out voice mail isn't like an answering machine (“Hello? Anybody there? Hello, it's Dad”). Dunn's tone is genial, only turning serious briefly near the end when she discusses not having kids—and then inadvertently discovers she's finally pregnant. The seriousness doesn't last long, though, and soon it's back to affectionately mocking her mom's decision to get tattooed—although, as her sisters point out, she's secretly pleased to have something new to write about.
June 1, 2009
In her first memoir, "But Enough About Me", Dunn, a former writer for "Rolling Stone", focused on her experiences as a celebrity interviewer, sharing her encounters with the famous with self-deprecating humor. In her second, she demonstrates her storytelling chops yet again, forgoing the celebrity angle for essays about her quest to find her place in the world with the strong influence of her tight-knit family; her wonder, bemusement, befuddlement, and frank delight at growing into adulthood are highly entertaining. Although her tone is deceptively light throughout, Dunn anchors the collection in unexpected moments of poignancy. VERDICT-Dunn's take on her family's foibles is a hoot; a future volume is both welcome and inevitable (we hope!). Readers who enjoy humorous memoirs infused with a healthy dose of pop culture are sure to love this book, which has the potential to be an entertaining and provocative book club choice.Audrey Snowden, Cleveland P.L.
Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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