Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Humor
Approximate word count: 55-60,000 words
Availability
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Author:
Anon is a
group of stay-at-home Dads who teamed up to tell the story of a man going
through the same experience.
Description:
“Paul
Rogers is not a good man, but he’s not a bad man either. He’s a man who, due to
a high-earning wife and company lay-offs, finds himself at home looking after
his baby son.
His days as
a rare and angry male carer take him through swimming pools full of naked
mothers to lesbian support groups, telling lies to ex-colleagues about Filipino
nannies and leaving obscene comments on parenting blogs. Throughout it all,
Paul’s life lurches like a badly-maintained stroller towards a devastating and
liberating conclusion: his baby’s first day in daycare.”
Appraisal:
Paul Rogers
comes off as a bit of a … jerk is the word that I can safely use that best
fits. I didn’t much like him at first. But I kept on reading, because the
adventures as a stay-at-home dad he was relating (a mixture of titillating and
humorous) were still entertaining, plus I wanted to see how it worked out in
the end. As I read on I realized that much of Paul’s story was spin, with
fantasies masquerading as truth, stories slanted to make him look better than
reality, or a case of sour grapes, claiming he didn’t care or that something
was no big deal when in reality it was. As the story progresses, Paul changes
for the better, growing into and enjoying his new role, even if he doesn’t want
to admit it, sometimes even to himself.
The writing
was done well, however, there was one point in the book where the voice changed
drastically, from a solid, but more conversational prose style to what I can
only describe as literary, with more flowery language and bigger, less common
words. Both styles were okay (although the predominate style better fit the
book’s genre), however the abrupt change was jarring. Still an interesting and
entertaining, if at times exasperating read.
FYI:
Some adult
situations and language.
It isn’t
clear where the authors are from. Possibly some from the US and some from the
UK. It appears the intent was to use US spelling conventions, although a few UK
spellings slipped through. However, due to syntax and the frequent use of one
expletive with a different meaning and usage in the two countries, I’m fairly
certain at least one if not all the authors are from the UK. (Not that this
really matters, I just found it interesting.)
Format/Typo Issues:
No
significant issues.
Rating: **** Four Stars
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