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Too often, the memoirs of celebrity parents and celebrity
kids are self-indulgent drivel written more for those of us who want to live
vicariously than to learn anything particularly useful.
So I was apprehensive when I picked up a copy of Afterbirth:
Stories You Won’t Read in a Parenting Magazine, the newest series of parenting
essays to come out of Hollywood.
Phewwww. I laughed my vicarious a—off.
Comedienne Dani Klein Modisett’s collection of written
offshoots from her show “Afterbirth . . . Stories You Won’t Read in Parents
Magazine” has a nice mix of names you’ve heard (Neal Pollack, Andrew McCarthy)
and names connected to projects you’ve heard of (Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner).
Taking turns being irreverent and hilarious, the essays are
not exactly “bad parenting” so much as they are “aww, crap, no she DIDN’T”
tales . . . that sound vaguely familiar. Except eminently more fabulous.
Ironically, the standout in a book meant to be more funny
than functional isn’t a laugh-a-word piece but an introspective (and not at all
self-indulgent) essay from the unfortunately named Moon Unit Zappa. Describing
her childhood as daughter of the famous rocker Frank as the very reason she has
turned into a Type A parent, Zappa could be the poster child for “my parents
sucked, but I still decided to procreate.” Which, again, sounds awfully
familiar to half of today’s parents.
But she’s also refreshingly aware that she is no more expert
than the rest of us.
“Despite all the ways I am trying desperately to do the job
differently than my parents, I cannot claim with any certainty that I am doing
it any better,” Zappa says.
Well, we’re trying anyway. Get the book from Amazon.
Image: Amazon
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