Cynthia Kaplan

Not a life-changing volume but I found this to be a pretty adequate bus-book. It was a quick read, each chapter being a separate entitity in and of itself.

Because of the format, I expected it to be more of a Laurie Notaro style of book and was a little disappointed that it wasn't. Kaplan isn't nearly as funny as Notaro and I got rather weary of the baby talk. I don't have kids so I don't much care if her son likes the boob or does not like the boob.

The Alzheimer's stories about her show more grandmother were good and hit close to home. My grandfather has the disease so I could relate instantly. Had the entire book been about her grandmother, I'd have rated it much higher.

It's a book I'm glad I didn't pay for, but I don't feel like I want a refund on the time I spent reading it. show less

Kaplan was recommended to me as the female David Sedaris, and this was not a particularly apt description. Her sense of humor is very bland and her sense of the ridiculous lacks. However, there was a touching sense of familial love in some of her chapters, especially when she discusses having to institutionalize her grandmother. But in her hands, these are the stories my girlfriends and I tell without any of the sense of surreality or humor one comes to expect from a Sedaris or even an show more Augustin Burroughs book. show less

The author had a fairly typical young American Jewess experience, and this autobiography shows events from camp to high school, marriage, deaths of grandparents through a somewhat humorous filter. It would probably be of interest to those past 25, probably not for the younger set.

I agree with other reviews. The book ranges from fair to good; nothing is "bad" nor "great" particularly.