Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year

this was such a lovely, sweet book about what it really is to experience that first year of parenting, when you are so incredibly overwhelmed with love and exhaustion, and how you can't imagine anything better than your baby but also want to dash him against a wall so you can just go to sleep. she captures it exactly. and her gorgeous friendships with these people in her life, what a community she has created for herself and her son. i didn't expect the sadness to be there in this, but that's the way of life, isn't it? i also didn't expect so much of the god stuff (which i should have, knowing what she writes) but found that i really didn't mind it so much. even as god is for her, jesus and church and christianity, it's also the show more moonlight and the scent of flowers and her friend's laugh, and i appreciated her expansive view on it, even as i could never believe myself. show less

What a beautiful, completely honest book. In addition to being wildly funny and touching at the same time, I think it would be a great gift for mothers-to-be. You're not alone, and it's okay to hate the baby.

Anne Lamott is the most honest, funny, sincere, spontaneous, vulnerable, strong, serious, spiritual writer I can think of. In this book, she chronicles her pregnancy, her son's birth, and the first year of his life. During that same year her best friend is diagnosed with incurable breast cancer. In taking you along for the ride, you will experience transcendent ups, crushing downs, and will laugh out loud at both ends of the extremes. Highly recommended for anyone who is human.

A fantastic, brutally honest, poignant account of the author's first year of motherhood. Lamott says the things that many, if not most, of us won't even admit to thinking. Her wit, sense of humor, depth of emotion, and self-awareness flavor every word she writes. As the mother of a child who had a difficult first year, I finished this book feeling relief that I wasn't alone/insane/incapable, that there was at least one other woman out there who understood and had the courage to speak honestly about the hardest and most rewarding job there is.

This book was loaned to me when my son was 5 months old. I found it incredibly comforting to hear the inside story of Ms. Lamott's struggle with parenthood. For many parents, there are some difficult times when your child is so very needy and you are so physically and emotionally drained you think a crack-up is in your immediate future. And whether you have a spouse, a partner, a best friend, or supportive parents of your own, most new parents spend time alone with thier demanding babies wondering when and how their sanity might return. I laughed a little, cried a little, but most of all felt relief of knowing that while parenting a baby can sometimes feel isolating and lonely, this is a common experience from which parents and children show more emerge all the better. show less

I loved this book so much. Anne Lamott wrote her account of motherhood in the first year with honesty and humour. I nod my head and think, "Yes, YES, exactly how I felt!" every few pages in. It reminds me of my own son, all his "firsts", all my joy and frustrations and fears and happiness. Anne Lamott's feelings about the death of her father also struck a chord with me. Sometimes I felt like this is the book about my current life in a lot of ways.

I want to give this book to all mothers out there!

Anne Lamott is one of my favorite writers. She writes with an unflinching honesty and a self-depreciating sense of humor that makes her an incredibly accessible writer. She is probably best known for her books on writing (Bird by Bird) and faith (Traveling Mercies, Grace Eventually), but it is only natural that she penned this book describing her first year of motherhood. A single mother who is woefully unprepared both financially, spiritually and physically (she has some addiction problems), Lamott nevertheless decides to keep the baby when she discovers she has become pregnant. Her journey is both laugh-out-loud funny and incredibly sad as well. A must for any fan of Lamott and anyone interested in good writing about the experience of show more motherhood. show less