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A review by sindri_inn_arsaeli
Motherhood, the Second Oldest Profession by Erma Bombeck
Did not finish book.
3.0
DNF, but I have a really good reason. I've held on to this darn book for years without any desire to read it, only because it's about being a mom and my mom gave it to me and told me she thought I would like it. I picked it up two or three times, and read a page or two here and there, and it never grabbed me. So finally, I thought, "damn it, the dumb thing isn't that long, just knock it out and be done with it, and then I can shove it in a Little Free Library." So I sat down and tried to plow through.
I smirked at a few parts here and there, but honestly, it's fairly dated, and while Bombeck was, yes, I get it, something of a pioneer, I am a modern mom who has seen all of these points boiled down to memes, and ad nauseum. None of the jokes were fresh any more. It wasn't BAD, just completely dull.
And then I got to chapter 15: What kind of a mother would... Die and not take you with her? JULIE.
And it wasn't about tired jokes. Or dragged out punchlines. It was heartfelt. Heartbreaking. And tragically, joyously, beautiful. Still something I'm sure is no longer new by 2020, but something I felt better for reading. It was a beautiful story about a still very young mother, only in her 40's, taken by cancer. And she leaves a beautiful gift for each of her children by telling them each exactly what they gave to her during her life. I cried.
And that's when I thought, well, this is it. This is the best and the most I'm going to get out of this book. And I had another on my TBR right next to me.
So thank you, Erma Bombeck, for seven beautiful pages for me to end on. And I hope whoever next pulls it from the Little Free Library will find in its pages something for them to cherish, as well.
I smirked at a few parts here and there, but honestly, it's fairly dated, and while Bombeck was, yes, I get it, something of a pioneer, I am a modern mom who has seen all of these points boiled down to memes, and ad nauseum. None of the jokes were fresh any more. It wasn't BAD, just completely dull.
And then I got to chapter 15: What kind of a mother would... Die and not take you with her? JULIE.
And it wasn't about tired jokes. Or dragged out punchlines. It was heartfelt. Heartbreaking. And tragically, joyously, beautiful. Still something I'm sure is no longer new by 2020, but something I felt better for reading. It was a beautiful story about a still very young mother, only in her 40's, taken by cancer. And she leaves a beautiful gift for each of her children by telling them each exactly what they gave to her during her life. I cried.
And that's when I thought, well, this is it. This is the best and the most I'm going to get out of this book. And I had another on my TBR right next to me.
So thank you, Erma Bombeck, for seven beautiful pages for me to end on. And I hope whoever next pulls it from the Little Free Library will find in its pages something for them to cherish, as well.