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I got an ARC copy of this book in the mail. I read it in a mere 2 hours. Why? Because it was free and because I could basically peruse through it because if you’ve read www.dooce.com then you’ve already read 97% of this book. I hate blog to book deals where the publisher basically regurgitates what the blogger has already put out there for free. Are people supposed to actually pay to read the same depressive “I loathe raising children because I don’t have time to pluck my own eyebrows” memoir style entries in a book form? I didn’t pay for this and while I used to read “her” blog, I can’t stomach it anymore.
I am a parent and I have suffered from depression the majority of my life. But I can’t stomach how Heather Armstrong speaks about her child in one sentence as though she loves her so much she can barely stop herself from “eating” her child and in the next she writes about the massive amounts of resentment she has towards her for robbing her of her former freedom. Leta didn’t rob you Heather; you chose to give birth to her. It’s your responsibility to raise her, not her debt to you to make up for. She’s going to one day resent you for plastering her entire life all over the www for your own pocketbook stuffing.
While I find Mrs. Armstrong to be quirky at some turns, by and large this compilation, and that’s what it is (a compilation of blog material that’s all now over 4 years old) the same drivel you can read for free if you’re so inclined.
Incidentally, a stint in a mental health hospital that lasts for 4 day’s is really so very minor in the world of depression. I mean…really. My Aunt had postpartum depression, never resented her own child, and she spent months in a facility trying to muster up the courage to merely take a shower. The state of her eyebrows was the last thing on her mind when she was sick. I think that humour’s a wonderful thing, but some things are just not topics to joke about. Mother’s who loathe motherhood certainly shouldn’t have any more children. But I’m sure that’s the 3rd book to bank on.
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This book covers the early pregnancy days, the early Leta days, all the day’s that have been well documented already. How many times can you rinse lather and repeat the “Dear Leta Month 324,567″ letters?  I think it was when she hit Month 37 when I finally got fed up and quit reading THAT blog altogether. Why do women who can easily have babies loathe so many things about them? As a woman who would love to have had more children it’s largely disheartening.