Mother on Fire A True Motherf Story About Parenting
Mother on Fire A True Motherf Story About Parenting
This is a story about the year I exploded into flames. Which turns out to be more common than you’d think, among forty-something humans. Yea, we can hold it together in our thirties, with a raft of hair products and semi-tall nonfat half-caf beverages and much brisk walking to a lot of interesting appointments. Come the forties, though, cracks begin to appear. One staggers suddenly along life’s path; gourmet coffee splats; the wig slips askew. In other words, my friends, THE WHEELS COME OFF.
Sandra Tsing Loh is the fiercest, funniest, and most incredibly honest and self-deprecating voice to emerge from the “mommy war” debates. In Mother on Fire, she fires away with her trademark hilarious satire of societal and personal irks large and small, including limo liberals who preach the virtues of public school but send their children to fashionable private ones, the proliferation of costly skin-care products that just don’t cut it, society’s obsession with aromatherapy, her Chinese father’s disdain for her life as an artist, and $10 Target pants (“Are they running pants, exercise pants, pajama pants?”) that are the ubiquitous Mother of Small Children uniform.
Prompted by her own midlife crisis, Loh throws her frantic energy not into illicit affairs, shopping binges, or exotic trips, but into the harrowing heart of contemporary, dysfunctional L.A. life when she realizes that she can’t afford private school for her daughter, and her only alternative is her neighborhood’s public school, Guavatorina, where most of the kids speak Spanish and qualify for free lunches. In a theater-of-the-absurd-style odyssey, Mother on Fire documents Loh’s “year of living dangerously” among pompous school admissions officials, lactose-intolerant, Prius-driving parents, mafia dons of public radio, vindictive bosses, and old friends with new money as she first kisses ass—and then kicks it.
User Ratings and Reviews
2 Stars Not the best Sandra Tsing Loh
I have loved the previous books by the author, “A Year in Van Nuys” and “Depth Takes a Holiday”. Unfortunately, I found “Mother on Fire” to be long winded, rambling and as downright confusing as the author found navigating the Los Angeles school system. And let me say part of the reason I loved her previous books was because of the wildly crazy tangents the author would go on. At about the half way mark though, there was no clear logic to the content or chapter structure. I was relishing hearing more about Loh’s NPR infamous NPR incident but instead, it just veered off into more non-sensical talk about kids and schools. I admit that as I don’t have children, I fear I am not the target audience for this book. Parents and working mothers will probably enjoy this, for everyone else, I strongly recommend checking the book out via your public library before making a purchase.
5 Stars Funny, witty and honest
I have been reading Loh since her very frist book came out. Even dragged my husband to one of her shows in San Jose a while back, which I enjoyed emmensely. I have eagerly bought every one of her books. Why? because she is so right on, so without shame or pretense, about all aspects of her life. So without PCness. She is one of a kind. This particular book is so touching. Funny, witty, and honest.
3 Stars right for mothers in the same boat
Entertaining enough to get through, but pretty lightweight. Seems padded a bit excessively to get enough for a book. Still, it resonates with those of us in the same boat, more or less (i.e., middle-class 40’s moms of very young kids).
5 Stars Desperate, Defiant, Brilliant!
This book was a marvelous, manic reading experience. I had never heard Tsing Loh’s pieces for NPR nor read any of her books (other than her pieces for the Atlantic), and I tumbled into this “parenting memoir” headfirst. Her theme is the desperate search for a kindergarten for her 4 year old daughter, Hannah. Her problem is lack of money - she and her husband, both bohemian artists, wouldn’t consider the all-Hispanic neighborhood public school, but can’t afford the posh private kindergartens in secluded enclaves where her wealthy liberal friends send their children. Tsing Loh describes her quest for kindergarten vividly, crazily, hysterically. Each different kindergarten tour takes a chapter, and Tsing Loh creates a world that is oddly familiar, but with the proportions skewed, the emotions cubist. I can only imagine what it’s like to have her as a mother! At some point I wondered whether she wasn’t rather self absorbed. By the penultimate chapter, in a manic monologue, she has taken my point, and acknowledges that it’s time to grow up. The final chapter, titled simply “Julie Andrews”, is brilliant and as someone for whom Julie was a close personal childhood friend, I like, totally identify! The book is first rate, amazing, and rings uncannily true.
3 Stars Worth a few hours
I was happy to spend a few hours reading Sandra Tsing Lo’s amusing opinions on public schools, friendship, scented soups and pathetic baby boomers because I am in a similar place in my life right now.
As an added plus, Loh also mentioned my hero, Richard Feynman, whose autobiographical books (Surely You Must Be Joking, What Do You Care What People Think, etc.) surreptitiously give excellent advice on how to encourage a child’s curiosity.
Although I admire Loh’s intelligence, honesty and rage, I didn’t care for her sophomoric writing style and probably wouldn’t buy her other books.
Filed under: Parenting Books