April 15, 2018
A father shares stories of his childhood and those of his two sons.McGlynn (A Door in the Ocean, 2012, etc.) was not expecting to become a father when he did. When he and his wife found out their first child was on the way, he gulped nervously and moved into the role with a mixture of trepidation and elation. The author gathers tales of his two young sons and of his own childhood into an entertaining, humorous, and enlightening series of essays on fatherhood. Readers learn of his longing for his father, who divorced his mother and moved away when the author was 12. Suddenly, his father's physical presence was reduced to a few weeks during the year, so McGlynn learned snippets of wisdom on growing into adulthood over the telephone, a touching memory of a pre-digital era. The author also shares moments of pride: watching his son at his first swim meet, supporting him at basketball games, and seeing him use the author's old skateboard. McGlynn doesn't ignore his struggles with his children: trying to discipline them when they used profanity, told their classmates that Santa was dead, or would not go to sleep at night. Throughout, the author's love for his children is palpable, as is his feeling of achievement at having done the best that he could regardless of the situation. He and his wife have favored a smaller home in order to have more money for travel, giving up material goods for the chance to create lasting memories with their children, and he hopes they appreciate that approach as they grow into adults and have their own children. Overall, the book is neither shallow nor profound but a pleasing blend of humor and humility that shows what it means to be a father in America today.A father tells timeless, funny, and honest stories of raising boys.
COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
May 1, 2018
Parenthood is never easy, especially when it's a surprise. For McGlynn, who first became a father as a broke graduate student and for the second time shortly after moving across the country for a job, fatherhood was immediately filled with ups and downs. A child of divorce, McGlynn grew up calling his dad whenever he needed to talk and continued to do so when his early adulthood insisted on throwing him curveballs: To grow up longing for a father is to grow up preoccupied with fatherhood itself. Years later, with both sons in school and life established in the Midwest, things still haven't settled down, but in a positive way. Each brutally honest chapter is filled with heart and humor as McGlynn shares his most tender and most trying moments as a parent. Fatherhood, as I've come to understand it, is an endlessly moving target, especially when it comes to boys. All parents will relate and enjoy, but fathers of sons will most certainly relish this charming and hilarious tale of fatherhood.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)