Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son

by Anne Lamott, Sam Lamott Narrated by Anne Lamott, Sam Lamott

Overview

In Some Assembly Required, Anne Lamott enters a new and unexpected chapter of her own life: grandmotherhood.

Stunned to learn that her son, Sam, is about to become a father at 19, Lamott begins a journal about the first year of her grandson, Jax's, life.

In careful and often hilarious detail, Lamott and Sam - about whom she first wrote so movingly in Operating Instructions - struggle to balance their changing roles with the demands of college and work, as they both forge new relationships with Jax's mother, who has her own ideas about how to raise a child. Lamott writes about the complex feelings that Jax fosters in her, recalling her own experiences with Sam when she was a single mother. Over the course of the year, the rhythms of life, death, family, and friends unfold in surprising and joyful ways.

By turns poignant and funny, honest and touching, Some Assembly Required is the true story of how the birth of a baby changes a family - as this book will change everyone who listens to it.

Editorial Reviews

Yvonne Zipp

This is a kindly book, full of Lamott's trademark neurotic spirituality, and it's one Lamott's fans will want, because they've watched Sam grow up through her memoirs and her column in Salon.
—The Washington Post

Publishers Weekly

In Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son’s First Year (1993), Lamott humorously and poignantly chronicled the sometimes painful, often joyful ups and downs of raising her son, Sam, as a single mother. Twenty years later, when Sam announces that he is going to become a father, Lamott is stunned, disappointed, overjoyed, and hopeful. Much as she did in her reflections on Sam’s first year, she and Sam chronicle her grandson Jax’s birth and all of the tremendous anxieties and life-altering events that it brings. Throughout this first year of being a grandmother, Lamott lives by two slogans: “‘Figure it out’ is not a good option,” and “Ask and allow—ask God, and allow grace in.” Through e-mails, interviews, and letters, Lamott and Sam sort out the difficulties and pleasures of raising a child, but Lamott devotes the bulk of the journal to sorting out her own feelings of love, anger, bewilderment, and happiness. She observes that her son and his son share deep powers of observation and focus, though as a baby Sam was more edgy in his watchfulness and Jax has a sturdy, calm quality. She learns that her job is simply to help keep Jax safe, support his explorations, and not have a complete collapse all the time from loving someone so deeply. Lamott’s insights into grandmotherhood are hardly profound or startling, but her canny ability to see the extraordinary in the ordinary with wit and irreverence makes for an entertaining ride through Jax’s first year. (Mar.)

From the Publisher

[Lamott’s] crisp writing and self-deprecating honesty ring charmingly true.”

—People

“[Some Assembly Required is] full of Lamott’s trademark neurotic spirituality, and it’s one Lamott’s fans will want.”

—The Washington Post

“Wonderful . . . [with] Lamott’s trademark sharp wit and self-deprecating humor . . . Like so many of Lamott’s books, [Some Assembly Required] leaves readers with new insights.”

—The Associated Press

“[Lamott’s] typical combination of astuteness and wit . . . As always, Lamott’s ‘raggedy faith’ is central to her, and whether you share her concerns or not, you appreciate her candor.”

—NPR

“The story of one year in a woman’s life, a year that happens to include the arrival of a blanket-bundled gift for Lamott and her longtime readers.”

—San Francisco Chronicle

“[Some Assembly Required] highlights the trademark humor we've come to expect from Lamott, with laugh-out-loud one-liners that are both self-deprecating and wise … a welcome addition in the larger Gospel of Lamott.”
—Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Funny, insightful, irreverent…filled with humor and the author's quirky faith…Bound to do for grandmothers what the earlier book did for mothers — bring them insight and sanity in the midst of chaos.”
—The Denver Post

“Anne Lamott’s singular gift for bringing readers into the intimate circle of her life flows effortlessly in this new memoir, mixing the absurd and sublime with her usual alchemical genius…you’ll be seduced by the darkly comic tone, self-deprecating wit, and relentless honesty; she somehow makes the bumps and joys of her life intensely relatable. She can capture the bliss and beauty of tiny emotional events in a few perfect words, then skewer her own worst impulses with brutal hilarity.”
—Bust Magazine   

Library Journal - Audio

Early on, Anne Lamott writes a sentence that neatly sums up this memoir and perhaps her whole oeuvre: "this is life on life's terms, not Annie's." In Lamott's case, life surprised her with an early grandchild from her young son, Sam, then 19. She recounts her dutiful support and earnest reliability during the stressful birth and first year of the new family. As in her other writing, Lamott here discusses her feelings about events with honesty and openness. Unfortunately, nothing exceptional is going on, and neither Lamott's overwrought prose nor her overlong explanations can mask the tedium. VERDICT The authors' lack of skill as narrators destroy this as an audio title; Anne's monotonous, overly serious honk grates after just a few seconds, and Sam's quiet passages reflect his dewy-eyed outlook. For fans only. [The Riverhead hc was a New York Times best seller.]—Douglas C. Lord, Connecticut State Lib., Middletown

Library Journal

A best-selling author of fiction and nonfiction, Lamott again touches affectingly on personal issues, here recounting learning that her 19-year-old son, Sam, would soon become a father and then detailing the first year of grandson Jax. Great for Lamott fans and other gentle souls.

MARCH 2012 - AudioFile

With self-reflective observations and comments from her thoughtful son, Lamott delivers the latest adventure in her heart-grabbing journey through life. Diary entries, emails, and conversations describe how she and her 19-year-old son embraced an unexpected baby and adjusted to life with a young mother who had her own agenda, her own family. Neither author reads with the emotional projection and vocal appeal that this writing deserves. But what they say and how they grew during that year are so rewarding that you can’t help but love and admire them. They show how the impact of unplanned events and relationships can be softened by the miracle of a new life. It’s welcome encouragement that any lovable neurotic can bob and weave his or her way through the midlife conflicts that such events can provoke. T.W. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

Being a grandparent is harder than it looks. Such is Lamott's (Imperfect Birds, 2010, etc.) message in this angst-ridden, occasionally neurotic diary of her grandson's first year. After gaining a large audience for Operating Instructions (1993), which chronicled her son Sam's first year of life, the author sets out to do the same after Sam became a father at age 19. Sam and erstwhile girlfriend Amy are parents to a healthy baby boy named Jax. In nearly daily entries, Lamott shares details of her life beginning with Jax's first full day after birth. Filled with a variety of characters--Sam, the young father in over his head; Amy, the beautiful mother whose strength Lamott seems to envy; Jax, the almost-perfect baby; various friends and family--the book is mostly about the author and her seething river of insecurities and anxieties. At nearly every turn, Lamott comes up with some new thing to worry about, a new facet of herself to loathe or a new characteristic of those close to her to deride and belittle. She struggles constantly with boundaries as a grandmother, and she bemoans her lack of control over situations. Another source of near-constant anxiety is the prospect of Amy moving away with Jax. Other fears are less grounded in reality: "I have these morbid, terrifying fantasies--but I had the same ones before Jax was born, that the baby would die and Sam would commit suicide." Eventually readers will grow tired of the author's angst, self-doubt and general negativity. A pale companion piece to Operation Instructions.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940172224027
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	03/20/2012
Edition description:	Unabridged

Videos