Review by New York Times Review
AN ODYSSEY: A Father, a Son, and an Epic, by Daniel Mendelsohn. (Vintage, $16.) Mendelsohn - a classicist, translator and critic - teaches a course on the "Odyssey" at Bard College, and one semester his 81-year-old father decided to enroll. The experience, along with a 10-day cruise inspired by the poem, is a route to mutual understanding, and Mendelsohn weaves in reflections on his childhood and love of classics. DUNBAR, by Edward St. Aubyn. (Hogarth Shakespeare, $16.) A modern reimagining of "King Lear" casts Lear as Dunbar, an aging media mogul whose two eldest daughters conspire to keep him in a sanitarium - and out of the family business. The novel has the underpinnings of a thriller as Dunbar plots his escape; the hero, from his language to his chosen profession, is convincingly updated to suit contemporary times. MOVE FASTAND BREAK THINGS: How Facebook, Google, and Amazon Cornered Culture and Undermined Democracy, by Jonathan Taplin. (Back Bay/Little, Brown, $17.99.) In his biography of these Silicon Valley titans, Taplin takes a grimmer view than many tech journalists. "The original mission of the internet," he writes, "was hijacked by a small group of right-wing radicals to whom the ideas of democracy and decentralization were anathema." REFUGE, by Dina Nayeri. (Riverhead, $16.) Niloo, the protagonist of Nayeri's second novel, was 8 when she left Iran with her mother and brother for Oklahoma, and the story charts her reinvention in exile over the next two decades. Infrequent meetings with her father - a hedonistic dentist who chose to stay behind in his village - build the story's emotional core. "The strains and indignities that come with remaking a life are what give 'Refuge' poignancy and relevance," Jennifer Senior wrote in The Times. AMERICAN WOLF: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West, by Nate Blakeslee. (Broadway, $16.) Blakeslee traces the fates and fortunes of the Rocky Mountain gray wolf, which is recovering from near extinction in the 20th century. One Yellowstone wolf, a socialmedia sensation named ?-Six, takes center stage, along with two National Park Service employees driven by their passion for the species. CLASS MOM, by Laurie Gelman. (St. Martin's Griffin, $16.99.) Jen Dixon, a former wild child, has settled into motherhood, and is pitted against the other parents when she becomes the unlikely "class mom." Our reviewer, Katherine Heiny, praised this debut novel, writing, "It's impossible not to root for Jen as a fellow foot soldier in the guerrilla war against so-called perfect mothers."
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [September 16, 2018]
Review by Booklist Review
Gelman's debut draws a delightfully snarky character in Jen Dixon, kindergarten-class mom and purveyor of jaw-dropping but spot-on class updates. She has been through the whole class mom thing before with her two older daughters (by, she is pretty sure, two different musicians.) Now, she is married (Jen refers to him as her first husband) and has a son, and when she gets roped by the PTA president into being his class mom, she is determined this time will be different. The collection of parents she has to wrangle includes evil twins, a heartthrob from her high-school days whom she may or may not be flirting with, a mysteriously always-out-of-office mom, and the mother of a child with every food allergy imaginable. Snappy dialogue and quick pacing make this a fast and fun read, but copies of Jen's e-mails, which run from requesting special brownies for the class party to recording response times to volunteering for the class trip, truly make the book. Readers following the recent trend in true-mom confessions and fans of Jen Lancaster and Maria Semple will love meeting Jen Dixon.--Babiasz, Tracy Copyright 2017 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Laughter abounds in this spot-on mom-com, Gelman's debut. Jen Dixon has put her rock music groupie and single mom days behind her and is living the good life with her husband, Ron; two college-age daughters (fathered by musicians in her past); and her and Ron's five-year-old son, Max. Over her protests, Jen is charmingly strong-armed into becoming the kindergarten "Class Mom" by her best friend, PTA president Nina. As the liaison for class events, Jen puts her unique and snarky spin on communication with the parents, sending emails laced with playful threats and the occasional call for bribes and alcohol. Her misunderstood sense of humor earns her a few friends along as she faces challenges such as the ongoing struggle to gain assistance and volunteers and the reappearance of her hunky high school crush. As the school year progresses and Jen wades deeper into the drama of being in the middle of a group of strong and often outspoken personalities, Gelman showcases her comedic talent; there are hilarious observations and clever quips on nearly every page. Readers may feel overloaded by sass, but they are rewarded with a perceptive parody of parenting gone haywire. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review by Library Journal Review
When Jen Dixon is asked by her best friend (also the PTA president) to be kindergarten class mom for the third time, she begrudgingly agrees. With her first email, full of snark, wit, and charm, Jen sets the stage for how things will be in Miss Ward's class. Moms, trying to hold back tears of laughter, will relate. (LJ 5/1/17) © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Miss Ward's Kansas City kindergarten class has a room parent with major attitude."My name is Jennifer Dixon and I have volunteered' to be your class mom for this coming year. Since this is a thankless job, don't expect warm fuzzy emails like you probably got in pre-school.If I say we need doughnuts, say How many? Not Can I bring cups?' " Jen Dixon is not a typical Kansas City kindergarten mom. Her first two daughters were born back in her groupie years; one of them may or may not have been fathered by Michael Hutchence of INXS, though since he died in 1997, there's no real way of knowing. After many years as a single mom, she married Husband No. 1 who became Baby Daddy No. 3, thus inaugurating her second round of room mothering. This time she's 15 years older than everyone else and just can't take the whole kindergarten shtick as seriously as they do. The replies to her ongoing sarcastic emails typically include 1.) an instant autoreply from a never-seen mother who is permanently out of the office; 2.) an allergy-related screed from the mother of the room's nastiest little brat; 3.) sassy back talk from the cool lesbian moms; and 4.) presumptuous demands from "Kim Fancy (Nancy's mom)" and her sycophantic sidekick. Least amused of all is Asami Chang, a tone-deaf woman who thinks Jen is serious in demanding parents buy her a new coat or at least some Starbucks cards in return for optimal teacher conference times. Further complicating the situation is the fact that Jen's long-ago high school crush, "Don Burgess (he's such a fox)" is one of the class dads and foxy as ever. Gelman's debut is a literary stand-up routine, and you might as well just give in: this woman is going to get a laugh out of you. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
