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I Sleep At Red Lights
by Bruce Stockler
Entertaining
Having the unique perspective of the only man who lives his life in the stay-at-home mom filled suburbs, I Sleep at Red Lights is a humorous glimpse into the life of a stay-at-home dad of four. Starting with his wife’s second pregnancy (with triplets) and ending around the time his triplets should be starting school, Stockler writes with entertaining clarity about his life.
Like any life, Stockler’s is not just one laugh after the other. In fact, the timing of the book encapsulates some of the worst things he has had to deal with. Faced with his mother’s death, he wonders what he could have done differently, asks if he’s the only one who’s ever wanted to go back in time just to smack some sense into their past-selves. But his personality, somewhere between ironic and philosophical, kept me reading, kept me interested in how he would face this next challenge. His honesty (the need to channel movie characters to project strength in times of doubt; the indefensible position of not being able to find the perfect lemon cookies for your wife’s craving) in storytelling makes for a compelling read.
From pregnancy to what being a two-income family really means; from the strange isolation of trudging through 2 a.m. feedings, to the odd connected ness of being a new parent, when clusters of strangers do everything from bless you to ask if you’ve started up a college fund yet; there’s something in his telling that makes it seem real, makes it seem more. He covers high-points and low points of parenting: the rules of triplets; the dreaded cereal aisle; the Huggies ceiling; the joy of escalators and the defeat of falling back on parental clichés.
A true worrier, that Stockler manages to find humor in anything about his chaotic life is odd; that he finds it in almost everything is amazing. He manages his life with a quirky mix of denial and over-analyzing. His writing reflects both, and is the better for it.
This book is like all the conversations that moms have been having in schoolyards and playgrounds forever. It’s nice to know some dads are catching on.
Title: I Sleep At Red Lights
Author: Bruce Stockler
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 0312315260
Review written by: Melissa McLaughlin
Reviewer's Rating:8.5
Reader's Rating: 0
Reader's Votes: 0
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