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Amateur Hour: Motherhood in Essays and Swear Words

by Kimberly Harrington

Motherhood in the messy middle

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Regular price $27.94 USD Sale price $17.88 USD
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Paperback New English

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Awards & Recognition

  • Critical praise

    Praise from Jennifer Romolini

    Jennifer Romolini praises the book for its humorous, emotionally affirming portrayal of motherhood.

AlbakiReads Editorial

Motherhood in the messy middle

In this collection of essays, motherhood is part of a wider reckoning with adulthood, womanhood, and the person one is still becoming. Kimberly Harrington writes about the everyday pressures of parenting—from social media to bake-sale expectations—alongside the larger passage of time through midlife and children’s middle years. The book holds opposing experiences together: love and fatigue, elation and exhaustion, the mother a woman is now and the girl she once was. Its essay form makes room for these subjects to sit side by side, with humor and candid reflection shaping the account.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in candid essays about motherhood and parenting
  • Those drawn to reflections on womanhood, adulthood, and midlife
  • Readers who appreciate humor alongside frank discussion of family life

Themes

Motherhood and parentingWomanhood and adulthoodMidlife and changing identityThe pressures and pleasures of family life

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

"Kimberly Harrington deftly and hilariously uncovers all of the lies and bullshit women are told about motherhood. This book made me laugh, sure, but it also made me feel seen." -- Jennifer Romolini, chief content officer at Shondaland.com and author of Weird in a World That's Not

An emotionally honest, arresting, and funny collection of essays about motherhood and adulthood.

"Being a mother is a gift."

Where's my receipt?

Welcome to essayist Kimberly Harrington's poetic and funny world of motherhood, womanhood, and humanhood, not necessarily in that order. It's a place of loud parenting, fierce loving, too much social media, and occasional inner monologues where timeless debates are resolved such as Pro/Con: Caving to PTO Bake Sale Pressure ("PRO: Skim the crappiest brownies for myself. CON: They're really crappy.") With accessibility and wit, she captures the emotions around parenthood in artful and earnest ways, highlighting this time in the middle--midlife, the middle years of childhood, how women are stuck in the middle of so much. It's a place of elation, exhaustion, and time whipping past at warp speed. Finally, it's a quiet space to consider the girl you were, the mother you are, and the woman you are always becoming.

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