Amateur Hour

Motherhood in Essays and Swear Words

By: Kimberly Harrington

Narrated by: Gabra Zackman

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.

Hilarious, relatable, and a great plane listen

At a new mom, this was exactly what I needed to hear. Things that I could laugh along to, cry to, or just wonder how they will play out in my own life. The performance was enjoyable, and the words were memorable.

I’ve got my own swear words

This book was extremely rough to get through. On MANY occasions, I just wanted to stop listening. It was SO whiny and “whoa is me”. The author (who is CLEARLY Left politically) criticizes everything. The last 2 chapters of the book are the only thing worth listening to and the only thing I could really relate to. The rest of it was like nails on a chalkboard (not because of the speaker, but because of the actual content of the book). Save your credits/money/time, cause this book is not worth any of it.

Not worth the time

As a new mom this book sounded like it would be relatable and hilarious. I could barely get through the first two chapters. The narrator was good, but the content was not. I'm disappointed I spent money on this book.