Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Crown Archetype (May 7, 2013)
Another week, another comic memoir. Since April started, there have been memoirs released by Kelly Oxford, Jen Kirkman, and Marc Maron, to name a few. Last week brought the release of Dad is Fat by comedian Jim Gaffigan.
The comedian, his wife, and five kids live in a small 2-bedroom apartment in a five-story walk up. I don't know how they do it but more power to them.
What Gaffigan does with his memoir is share his observations on fatherhood, revealing the joys and horror of raising five young children in New York City, and how to cope when you're outnumbered at home.
We are lucky that Gaffigan's family life has made for comic material for us. It's not like he hasn't shared his wit with us before as he shares it on Twitter all the time. He could have written a book about what it was like to have grown up in Indiana but he didn't.
Some of the topics in the book include his going from a loner to a family man, food, becoming vice president of his household, big families in general, the narcissist's guide to babies and toddlers, how children have terrible taste, plus other subjects like babysitters, critiquing children's literature, survival, and bedtime.
Overall, what we have from Gaffigan is a charming and irresistibly candid take on the ups and downs of parenting, which isn't what one usually expects from a comedian.
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