Publishers Weekly
The latest in a slew of books on fatherhood, Zevin offers the latest installment of his ongoing memoirs about having to be an adult (The Day I Turned Uncool: Confessions of a Reluctant Grown-Up). In a book that lacks the humor of his previous books, Zevin seems unaware of how unbelievably smug he sounds as he recounts the travails of moving his wife and two children from a neighborhood of “impossibly cool Brooklyn families” to one of suburban bliss: “big yard, two-car garage, and a neighborhood playground.” This leads him to fill his memoir with vaguely updated observations on topics that were old when they first described life in 1950s suburbia: “Here’s what date night is... the goal is to stay awake in each other’s presence.” But he sometimes does have a way of making trivial and mundane insights into a deep spiritual experience that demands to be shared with others. In one chapter, Zevin finds himself berating an “Aloof Hipster Dad” to accept that the hip attitude doesn’t hide that “ou’re just in over your head like the rest of us.” (May)
People
Zevin is one hilarious house-husband—like Seinfeld for the stay-at-home-dad set. Raise a sippy cup and cheer him on.
Boston Globe
"Zevin, in the grand tradition of humorists, has made the most of his failures...What elevates his work above mere irreverence is the quality of insight he brings to relatively familiar terrain."
Forward
"Zevin is a poster boy for egalitarian — even feminist — fatherhood. But at the same time, he presents himself as a loving goof-off: a guy who’s picked the most enjoyable option — parenting — over working a high-powered, full-time job…With nods to Woody Allen and Larry David, Zevin has forged a persona of half-dorky (yet all-devoted) Jewish dad that’s endearing.
USA Today
Dave Barry has made a career of writing about Dave Barry. P.J. O'Rourke writes about P.J. O'Rourke. And David Sedaris writes about David Sedaris and the strange Sedaris clan into which he was born. You could throw Zevin in with any of them and he would hold his own. He might even float to the top.
From the Publisher
Dan Zevin yanks the car seats and the sippy cups out of that minivan and sticks a blow Hemi dragster engine back there—I mean in his prose style. In his lifestyle it's, um . . . a different matter.” —P.J. O’Rourke
"It’s a book about a regular guy taking his first tentative, sometimes scary steps toward being a fully formed adult, and it is always funny and sometimes laugh-out-loud hilarious.... Highly recommended to fans of Barry, Roy Blount, and Bill Geist." —Booklist
People Magazine
Zevin is one hilarious house-husband—like Seinfeld for the stay-at-home-dad set. Raise a sippy cup and cheer him on.
Library Journal - Audio
Humorist Zevin's memoirs have taken us through his post-college days, wedding, and early marriage. Now, two children after his last volume, The Day I Turned Uncool: Confessions of a Reluctant Grown-up, Zevin amusingly recounts his early days of fatherhood from finding the right nanny to the best way to tour Disneyland with kids. In this first audiobook release of his works, it isn't just his children who have matured. Other signs of Zevin's aging include the eponymous minivan purchase that has left him open to snarky comments from current hip guys, including one driving a Vespa scooter who mockingly remarks on the minivan being a babe magnet. Zevin draws on his experience as a radio personality and does a fine job narrating his own work. VERDICT This easy listening book is recommended for fans of Zevin's earlier books and those who enjoy the burgeoning field of fatherhood titles.—Deb West, Gannon Univ. Lib., Erie, PA
