LOST IN SUBURBIA

Lighthearted, mostly humorous memoir of suburban motherhood based on the author's nationally syndicated column.

Published by more than 400 newspapers in 25 states, Beckerman's column inspired an eponymous blog (lostinsuburbia.net), and her funny accounts of situations running the gamut from mundane to outrageous have resonated with readers, particularly mothers of young children. This book opens with a scene in which the always self-deprecating Beckerman, on an afternoon school run to pick up her daughter, was pulled over by a police officer who dryly observed that she was wearing her bathrobe. Chapter titles, including "I'm Not Fat, I'm Just Pregnant. Okay, I'm Fat, Too" and " 'P' Is for Parenting and Prozac," in addition to Beckerman's tone, are consistently zippy and dramatic. She includes plenty of confrontations, like the scene in which her husband discovered she got a tattoo at age 35, as well as internal monologues riffing on the less-appealing aspects of motherhood, such as the lack of time to take a shower. The tattoo and subsequent chopping off of her hair are ascribed to Beckerman's desire to be "cool" again, the way she was pre-motherhood when she worked in TV and lived in Manhattan. These efforts string the chapters together with the theme of the reignition of her individuality. Feeling that people look down on mothers, she acknowledges that "the second we become moms we start to let ourselves go." Beckerman doesn't want to lose herself in motherhood, and her "momoir" offers entertaining vignettes about balancing her responsibilities at home with her quest to tap into her true self.

Breezy fun.