Fiction
Released May, 2014
337 Pages
Bottom Line: Skip it
Source: eGalley provided by publisher via NetGalley
Plot Summary of Cutting Teeth:
Five thirty-something couples from Brooklyn spend the weekend together with their young children in a Long Island beach house.
My Thoughts on Cutting Teeth:
Cutting Teeth has been hyped as a “book to watch” in May and as one of the “most anticipated debuts of 2014”. After thinking I would enjoy this book because I’m the same age as most of the adult characters and have children the same age as those in the book (and including it on my list of Upcoming Releases I’m Excited About), I was sadly wrong.
There is a lack of likable characters (and, I mean, not a single one). The parents are mommy blog and preschool obsessed, overly sanctimonious Brooklyn yuppies. They’re tiresome to listen to and I’m sure would be unbearable to be around. These people are constantly striving with their “dream birth plans”, child therapists (for a three year old), and homemade Play Doh. Part of what I love about reading is escaping into the world the author has created and this was a world I wanted to run…I mean, sprint…far away from.
Usually, when a book deals with exposing the peculiar behaviors of a certain world, there is a rational outsider (maybe in the form of a narrator) to provide some witty social commentary and a welcome respite from the craziness. There was no such character or respite in Cutting Teeth, which left me unable to have a sense of humor about these insufferable people. There also wasn’t much of a storyline to carry things…the whole book was pretty much just a description of these people being their crazy selves for the weekend.
Five couples crammed into a beach house with their toddlers is a situation ripe for humor and was something I expected out of this book. Kids do hilarious things and including some funny kid stories is a missed opportunity that could have made Cutting Teeth so much more bearable.
Needless to say, Cutting Teeth will not be going on my 2014 Summer Reading List after all.
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I doubt this will remain in my TBR list –especially as someone with grown children and grandchildren —I couldn’t relate and dislike whining and complaining.
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy this one. I am older than the group featured but I do remember so many of those moments with my kids and spouse. I felt there were two moms I could relate to, even though they had some extreme issues I didn’t share, they had a better hold on what they waned I believe. Yes others were extremely unpleasant, but sadly that’s how I’ve found a lot of parenting circles, be it the other soccer moms or preschool moms/parents.
I think you do find this a lot in parenting circles (although definitely not in all of them!), I just didn’t want these people to inhabit my life for the days I was reading the book. I found myself saying “ugh, I can’t listen to these people anymore” too frequently while reading.
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Oh man!! I’ve only read one review of this one but it was fairly glowing. I immediately put it on my radar and planned to look into it but I really appreciate your thoughts. Being in the midst of the mommy-trenches right now, I’m not sure I’d appreciate the insufferable characters.
I’m sure some people will like it – it just wasn’t for me. I also just moved out of NYC and ran into a fair number of people like that – maybe it struck a bit too close to home.
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This book is getting a lot of buzz lately! I’ve got it on hold at the library and am glad I read your review… it will temper my expectations (always a good thing).
High expectations also could have played a part in my opinion – I was really excited about this one. I feel like it’s hard to live up to the hype and I usually end up loving books I go into without any pre-conceived notions.
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Thanks for your candid review. This does not sound like one I would enjoy.
I saw this, and since my daughter loved Raggedy Ann as a child, I thought about hunting it down. Mommy blogs. Who knew this was a thing? I’m not in the right demographic for this, so will pass. Thanks for the review!
OUCH! that does not sound good at all. I hadn’t heard of this one, and won’t be looking for it!