This was a cute little collection of stories about Jewish moms, written by their daughters, most of whom make a living either writing, acting or doing stand up (or some combination of the three). It was hardly an earth shattering read, but the stories were sweet and funny and make you want you call your mom.
My mom is not Jewish, but she was raised Roman Catholic and there’s a lot of overlap in the stereotypes: obsessed with feeding you, meddling in your life and applying guilt as needed. What I like about this book was that most of the writers acknowledged how their mothers fit the stereotype (although a few mentioned that they broke the mold), but that they appreciated these traits in their mom. I agree. My mom is a meddler, but she’s also my advocate and has always stood up for me (while telling me to stand up for myself).
This is not a collection of women bitching about their moms; it’s a celebration of funny stories mother/daughter relationships. Most of the entries are only a few pages long, so it’s a quick read and one that you can set down easily and come back to.
One note: Mayim Bialik (Blossom, The Big Bang Theory)’s name is featured boldly on the cover. In reality, her story is one of the shortest and least interesting. I really enjoyed the anecdotes from the names that I didn’t recognized the most.