Reading All Joy and No Fun by Jennifer Senior was a welcome break from all the fiction I have been reading. I love a good non-fiction book and this cross between a parenting and psychology book was good fun. I believe that I first heard of Jennifer Seniors book via a TED talk she gave in 2014:
Like most TED talks the speakers are very good. They are practiced and the speech comes off flawlessly. Also, like most speaking at TED then are selling something. In Ms. Senior’s case she was selling her book and doing a damn good job of it too. It worked on me. I got her book, but didn’t read it until recently.
Senior has a very interesting way of approaching the parenting book writing process. Instead of telling you how to raise your children like so many of the books out there do, she is more interested in looking at how raising children effects the parents.
What it does to us. the good and the bad. How does having children change us? It is an interesting take. I felt something was missing in this book and it could very well be the lack of child rearing advice or maybe it was something else. Funny thing is that Senior herself writes a good many book reviews. You see she works for the New York Times.
I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars. As I said, I felt something was missing, I just can’t put my finger on it. All in all it was a good fiction read, well written and researched. If you are looking for a parenting self-help book that turns the question around, this is it.