Amy's Answering Machine: Messages from Mom

Whoever said, ?truth is stranger than fiction? got it right. Truth is also much funnier than fiction. You couldn?t make this stuff up. It?s always fun to laugh at our own or others? nuttiness. That?s why this book is so amusing. I loved ?And I Thought I Was Crazy! Quirks, Idiosyncrasies and Meshugaas? by Judy Reiser for the same reason.

My daughter and I both read this book and were laughing so hard we had mascara running down our cheeks. We took turns reading the messages and, while my daughter claims they sound exactly like me, I really don?t think I?m that overprotective, but then we don?t always see ourselves objectively. The illustrations were really fun, my favorite being the one where Amy?s mother puts Amy?s picture on a milk carton after she?s ?missing? for an hour or so. My daughter especially got a kick out of Amy?s running commentary; for example, where Amy lists the reasons that a mother is better than a guy, the main one being that when a guy says he?s going to call, you never know if he?ll follow through, but with a mother, she?ll call come hell or high water. (I forget how Amy phrases it. I probably butchered her prose!) My only criticism, if there is one, is that unless you read the introduction that explains that ?Amila? is the mother?s nickname for ?Amy,? you might be confused as to whether her name is Amy or Amila. Okay, minor point, but I tend to be a stickler for details. All in all, though, this book is proof that truth is much funnier than fiction, and it makes great reading for yourself and would be a great gift for anyone who suffers through life with a mother whose love and good intentions can be somewhat suffocating yet, at least in this case, very entertaining.

This book and the hilarious cd that came out before provide ample ammunition for moving as far away from your mother as possible. At least when they leave a message they can't criticize the way you look (yet)! I understand Amy's mother and my own much better now. I have thrown away my lambskin condoms and burned my red bathrobe.

For every woman and her mother, or anyone that knows anyone that has a mother! This is a hilarious, real-life account of a loving, over-protective, unintentionally hilarious Jewish mom and her lengthy, insightful and sometimes bizarre answering machine messages that she leaves for her daughter. Most people couldn't invent anecdotes this entertaining. Laugh out-loud funny, this is a wonderful gift for almost anyone. My sister, my mom and my grandmother and have lent it to almost everyone I know. It's a smash favorite!