Do-Over!: In which a forty-eight-year-old father of three returns to kindergarten, summer camp, the prom, and other embarrassmen

While I expected that Do-Over would make me laugh, I didn't anticipate the lovely sadness it would make me feel. By "lovely sadness" I mean it is full of warmth and humanity; Hemley doesn't write just for the easy laugh. Rather than just describing for the reader what happened as he "did over" past failures and embarrassments, he journeys inside the experience in order to understand what these events meant: both now and in the past. From reading his book I learned a lot about Robin Hemley, of course, but I also came to understand more about the human condition generally - which is what a great book does for a reader. Hemley encounters the past in the best possible way, with the insight of his adult self--a wise, caring, warm and funny adult self. After reading Do-Over, you will want to tell all your friends to read it, too.

"There's a new kid in class..He's very big. I don't know what to think about that." Robin Hemley's do-overs are brave and honest, and yes, laugh out loud funny. He's frank and vulnerable about his insecurities and past missteps, achingly so at times. But there's a lot of Do-ing Now in DO-OVER too. The layering of those two worlds--past and present--will take you on a rich journey through sweet and painful regrets only to land you at the center of Hemley's tender and full life, one in which Then and Now form a wise and witty truce.

Be ready to hold your side while reading Do Over. I slurped down most of the book while sitting on a plane to New York - my fellow passengers starred at me as I shook with laughter and smiled with every muscle of my body. I even caught them watching my hand as I reached into my purse a few times to tap the tears streaming from eyes. Finally a burly white haired man leaned across the aisle and asked me what I was reading. Out loud I read an excerpt from the first essay and the first two rows of the coach class were laughing in the aisles. This book is the perfect Father's Day gift. Or just send it to one of your childhood friends and oh the conversations that will arise.

One thing Robin Hemley won't ever have to do over is Do-Over!, his hilarious, wise, and moving account of his attempts to revisit and correct his past embarrassments and failures. This is a masterpiece of contemporary creative nonfiction and an absolute blast to read. Through his do-overs, Hemley reaches a delicate kind of détente with his past self and learns how to become a better father to his four daughters. This book would make an ideal Father's Day gift--or any kind of gift. The book is so good it has inspired me to do a do-over of my own: I plan to re-read it again very soon.

This book has a zany "dare me to do it" premise that makes for many laugh-out-loud moments, but like all great comedy there is something very true and essential about us being shown. In this case, with each "do-over" it's something about childhood and adolescence, how we remember them, and how our memories of failure affect us as adults-- and parents. By going straight into the contexts in which his past flubs and failures occurred, Robin Hemley becomes more aware of what his own kids are going through (and have gone through). It's a very entertaining and thoughtful book.