Only Child: Writers on the Singular Joys and Solitary Sorrows of Growing Up Solo

I'm the wife of an only, a man who loved being a singular sensation growing up. I'm also the mother of an only who didn't. So I was curious about what I'd find in this book. I found Siegel's piece particularly helpful in understanding why it was so hard to break into my husband's tight little family of three. And, in Teller's piece, I found reassurance that my daughter will be okay when we're even older and even grayer and she has to deal with us all by herself. Some of the pieces were laugh-out-loud funny (like the "wrong bedroom" scene in Uviller's piece), some were curious, some were sad. My final conclusion comforted me: like everything, there are lots of variations on the theme. And they're all interesting.

I read this book with great interest, not because I'm an only child (or have only children), but because I enjoy reading about family experiences and how they shape adult life. This book did not disappoint! I found it fascinating how each author's experience was so different, with some relishing in their only-hood and others finding ways to feel less solitary. Even so, common themes abound. It truly enjoyed peeking into the lives of some extremely well written authors to see how something as seemingly demographic as family size affects people throughout their development.

I found this book to be filled with a variety of honest, authentic and sensitive portrayals of writers who are only children and who are writing about a transformative experience in their status of being only children. They are entertaining stories, from a variety of published authors. The authors are introspective and want to learn more about themselves. One of the ways each does this is by writing. While parents are included in a long list of subjects these writers include such a wonderful variety of relationships that have been fulfilling and growth-producing for them. I loved how so many of them made friends into siblings. The authors were born in such varied parts of the country and I think this makes the book rich and makes each essay so different. While there are many commonalities to their lives, each essay presents the uniqueness of their lives and experiences. Their honest should be commended. It always takes courage to expose one's inner feelings and thoughts. Rather than speak to the usual stereotypes of only children, these authors present a very different picture. They are productive, smart, sharing in their stories and in their lives, and they have wonderful relationships with others. I loved the book!! Naomi Pearlman

This is a wonderful collection of essays. Buy it, buy it, buy it. Even if you are not an only-child or have never thought about the issues of only-childhood, buy it. Buy it because of the writing. The writers in this book could be writing about navel lint, but that would still be a collection I would get. The essays are both poignant and hilarious, and often both. In fact, the two seem twined. Of particular note is the essay by Daphne Uviller, writing about `Laurie' the sibling she never had, whose absence both enabled her early sex life, and made her value her friends and husband during the passing of her father. Janice Nimura's essay is smart and touching, John Hodgman's made me laugh out loud. Tom Beller's essay is lovely. There's a certain irony to having assembled a group of only-children writers. This book is packed with twenty-one entertaining siblings, one cool family.

What a terrific collection of essays! The editors, only children themselves, and their contributors have tilted the subject this way and that, shining light on the many facets of being a singleton. But the treatment isn't overly ponderous--it can be downright funny. Uviller's own essay begins with the story of a teenage sexual escapade that is a thoroughly enjoyable side-splitter. Then the slapstick takes on real meaning as the author deftly re-imagines her parental interactions through the lens of a larger family. An article by Lynn Harris is also full of funny moments amid a very straight-forward treatment of the microscope-effect that I remember so well from my own singleton childhood. This is not another "how to" book about parenting, thankfully, but any parent who was an only child or may parent one will find something useful here. So many of us have moved beyond that part of life where birth order was of daily importance to a new place where it again matters. Part III of the book deals specifically with the parenting angle. My favorite was Nimura's "Mother of Two," about the roller-coaster ride of watching the emerging sibling relationships she'd never experienced as a child. The 19 different voices in this collection keep the topic fresh and interesting. I highly recommend this book!