Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of If It's Not One Thing, It's Your Mother

If It's Not One Thing, It's Your Mother
reviewed on + 168 more book reviews


A positively wonderful book! This is the second book by Julia Sweeney I have read. The first, "God Said 'Ha!'" chronicled her own and her beloved brother's nearly simultaneous fights against cancer. I alternately cheered and cried along with her every step of the way. I picked up "If It's Not One Thing It's Your Mother" with some vague trepidation. Could it possibly measure up? Would it move me as deeply, make me laugh, cry and think just as much?

Yes, happily, to all. Her writing is intimate and very engaging. I was drawn in to each chapter as if I was enjoying a conversation. She is bluntly truthful, very warm, very funny. But she also covers some very serious stuff. Life has dealt her some tough blows right alongside the joys and rewards, and as she alternately cheers, skoffs, or dissolves into a puddle of tears, so will you. Highly recommended!

****1/2 Four and a half stars!