by Anne Lamott
First published 2012
Anne Lamott faces an unexpected life change when her son Sam announces he will become a father at nineteen. She begins keeping a journal during the first year of her grandson Jax's life. Lamott and Sam navigate their shifting family roles while he manages college and work responsibilities. They both build new relationships with Jax's mother, who brings her own parenting philosophy to the situation. Lamott reflects on her earlier experience raising Sam as a single mother while processing the complex emotions that Jax awakens in her. Throughout the year, patterns of life and death, family connections, and friendships develop in unexpected ways. The arrival of this baby transforms their family structure. Lamott captures both the struggle and joy of these changes with humor and honesty.
Genres: family, memoir, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unexpected-parenthood
Period: First Year
272 pages · Hardcover · Riverhead Books