Helpful Score: 4
I wanted to read this book because I'm a Denis Leary fan and wanted to read what Ann had to say about him. I would have enjoyed this book whether it had anything in it about Denis or not. Ann is very funny and down to earth. A very good read.
Helpful Score: 3
Pretty fast read, very interesting, not saccharine.
Helpful Score: 2
I read this book shortly after my own daughter was born extremely premature and hospitalized for three months, though inside the U.S. This book is a poignant, honest, and self-deprecating account of the vast emotional experience of the parents of a high-risk infant, and an interesting look at how neonatal intensive care is provided in another developed nation. Ann has an absolutely beautiful and touching passage about nurses in this book that I now send to my favorite nurses during nursing appreciation week. A must-read for any former NICU mom who is trying to make sense of her own experience.
Helpful Score: 1
I'm not a memoir fan, but this was hard to put down and a definite "I'm REALLY glad I read it."
Helpful Score: 1
This book is a quick, heart wrenching complete with happy ending. If you are expecting Dennis Leary, then read something by him. This is by his wife, but man can she write! An excellent book about the birth of their premie child in a forgein country and a forgien health care system. Fascinating! Highly recommended to those who are curious - you won't be dissappointed.
Helpful Score: 1
I felt an instant connection to Ann Leary, who wrote honestly and didn't overdo the drama in pulling you into her story, having had a difficult premature birth my second pregnancy. But, unlike Ann's first pregnancy, I was lucky enough to be home and my child released to me immediately, not stuck in a foreign antenatal care unit for five MONTHS...
I cannot imagine having to be stuck in a foreign country that long, feeling an outsider, and even though the story took place years ago (1990), and her and husband Denis Leary are still together and happy today, I felt myself feeling stabs of worry for the state of their marriage for the difficult time they were going through! (That's how much she pulls you into herself in this first-person account-- it's impressive.)
And, you completely think as you're reading, "I have reacted that way/I would probably react that way", even as you (and she) realize that she's being kind of neurotic and unintentionally bitchy at that moment. (And, it made me feel a softness for Denis Leary through it as well-- don't think he's completely the opinionated, ranting guy you see smoking on the stage.)
All in all, it was an awesome book that took me only 3 hours to read and I'm more than glad I did.
I cannot imagine having to be stuck in a foreign country that long, feeling an outsider, and even though the story took place years ago (1990), and her and husband Denis Leary are still together and happy today, I felt myself feeling stabs of worry for the state of their marriage for the difficult time they were going through! (That's how much she pulls you into herself in this first-person account-- it's impressive.)
And, you completely think as you're reading, "I have reacted that way/I would probably react that way", even as you (and she) realize that she's being kind of neurotic and unintentionally bitchy at that moment. (And, it made me feel a softness for Denis Leary through it as well-- don't think he's completely the opinionated, ranting guy you see smoking on the stage.)
All in all, it was an awesome book that took me only 3 hours to read and I'm more than glad I did.
Helpful Score: 1
An entertaining account of how Ann, and her husband, Denis Leary, went to London for an appearance before he became famous. Ann's baby was born, very prematurely and she had to wait five months before he was old enough to return to the states. She was definitely a stranger in a strange land while her husband tried to juggle engagements in the U.S. and visits back to England on very little money.
Helpful Score: 1
I must confess, I ordered this book because I am absolutely in love with Denis Leary and have been since I was 18. As a result, I very much wanted to peek behind the curtain of his private life and find out more about his wife and family. Who was this woman who managed to nab my dream guy? Turns out, she's a lot like me - a neurotic, worrying mother who was so mentally absorbed by her children that she managed to completely miss the fact that her husband was becoming famous while she went about the nurturing, sleep-deprived, cocooned days of early child rearing. In short, this woman whom I most wanted to hate turned out to be someone I could easily befriend, if given the opportunity. I'm now reading Ann Leary's first fiction novel, "Outtakes from a Marriage," and, while entertaining, it's not nearly as fascinating and eminently readable as this real-life portrait of a marriage, a burgeoning family, and a famous, yet totally human, husband.
