Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Sweeney (Saturday Night Live, 1990-94) shares her experience with and musings on becoming an adoptive mother to a 17-month-old Chinese girl. Forgoing the traditional route of marriage and pregnancy, she decided to take matters into her own hands and adopt a child by herself after considering the question: "What did I have, biologically, to pass on that was so important? My Irish heritage with its tendency toward alcoholism and depression?" Throughout are snippets from Sweeney reminiscing about her own childhood ("Turns out, my childhood was probably not nearly as bad as I once thought it was. In fact, my newly revised attitude about my mother is that she did the best she could"), and her sharp humor shines through. -VERDICT While there is no shortage of celebrity-parent tales, singles looking to adopt will find inspiration along with the giggles. Purchase for demand. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

With her husband abroad on business and her daughter away at camp, Sweeney found herself alone at home (except for the cat and the dog) with time to reflect on her family. Her story deftly weaves between the present day and her childhood. As a young comedienne and writer in Los Angeles, she had a brief marriage that ended in divorce, followed by a number of boyfriends (whom she recalls as Joe #1, #2, etc.). In her later 30s, after a bout with cancer (God Said, "Ha"), she realized that she wanted to be a mother. She recounts the experience of adopting her Chinese daughter, Tara Mulan ("no, not because of the movie") and the struggles with nannies, strollers, playdates, and urban public schools that followed. She was introduced to her current husband, Michael, via an email from his brother, saying that she ought to be his wife. The brother (-in-law) was right. Julia, Mulan, and Michael became a family. Life in suburban Chicago has challenges-not only the weather but also being taken for Mulan's grandmother by the ponytailed, preppy women in the neighborhood. Sweeney's narration makes listening to the personal material even more intimate. Her interview with her mother-in-law about having an abortion in the late 1950s is candid and poignant. Sweeney's explanation of the facts of life to nine-year-old Mulan is side-splittingly funny. Verdict Recommended for all popular collections.-Nann Blaine Hilyard, Zion-Benton P.L., Zion, IL (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

An author, playwright, actress, and comic perhaps best known as the androgynous Pat on Saturday Night Live, Sweeney's most challenging role came as a late-in-life single mother when she adopted her 18-month-old daughter from China. With a failed marriage behind her and recovering from the cervical cancer that left her unable to have children, Sweeney embraced new motherhood with an exhilarating combination of zeal and doubt. Chronicling her adventures in international adoption, novice parenting, and disastrous dating in a series of riotously candid essays, Sweeney demonstrates how her trademark sense of humor and hard-won optimism enabled her not only to raise a bright, well-adjusted, and accomplished child but also helped her find a husband who would face these challenges with her. From the typical awkward discussions with her 8-year-old daughter about the birds and bees to reluctantly opening her heart and home to a straggly stray dog to adjusting her career goals to accommodate her new family, Sweeney takes life's quotidian rituals to hilarious heights.--Haggas, Carol Copyright 2010 Booklist

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A funny look at being an adoptive parent. Former Saturday Night Live comedian Sweeney brings comic relief to yet another celebrity memoir on adopting and raising a family. After numerous unsuccessful relationships, the author decided she didn't need a man in order to have a child; she planned to adopt and find a husband later. She gathered her energy and applied to receive a Chinese girl, entering into motherhood much "like a golden retriever running after a ball." Sweeney was hooked on motherhood, but years later, when opportunity opened up an extended window of alone time--no child, no husband--the author was "giddy" with excitement. She reveled in the down time and spent her four weeks writing this memoir, which reminisces about her childhood, finding a suitable nanny during her daughter's childhood, her failed relationships and life as a working mother (the author has written several one-woman shows). Her thoughts swirled around the complexities of educating her daughter about human anatomy and sex: "it's like having a waste treatment plant right next to an amusement park. Terrible zoning.Like your nose and your mouththey're both close to each other on your face, but you wouldn't stick a bean sprout up your nose." Sweeney also explores same-sex marriage, immigration, prejudices, death and dogs, and she pays homage to her own mother, aunts and friends who are parents, all the while wobbling on the tightrope of allowing her child to become her own person while influencing her in subtle but significant ways. Laugh-out-loud moments blended with honesty and despondency.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.