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BOOKPLEASURES.COM -- August 2005
Review by Jennifer
Brown
Some lives were just made to be made fun of.
Some lives are so wacky, so silly, so undeniably
cracked up, you just can’t help but chuckle.
Kathryn S. Mahoney is living one of those lives.
Kathryn Mahoney, who thinks she was CRACKED
AT BIRTH, takes time to sit back and good naturedly
marvel at the absurdity in her life. And, like
the next door neighbor who keeps us in stitches
with her zany tales, Mahoney shares the absurdity
with us – one laughable story at a time.
CRACKED AT BIRTH is a collection of Mahoney’s
essays from her humor column, “Sunny Side
Up,” which has been running in six newspapers
published by Nashoba Publishing of Devens, MA,
since 2001. In this lighthearted essay collection,
Mahoney tackles such hilarities as:
*Attempting yoga with children in the house
*The feeling of being invisible
*How to make your husband leave the room
*Household mishaps
*Valentine’s Day romance failures
Mahoney seems to have mastered the art of being
funny without being too sarcastic. Her style
is refreshing and fun, and nearly all of her
essays end with a feeling that, given the choice
of any other life and family on the planet,
she’d still choose the life and family
she has. Her essays are warm and endearing,
with just enough silly thrown in to make them
irresistible.
While CRACKED AT BIRTH is consistent –
none of her essays are weak or boring –
Mahoney’s funniest work revolves around
her husband and the relationship between the
two of them. Far be it from Mahoney to engage
in man-bashing – she’d rather lovingly
poke fun at the things that make her hubby so
adorably male. This slant on love, marriage,
and romance is a refreshing style for all those
women who adore their hubbies but sometimes
just can’t help but shake their heads
and chuckle over something they’ve said
or done. Mahoney should follow CRACKED AT BIRTH
with another humor book (“Cracked at Marriage,”
perhaps?) filled with nothing but marriage and
romance-related essays.
Make no mistake, however; CRACKED AT BIRTH points
out the sunnier side of so much more than love
and marriage. Mahoney has no qualms ribbing
her kids, her mother, even herself! It is this
quality that gives her work tantalizing breadth.
Good for a light read and perfect for the bookshelf
of any aspiring humorist, Kathryn S. Mahoney’s
CRACKED AT BIRTH will tickle your funny bone
and maybe even make you look at your own cracked
life in a little sunnier light.
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