Title: Fatherhood
Author: Bill Cosby
Publication Year: 1986
Website: billcosby.com
Amazon Product Page (Affiliate Link)
Review: I grew up watching the Cosby Show with my family and loved it. I saw this book on my in-law’s shelf and thought it would be a fun read. It was fun, at times. I learned that I shouldn’t read this book while I was sitting next to my son in bed as he went to sleep, because I would occasionally shake the bed from quiet laughing. Not exactly conducive to the relaxing bedtime atmosphere I was trying to create.
Like Cosby’s stand-up routines, parts of this book were really funny, especially if you pictured Bill Cosby himself delivering the lines. However, overall, this is not a book I would really recommend to someone. While it made me laugh at parts, in my opinion the overall tone was somewhat depressing, as much of the humor came from his learning to accept disappointment.
He seemed greatly disappointed and overly-critical of his son in particular. While I appreciate other parents sharing their embarrassing parenting stories with me and love to commiserate, I feel like generally it still comes across that, above all, we deeply love our children. My kids are young, so maybe I’m just naïve and not jaded enough by parenthood yet, but overall this left me feeling a little sad. I certainly hope this isn’t an accurate depiction of the emotions that come with fatherhood. (Personal Rating: 6/10)
Related Links:
Parenting Book Reviews
Humorous Parenting Books
Biographical Parenting Books
Leave a Reply