Book: I Made A Booboo

Genre: Non-fiction/Parenting

Author: Shivangi Sharma

Publication: Rupa Publications

When I opted to write review of three books by Rupa Publications, I wasn’t expecting a big bundle delivered at the doorstep with all three books at once. Now it was a matter of choice for me to read any one of them.

I chose to read Shivangi Sharma’s “I made a Booboo” first because the blurb promised to take me down the memory lane when my baby was born. The title of book was unusually funny and reminded me of the movie ‘Baby’s Day Out’.

I started reading the book enthusiastically because being a mother I kind of knew what to expect from the caricature on the book cover….and I could identify with the world turning all topsy-turvy with the arrival of the baby. As I read along a constant smile played on my lips…it seemed the author had peeped into my bedroom to spy before writing the account.

The pregnancy jitters and apprehensions in first few pages resonated with my condition and I guess most of the mothers will identify with the story too. Once our bundle of joy arrives in the world, it makes sure we learn patience with its own set of rules of sleeping and waking up. But may be because I followed my mother and grandmother’s advices to the word, my daughter adapted within two months of her birth, the schedule I set for her feeding, bathing and sleeping….the first two months however had been similar to the author’s experience with sleepless nights making me look more haggard instead of a happy woman.

Though I left my job only few months into my pregnancy and never looked back but I can relate to the guilt pangs of the author. It is because of that guilt that I let my baby have all my time exclusively for herself even ignoring time meant for husband and disregarding his needs.

Author has used humor well in describing the routine of a new mother and managed to not become a preachy-here-is-what-you-should-do self-help guide on bringing up a baby kind of book.

After few pages however the account of the author post-pregnancy though hilarious becomes monotonously predictable and I got bored halfway through the journal. Relating  a few episodes is fine but the book goes on and on about similar events and is repetitive. It should have been a shorter book to keep my kind of readers engaged.

Many new mothers will find themselves in the same shoes as the author and enjoy reading the account as if it was their own. Readers with grown up kids will also reminisce and laugh on the  similar events…

A light perk you up kind of read.