Mamarama: A Memoir of Sex, Kids, & Rock N Roll

by Evelyn McDonnell

Book Overview

Any parent may ask, "What's the connection between my youthful self and the old fart my kids think I am?" The question is especially relevant for Evelyn McDonnell, a Janie-come-lately breeder looking back on her bohemian, feminist, punk-rock glory days and wondering, is the new me still the old me? The answer is yes: A baby changes everything but your self. In fact, though she may no longer write fanzines or engage in political performance art, McDonnell's...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0738210544
• ISBN13: 9780738210544
• Release Date: February 2007
• Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books
• Length: 253 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.7" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

excellent book!

OK, so I'm not cool anymore (maybe I never was), but so what? I still have the NYC hip-hop 90's in me which means I can dance and groove when I get the chance. Mamarama is a reminder that the teenager/twenty-something/thirty-something in still in all of us moms. Music, art, deep thoughts, bad deeds, good deeds... all the things we had time for pre-kids are not the past. All you have to do is dig down a little below the everyday chaos to see it's all still there. As McDonnell puts it: 'A baby changes everything: Except your self.' Long live Mamarama!

Funny, smart and nostaglic--read this book

You don't have to be an indie music lover, a feminist, a writer, a NYCophile, or a mom to connect with this book, but if you are any of those things, you will not be able to put it down. McDonnell's perspectives on American life and politics from the 70s on are enlightening and entertaining. She places the experiences of working, protesting, finding friends and cities, and finally mothering, in the larger social context of feminism in a personal and provocative way. I loved this book.

mamarama rules

just finish this book and really enjoyed the journey. love, love, love the author's writing, so cutting edge yet sophisticated and funny.

An original and fun journey

I felt like I was reading about my older sister. McDonnell brought back a lot of memories of growing up in the 70's, 80's and 90's. It was a lot of fun reading about how and where her life's path has taken her so far and always trying to stay true to herself. I look forward to reading GRAMARAMA??

Yes to "Need More Rama"

"Mamarama is about changing the way we look at mothers, about realizing we are the cutting edge, the creators of the future." This book is thought-provoking and engrossing. All stories of motherhood carry a timeless core, an essence of this mind-boggling, mad and divine experience. Mamarama brings the timely to the timeless. The choices available to a human, a woman, a mother, a professional change moment to moment, year by year, decade to decade. Seen from the perspective of McDonell, who is not only an observer and chronicler of current US culture, but someone who has not been afraid to live fully within it, one stops to examine what choices you yourself are making. . . . and taking the precious moment to remind yourself to enjoy the ride.