Dad is Fat – A Book Review

I like Jim Gaffigan. I liked him even more after finding out that he has five kids and lives in a two-bedroom five-story walk up apartment in New York City. Somehow he found time to write a book and so I made sure that I read it. Dad is Fat is a series of short essays on what happens when one has so many kids.

Devang and I are of the we-want-many-kids camp and so I read this book as an insight on what our lives might be in the future. What I found out is that I can getaway without moving to the suburbs and that elevators are over rated (and that I would complain about space and stairs all my life).

Gaffigan lovingly refers to his herd of kids as “a basketball team” or “population of North Dakota”.  He talks about day-to-day activities of eating breakfast, going to the park, going to bed, eating dinner at a restaurant, attending kids birthday parties, vacations, all of which seems crazy to accomplish with five kids. The essays are funny anecdotes that made me laugh out loud. It is by no means a book of complains, in fact it is better than that. It made me feel less crazy for wanting so many kids. I would rather have expecting parents read this book than some baby advice book. It’s less scary this way and will make one-kid parenting look like a breeze and oh-so manageable.

There is something for everyone in here including the people who have kids, want to have kids someday, or just want to be the one who are happy that others have kids. Definitely a fun and relaxing read that will go by fast and make you laugh.