Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Categories
Fiction & Related items

HOW TO PARTY WITH AN INFANT

Kaui Hart Hemmings

Latest novel from bestselling author Kaui Hart Hemmings, HOW TO PARTY WITH AN INFANT is one mother’s comedic and courageous journey through the Mommy minefields. From the author whose work has been lauded as “funny, insightful and unsentimental” (People); “gorgeous and smart” (SF Chronicle); and “sad and exhilarating” (Chicago Tribune) HOW TO PARTY WITH AN INFANT is a poignant and piercing journey through the helicopter-parenting of the 21st century.

Two years ago, when she told her boyfriend Bobby she was pregnant, Mele imagined he’d drop to one knee and propose. Instead, he announced he was engaged to someone else. Raising Ellie as a single mom in San Francisco is no cake walk. But Mele has navigated the Mommy minefields to the best of her ability. She’s found a group of parents—Annie, Barrett, Georgia, and Henry—who are willing to laugh at themselves and at the hovering, hand-wringing, organic-obsessed, parent-police in equal parts. When Bobby invites Ellie to be the flower girl at his wedding, Mele's fixation with Bobby and his cheese-making, Napa-residing, ever-so-perfect fiancé, grows intense. As does her anxiety about what to wear and who to bring to the wedding. So Mele distracts herself by entering a cookbook writing contest. Mele decides the best way to fill out the questionnaire is to interview members of her parenting group for inspiring recipes—and to be explosively, hilariously, honest. Mele doesn’t anticipate that she’ll ignite long-latent appetites—both culinary and romantic. From the author whose work has been lauded as “funny, insightful and unsentimental” (People); “gorgeous and smart” (SF Chronicle); and “sad and exhilarating” (Chicago Tribune) HOW TO PARTY WITH AN INFANT is a poignant and piercing journey through the helicopter-parenting of the 21st century, guided by another unforgettable character in Mele Bart. As she did with THE DESCENDANTS, Kaui Hart Hemmings deftly toes the line between the disastrous and the comical in this vividly imagined novel. Kaui Hart Hemmings has degrees from Colorado College and Sarah Lawrence, and she was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. Her first novel, a New York Times bestseller, THE DESCENDANTS, has been published in twenty-two other countries and is now an Oscar-winning film directed by Alexander Payne and starring George Clooney. She is also the author of a story collection House of Thieves, the novel THE POSSIBILITIES and the YA novel JUNIORS. She lives in Hawaii.

Available products
Book Published 2016-08-09 by Simon & Schuster

Comments

Kaui Hart Hemmings is the master of heartfelt unsentimentality. Her third novel looks unflinchingly at the rewards and pitfalls of single motherdom in a culture obsessed with sanctimonious parenting. By her first Brazilian wax, you’ll be rooting for the unscrupulous heroine to emerge victorious (and bushy!) from the Mommy Wars.

A satirical but loving look at ‘the mommy wars,’ helicopter parenting, and all the vicissitudes of modern procreation. As a distracted reader with a new baby, this is first on my list.

Hemmings effectively captures the judgmental, overly prescribed nature of today's parenting assumptions. Readers who are parents will relate, while those who are not will feel relieved.

Packed…with plenty of humor, heart and true-to-life dialogue.

Side-splittingly snark …the novel's characters and settings are rich and resonant…[a] smart, funny send-up of modern motherhood, San Francisco-style.

In How to Party with an Infant, Kaui Hart Hemmings has struck on the perfect recipe for a delicious, hilarious read about motherhood, love, loss, and Lululemon. With the irreverent raunch of Amy Schumer, the unsentimental maternal insight of Ayelet Waldman, and the culinary ebullience of Julia Child, protagonist Mele Bart skewers an anxious, overthinking tribe of San Francisco mommies who run in a “momtourage,” worship at the barre, and subject one another to “catty scans” daily. Anyone who has ever considered jumping from a window during a nursery school tour or longed for a pot brownie during a playdate will feel validated and hugely entertained by this quirky, occasionally bitter, occasionally sweet, and wholly original novel.

French: Denoel

An entertaining portrait of an economically comfortable place and people...Hemmings perfectly captures modern parenthood among the privileged and, with moments of concise poignancy, the silent shames of motherhood...The pleasure of Hemmings's levity and wisdom more than sustain the reader. We cheer for her warm, self-deprecating characters and hope they continue to laugh together instead of crying alone.

The wit is often diabolical — which is to say, delicious — in Kaui Hart Hemmings’ new novel… [a] sly takedown of 21st-century parenting…Underneath this wicked wit, though, is a warm heart.

How to Party With an Infant is about moms—and a few good (and not so good) dads—but parenthood is by no means a prerequisite for loving this funny, honest and occasionally heartbreaking story of friends who earn the privilege of family. Kaui Hart Hemmings reminds us that we all feel like observers on the playground of life; the trick is to find someone fun to sit next to on the park bench. As they get to know each other, her characters endure all the stages of parenthood, from idealism to judgment to surrender. Their journey through competitive, tech-rich San Francisco pre-school scene is as treacherous as a ride down Lombard Street on a skateboard, and every bit as exhilarating.

This is satire with soul. Hemmings (The Possibilities, 2014) skewers the cottage industries that helicopter motherhood has fostered, while plaintively celebrating the basic joys and frustrations all parents experience. Whip smart, sharp witted, and downright brave, Hemmings’ novel of modern parenting is sleek, sly, and sublime.

Funny and sensitive…Mele’s candor, her friends’ stories, and some hilariously cringe-worthy interjections from the Mother’s Club online message board come together in a layered narrative this is both ruthless and empathetic, satirical and sincere.