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Mia Culpa (2011)

by Mia Freedman(Favorite Author)

3.41 of 5 Votes: 4

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Penguin

review 1: Being the male half of a relationship separated for most of its existence by distance, by necessity a daily highlight is the phone conversation. This usually takes place around seven in the evening to inform of the day’s events and to pledge continuing love. It is delightful and satisfying, but this communication with my lovely lady usually exhausts itself after fifteen minutes or so. The same wonderful person, when on the blower to her daughter, mother or ‘bestie’, can happily engage in repartee for hours and hours. Of course it is always the other party doing all the talking. Of course I believe her, considering that her aforementioned offspring, as a pre-mobile era teenager, could tie up the house phone for it seemed like aeons of an evening yakking to the same yo... moreung ladies she had just spent all day with at school. Unbelievable!‘Mia Culpa’ explains this phenomenon, and many others of the female persuasion, in a highly readable fashion. I have no doubt the book is aimed at her ‘sisterhood’, but I would suggest it should be compulsory reading for any unsuspecting lad/man about to embark on a hoped for long term relationship with a member of that mysterious sex. A rudimentary grasp of Freedman’s book should prevent many a pitfall for under-prepared mere males in the harsh world of the great gender divide.Freedman is well placed to publicly ruminate on the foibles of the female, and many other issues concerned with modern living, due to her own varied life experiences, as outlined in her previous offering, ‘Mama Mia’. This was entertaining as well, but I enjoyed the newer title far more, being somewhat closer in line with her weekly column for the Sunday Age magazine. Freedman also runs a successful blog bearing the same name-tag as her first book.In ‘Mia Culpa’ readers are regaled with mild rants using copious examples from the real life experiences of Freedman’s never-ending array of fem-mates to illustrate significant points, as well as from a few token male acquaintances. Explanations are given for much other incomprehensible behaviour of wives/partners/lovers – these include the compulsion to shop and the importance of having the correct attire for every social occasion lest disaster should strike. The inexplicably foreign habits of non-X generationers are examined as well in the author’s chatty, vibrant style. The section on growing old(er) is a gem – but try being 60! Hopefully, by my age Freedman will still be around telling all about the modern condition then. I sincerely hope that there are many more books in between as ‘Mia Culpa’ is highly recommended.
review 2: I enjoyed this holiday read, had me laughing out loud in parts. However, I would say that most of the material I had already come across as an avid reader of Mia's Sun Herald column. There was more, and the anecdotes are often worth a second read so this didn't bother me too much. I like Mia - as they say, she does come across as a close girlfriend in your head, I'm a similar age and have a child myself, so much of what she has to say resonated well. less

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