By the time a significant number of fathers began publishing books about the trials of parenthood, moms could be forgiven for thinking, "You're a little late to the party, guys." The New One is not an offering that will inspire this reaction. For one reason, comedian and actor Mike Birbiglia (Sleepwalk with Me) has written a very funny book. For another, Birbiglia claims original territory--new-dad jealousy--and marks it with both jokes and, just when the reader is poised for another punchline, devastatingly blunt confessions.
Birbiglia never wanted to be a parent. Among the arguments on his seven-point list of reasons why not: "I don't know anything" ("My brain is like a Snapple cap. It can hold one piece of information at a time"). His no-kids position is uncontroversial when he marries Jen, a poet whose work features in The New One: she doesn't want kids either. Until one day she does.
After baby Oona comes on the scene, Birbiglia can still see the humor in his situation, but he finds himself experiencing an unexpected status nosedive: "I am demoted to the intern of the family." He also didn't foresee that the baby would be an all-consuming force who would hold Jen's attention hostage. Birbiglia writes that at his personal nadir he had this thought: "I get why dads leave."
In The New One, Birbiglia toggles easily between the droll and the pitch-black thanks to what seems to be his innate cheerfulness. He never manages to stay on the dark side for too long. --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer