Tim Dowling’s candid and highly humorous weekly Guardian column charts his life with his wife and three sons… unless they are cross with his exposés when they become ‘Sean his life partner and their three adopted research chimps’. Cherry picking entries from his column Dad, You Suck takes a Dowling family view at modern fatherhood and gives a wonderfully refreshing slap in the face to all the uber perfect, hyper positive parenting so prevalent in the media. As well as giving you lots of giggles, a fair few belly laughs and the odd (don’t be drinking water on public transport when reading) snorts it makes you realise you are not alone! Any parent, especially the father, will instantly relate to so many of Tim’s musing on life and hopefully the luxury of time has turned the cringe into a wry smile.
For me the hardest task of fatherhood was always the oppressive obligation to lead by example. My sons have been present on countless occasions when I have, as we say in my homeland, completely lost my shit. During these stressful moments I have often wished to turn to them as a judge might to a jury and say, Please strike the next few minutes from the record , but many of those instances are chronicled in these pages. It's not because I'm any less ashamed now; it's because if I left them out there wouldn't be enough for a book. Perhaps this is my life's true purpose: maybe I'm here to teach my sons that self-esteem comes and goes - it can get rolled right out of you at short notice - but that you still can get by in life without any, as long as you don't want to be a contestant on The Apprentice. That, at least, is my experience. And for what it's worth, my example.
'You'll whoosh through this book with cheery hoots of laughter... Dowling's a very fresh and smart writer... There's a proper laugh every couple of pages... But as well as being funny, which he has to be, Dowling is sometimes plangent... and he is more often than not wise... there's pleasure and treasure here Sam Leith, Guardian
'There's no denying [HOW TO BE A HUSBAND'ss] enormous readability ... Dowling's frequently hilarious Bildungsroman, detailing his evolution from feckless layabout to equally feckless husband and father, offers wisdom, insight and laugh-out-loud one-liners in equal measure ... Gloriously entertaining' Alexander Larman, Observer
'This isn't a self-help book ... What [Dowling] has done, effectively, is invent an entirely new genre in literature: that of the self-hinder book ... A rare delight.' Spectator
'Less a self-help than a self-hinder book, the Guardian columnist's account of how he has coped with the challenges of matrimony (answer: badly) should really be called How Not To Be a Husband.' Thomas Hodgkinson, Spectator, Books of the Year
'A charming book that claims erroneously, not to be a self-help guide. I've read it. My wife has read it. Divorce has been postponed, at least to Boxing Day.' Sunday Times, Books of the Year
'A charming book' Sunday Times
Author
About Tim Dowling
Journalist Tim Dowling was born in Connecticut and moved to the UK at the age of 29. He is the author of 4 books (so far) including a novel, 'The Giles Wareing Haters' Club'. His popular weekly Guardian column has charted the ups and downs of family life, and his largely unsuccessful attempts to be recognised as a competent father and husband, combining self-deprecating humour with a perverse optimism.
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