Dating Big Bird - Hardcover

Zigman, Laura

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385333404 ISBN 13: 9780385333405

Publisher: The Dial Press, 2000

Synopsis

With the laugh-out-loud humor and heartfelt wisdom that made Animal Husbandry a national bestseller, Laura Zigman's second novel introduces Ellen Franck, a successful single career woman whose one desire--a child of her own--throws her into the ever-growing ranks of the "reproductively challenged."

Ellen has a life many people dream about--a glamorous fashion industry job, an apartment in Greenwich Village, good friends--and yet Ellen feels herself at sixes and sevens, filled with a vague longing for...what? She can't say. Then the sight of her newborn niece, Nicole (a.k.a. "The Pickle"), makes her realize exactly what she's been missing: a child. But there's one problem. Malcolm, the man she loves, is too scarred by the long-ago death of his young son to ever consider fatherhood again.

Looking down the barrel of the dark side of thirty-five, Ellen knows that time is passing, and as it does, her desire to have a baby only increases--especially when her sister Lynn announces she's pregnant with her second child. Now Ellen must finally address the very real flaws in her relationship with Malcolm and examine her doubts and fears about the only option that seems to be available--single motherhood. And so begins nine months of reading, Internet surfing, and nonstop Zigmanesque observations about morning sickness, stretch marks, accelerated hair growth, digestion, amniocentesis (and that's just the beginning). And Ellen...well, Ellen finally makes a clear-eyed decision that will change her life.

This book has not been prepared, approved, or licensed by any entity that created or produced Sesame Street.
Her biological clock ticking, Ellen's desire to have a baby only increases--especially when her sister Janice announces she's pregnant with her second child. Now Ellen must deal with the very real flaws in her relationship with Malcolm, and finally examine her doubts and fears about the only option that seems to be available--single motherhood. And so begins nine months of reading, Internet-surfing, and non-stop Zigmanesque observations about morning sickness, stretch marks, accelerated hair growth, digestion, amniocentesis (and that's just the beginning). And Ellen . . . well, Ellen makes a final clear-eyed decision that will change her life. -->

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"Clever, true-to-life...call it 'Sex and the City' for the parental set.... Zigman writes with a chatty humor that keeps you hooked from the first line."
--New York Post

"Funny--no path to parenthood is beyond consideration."
--USA Today

"[The heroine] is smart, funny and successful--she could slip right into the cast of 'Sex and the City' and kvetch with the best of them--.trolling through sperm-donor biographies with her humor in tow. Ellen is undeniably likeable, and she'd be fun to have drinks with."
--The New York Times Book Review

"A lark of a read--Zigman's style draws the reader into Ellen's quest."
--Publishers Weekly

"A tale that makes for laughs and touching moments--[Zigman] portrays a woman's love for a child so poignantly that more sentimental readers may weep--.her modern story of a woman on a baby quest is a worthy read, both well told and funny."
--Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Animal Husbandry:

"Exceedingly funny...Clever, engaging...continually amusing."
--Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post

"Wit, wisdom, and a sure comic voice...this is great fun, a dog-eared hoot. Zigman's second effort can't come too soon."
--The Philadelphia Inquirer

"Fresh and hilarious...should do for dumped girlfriends what Olivia Goldsmith's The First Wives Club and Fay Weldon's The Life and Loves of a She-Devil did for dumped wives: hearten, console, viciously amuse."
--Time

"Girl meets boy, boy dumps girl...Zigman siphons off the tears and the curses and by alchemy converts them into laughter."
--People

"[A] funny tale of love found and lost...if a little laughter can help mend a broken heart or strengthen a healthy one, then Animal Husbandry should be on reading lists of all the old cows and, for that matter, the old bulls out there, roaming the lonely grazing fields of love."
--USA Today

"[A] charming debut novel about a woman's quest to truly understand the mind of the male beast."
--Vanity Fair
"This is great fun, a dog-eared hoot. Zigman's second effort can't come too soon." --The Philadelphia Inquirer

"It's clever, it's true-to-life, it's exaggerated, and let's face it, anything that can make you laugh about heartbreak should go on the life-sentence syllabus."--Newsday -->

About the Author:

Laura Zigman grew up in Newtonville, Massachusetts, and spent ten years working in the book publishing industry in New York. Her pieces have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and USA Today. She lives in Washington, D.C.

About this edition

• Publisher: The Dial Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0385333404
• ISBN 13: 9780385333405
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256