Why Is My Mother Getting a Tattoo?

Submitted by Kelly on April 22, 2010 - 12:23pm

Jancee Dunn first hit the literary scene with her memoir “But Enough About Me: A Jersey Girl’s Unlikely Adventures Among the Absurdly Famous,” published in 2006. Upon starting that memoir, I realized that
I already “knew” Jancee after all. A regular writer for Rolling Stone, Jancee was also an MTV “VJ” on the MTV2 network, and if there’s one thing I knew about as a teenager, it was MTV. Dunn’s
first book was mostly about her career in the music business and all the hilarity and fame brushing that ensued. This second non-fiction contribution (Dunn also has a novel) is a more personal affair, centering on her family life.

In her first offering, Dunn described getting away from her suburban roots and making a career in the male dominated rock journalism world. But as Dunn gets older, she deals with all of the issues that arise when
those who are close with their family approach middle age. There are hilarious moments with her parents, as the title of the book might suggest, but there is also an underlying melancholy within the essays. You can sense Dunn’s nostalgia and love for her childhood, and the fear at her parents getting older and one day passing on. Dunn also deals with her choice to not have kids; only to find out she is inadvertently pregnant. Both funny and touching, this is a good book about the trials and tribulations of family, growing older, and forging a new identity through it all.