Playing House Notes of a Reluctant Mother

Acclaimed author Lauren Slater ruminates on what it means to be family.

Lauren Slater’s rocky childhood left her cold to the idea of ever creating a family of her own, but a husband, two dogs, two children, and three houses later, she came around to the challenges, trials, and unexpected rewards of playing house. In these autobiographical pieces, Slater presents snapshots of domestic life, populating them with the gritty details and jarring realities of sharing home, life, and body in the curious institution called “family.” She asks difficult questions and probes unsettling truths about sex, love, and parenting. In these pages, Slater introduces us to her struggles with her mother, her determination to make a home of her own, her compromises in deciding to marry (her conflicts manifesting as an affair on the eve of her wedding), her initial struggle to connect with her newborn child, and the dilemmas of mothering with a mental illness. She writes openly about her decision to abort her second pregnancy and her later decision to have a second child after all. She tells us about the searing decision to have elective double mastectomy and how her love for her husband was magically rekindled after she saw him catch fire in a chemical accident.

It’s not all mastectomies and chemical fires, though. Slater digs into the everyday challenges of family living, from buying a lemon of a car and fighting back menacing weeds to gaining weight and being jealous of the nanny. Beautifully written, often humorous, and always revealing, these stories scrutinize the complex questions surrounding family life, offering up sometimes uncomfortable truths.

Contents
 
Preface xi
 
1 Tripp Lake 1
2 Going Solo 12
3 Paired 16
4 On Fire 24
5 Uncurling 32
6 My Life as a Father 37
7 Isosceles 46
8 Squared Off 57
9 The Other Mother 65
10 The Suit 82
11 Bilateral 89
12 Zyprexa 96
13 Shame 104
14 Sex: In Three Positions 115
15 Tongue and Groove 130
16 Boneyard 142
17 Dolled Up 156
18 The Mud Is in My Mouth 173


Acknowledgments 189