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The Other Mother: A wickedly honest parenting tale for every kind of family

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In 2020 she was due to take her UK tour [19] of Under Privilege to the Machynlleth Comedy Festival at The Tabernacle, Machynlleth. [20] Once, when they were very small, I took our boys to a café. They were both crying and I was coping as best I could: changing their nappies on a chair and wrestling to pour expressed milk into a flask. A woman approached me. ‘Hi, I’m sorry, but my friends and I have been watching you for ages and I just wanted to say...’ she started. Oh God – what? I thought. ‘We think you’re a hero! We can’t imagine how much work twins must be.'

From the heartbreak of failed IVF and the often-uncomfortable realities of being pregnant with twins to the horrific truths about childbirth or in Chloe’s case caesarean sections, there is very little Jen Brister doesn’t cover in her account of becoming parents. Donaldson, Brian (26 October 2018). "My Comedy Hero: Jen Brister on Victoria Wood". list.co.uk . Retrieved 28 May 2019.Bottom line, it's a book which in no way sets out to make her especially likeable, but through which her likeability seeps anyway, almost against her will. It's a book of laughter, logic and love which gives the hearty finger to pretentiousness and guff - which frankly feels like just the right mood with which to scream towards 2020. Recommended, this one. If you're a parent, some of it will strike shivers of remembrance or cameraderie fown your spine. If you're not, you'll still enjoy it while feeling slightly smug. I first saw her on one of the 'Live from the Appollo' shows. I was about to go out to work on a night shift and I ended up crying laughing, and I can't remember the last time I did that!!!

Didn't know a lot about Jen Bristow before listening to this book. Knew she was funny, and am fairly sure I knew she had at least one son, having caught part of a set she did on Live At The Apollo. For what this is worth, also knew she was part of a group of comedians I instinctively like - a pal of Sara Pascoe, Sarah Millican, Suzi Ruffel and Jessica Fostekew. This author is, without any doubt, THE most under rated female comedian EVER!! She is totally hilarious. With the rebel alliance of MPs attempting to prevent a no deal Brexit before parliament is prorogued next week, who are the women to watch, what are they thinking and how will they act this week? We're joined by Helen Lewis, staff writer for The Atlantic and Katy Balls, deputy political editor of The Spectator to discuss.

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I was being a mum and – guess what – I wasn’t completely terrible at it. The truth is that motherhood doesn’t begin and end with conception, pregnancy or even birth. It begins the day you’re given a brand-new human and told that you’ll be responsible for them until the day you die. Five years in, our journey’s only just begun.

The first thing I'd like to say is that for the full experience of this book you really need to watch some of Jen Brister's comedy first (try this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0eeK...). She has such a distinct way with words that once she's in your head she will continue to narrate not only the rest of the book for you but, probably, the rest of your life. You're welcome. I’ve never been good with small talk and I am completely allergic to other people’s opinions, so it’s no real surprise that I was not totally prepared for motherhood – and certainly not for being a mother to non-identical twin boys. As any parent of twins will tell you, when you walk down the street with a buggy so huge it looks like it could have been used in the last moon landing, people just want to talk to you. ‘Are these your twins?’; ‘I have twins!’; ‘My mum is a twin’; ‘I met a twin once’; ‘My favourite film is Twins!’ How are you supposed to respond? ‘That’s great to hear. OK, BYE NOW’? I never remember jokes. Saying that, my son told me a hilarious joke about a helicopter and some jelly … No, it’s gone.I did enjoy Brister’s snide comments on preachy parents and mumfluencers- as an absolute cynic, I’m here for that! Burns, James (6 August 2012). "Review: Jen Brister, Now and Then". funnywomen.com . Retrieved 4 July 2023.

Paskett, Zoe (5 December 2018). "Jen Brister interview: 'I was strangling my career, but I don't give a f*** anymore' ". Evening Standard . Retrieved 28 May 2019. In The Other Mother, Brister explores the process of becoming a mum when you’re not the mum who gave birth. Jen Brister’s writing is not only open and honest about her insecurities about being the ‘other’ mother but also about the insecurities and fears all parents can relate to. She delves deep into the struggles she and her partner have, particularly during pregnancy, childbirth and the early stages of bringing up the twins. The Other Mother is not only a hilariously funny and authentic read but it is also a new kind of parenting book which portrays the changing landscape of parenting. We should no longer expect every family to look the same, as Brister explains to her own children; some kids have a mum and dad, some have two mums, some have two dads, and some have just a mum or just a dad, and all of these families share some of the same problems of parenting.

Podcast

She is a regular performer on the UK and international comedy circuits and has written and performed on BBC Radio 4’s The News Quiz, The Now Show and presented for BBC 6 Music.

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