Dating Big Bird: A Novel

It felt good to read a book that talks about a single woman who choses her own future and is not dependent on a guy. It's a great SMBC book. The author really shows you what it's like to want a family and to chose your on path to get there.

For whatever reason, I find myself reading a lot of "chick lit" lately. Considering that my first love is horror, I'm finding it interesting to read the same things that so many of my friends are reading. I got this book without ever intending to read it, but I opened it and had to finish it.Ellen Franck is yet another in a long line of successful, single, and neurotic New York City residents to grace the pages of novels in recent years. She works for a world-famous designer, and she dates Malcolm, a professor who is profound, kind, and impotent in more ways than one as a result of the death of his son. Now Ellen finds herself "staring down the dark side of thirty-five" and contemplating her future. She knows one thing: She wants a baby. She is crazy for her niece, Nicole ("The Pickle"), and she experiences heartbreak everytime she sees someone pushing a stroller on the street. What is a thirty-something gal to do when she doesn't have a viable partner to help her create a Little Pickle of her own? Well, if you're Ellen, you give yourself nine months to thoroughly research all your options, to drive everyone around you insane with baby talk, and to continue to obsess about every small detail of your life.This is a super-fast read (I finished it in just a few hours), and it doesn't require a lot of deep thought. There are no life mysteries resolved in these pages, but Zigman manages to make this an amusing, fun read that is probably perfect to read on a day at the beach or in a few hours curled up on your sofa on a rainy day. Aside from Ellen's own obsessions, there aren't a lot of complex issues at work here. Also, if you are one of the women in her 30s who has never felt that desire to create a Little Pickle (like me), you might find it difficult to relate to Ellen's quest. Warning: This is the epitome of Chick Lit, and I don't think testosterone is allowed to open the cover.(mellion108 from Michigan)

Dating Big Bird is not the story of a woman desperate for a baby, nor is it the tale of a career woman suddenly in the midst of a mid-life crisis. It is not about a woman's relationship with an emotionally unavailable partner, or the sudden need to reevaluate everything she once thought important. Characterizing this story in any of these ways would be an oversimplification.Ellen Franck is a normal, mid-thirties woman with a fantastic job, decent friends, a normal family, and a relationship. But the satisfaction of living the good life is eluding her. What exactly would make her life perfect? Like many people of her age and station in life, she realizes a baby would make her life complete. She's not just looking for a plaything, or "someone to love me". She wants the whole relationship, and craves the mother-child bond so much it hurts. But how does she make the fairy tale come true without a soulmate? And when she knows her fairy tale won't be the traditional kind? What Ellen wants is what some of us have, and others can only dream of: that perfect relationship that can only exist between mother and child, the perfect love you feel for that little person that calls you "Mom".As Ellen navigates her way through her career, coworkers, family, friends, and relationship with a man not emotionally in the same place as she is, her needs and wants clarify in her mind. And she brings her readers along on a very funny journey to the realization of where she really wants to be.Zigman has a great way with words. This story is very funny, and her descriptions of the other characters will leave you snickering out loud. The dialogue is real, and the supporting cast seem very familiar--we must all know people similar to these. Women of all ages will relate to this story, whether you have kids or not. Great light reading, engaging until the end.

Dating Big Bird revolves around a single woman Ellen Franck who desperately wants to have a baby and her decision whether or not to do it on her own or to wait and find 'Mr. Right.' There's a lot that's good about it and funny, warm and entertaining. But despite all that I did like, there seemed to be something missing, some dynamic that made it feel somewhat flimsy and light even though it had great potential.Ellen is not alone in her insatiable baby quest. She encounters an old high-school rival who is pretending that her sibling's baby is her own, something Ellen often fantasizes about with her own niece. Together, the two pledge that they will decide what to do about their baby lust at the end of the nine months and then take the necessary steps to achieve it. Along the way, Ellen's romantic life takes twists and turns as does her professional one and a cast of supporting characters, some more interesting than others, dart in and out.The title comes from Ellen's realization that Big Bird, the sensitive, lovable bird from Sesame Street, really is the perfect father. It's an interesting enough idea, and the execution is fine, decently written with some really funny moments. But ultimately, I found it unsatisfying, too neat and contrived. That's expected in the genre to some extent yet the glimpses Zigman offered of sharper edges made me hope, I suppose, for a little less shmarm. Still, it's a nice enough way to spend a few hours, as long as you're not expecting a masterpiece.

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