“The Daddy Diaries” by Joshua Braff
Blurb: Braff’s new novel, “The Daddy Diaries,” chronicles the very topical world of marital role reversal in which current day Mr. Mom, Jay, his wife, and their thirteen- and ten-year-old kids are suddenly plucked from their life in San Francisco and moved by the new company to Florida. Leaving beloved friends and his Northern California sensibility, Jay struggles to keep his family happy through the learning curves. As Jay searches to steer the group straight, he quickly discovers that the tasks of child rearing grow even more complex as kids grow up. Through a series of misadventures with his narcissistic older brother, his lunatic childhood friend, and his increasingly estranged but beloved son, Jay learns that he must tap his own vulnerabilities if he is to be the rock of stability his family so desperately needs.
With spot-on accuracy Joshua Braff tackles the issues that plague us as parents, sons, spouses, and friends as we move through life. The sense of isolation that comes from being transplanted into a new place, the pain of watching a son turn into a stranger as adolescence takes hold, and the raw and blinding love and sense of responsibility to one’s family. Through pathos and humor “The Daddy Diaries” captures the relatable, yet unpredictable dance of how families similarly, but uniquely ebb and flow.
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Comments: “Honest and heartfelt, Joshua Braff’s novel about the perils of 21st century fatherhood contains more moments of truth than several hundred bestselling memoirs or self-help books. The wry humor and compulsive readability may remind readers of Jonathan Tropper or Nick Hornby, but the hard-won wisdom and disarming vulnerability in “The Daddy Diaries” is all Braff’s own.” –Adam Langer, author of The Thieves of Manhattan
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**Author, Joshua Braff: Joshua grew up in South Orange, New Jersey, and graduated from Columbia High School and NYU. He earned an MFA in creative writing/fiction from St. Mary’s College of California. Josh’s first novel The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green (Algonquin Books, 2004), about a dysfunctional, Jewish family in late ‘70s was chosen as a Barnes & Noble Discover pick. Peep Show (Algonquin Books, 2010), his second book, was about a 17-year-old boy forced to choose between his Orthodox mother’s life and his father’s career in the porn industry. People Magazine raved, “Braff skillfully illuminates the failures and charms of a broken family. That teen longing for adults to act their age haunts long after the final page.” Josh lives in California with his wife of almost 20 years and their two kids. He is an avid baseball fan and an accomplished painter who plays guitar and drums. The Daddy Diaries is his third novel.
