How to be a Husband (eBook)

A riotously funny book about how to be a good husband (not like he would know) by Tim Dowling, star columnist for The Guardian. Think Nick Hornby meets Dave Barrywith a hint of Modern Family.This is not a self-help book. Tim Dowling doesnt have any solid advice for you on how to be a manhe tried hard to become one for a while, but in the end he just got older. This is simply the story of how, in the course of ten bewilderingly short years, Dowling went from a bachelors life in New York City to becoming an ex-pat in London, solidly married and the father of three young boys. Its also an examination of what it means to be a husband in the twenty-first centuryand what is and isnt required to hold that office these days.Tim Dowling has been exploiting his family in his writing for years, ever since it became clear that readers of his weekly column atThe Guardiancouldnt get enough stories about his acerbically witty spouse and their rambunctious offspring. Dowling writes brilliantly about his wife and marriage, from the first days of their whirlwind courtship to the matter-of-fact way in which they decided to tie the knot, and keeping the magic alive after ten years together. Being a husband and father in the era of The End of Men isnt easy, and Dowling continues to struggle to find ways to remain relevant to his family (hint: proficiency at DIY never hurts).How to Be a Husbandis a joyous and poignant reada personal memoir about falling in love, moving to another country, having children, and staying together through money troubles and times of griefthat also just so happens to be devastatingly funny.

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While this book is indeed titled How to Be a Husband, please do not mistake it for a self-help book. Tim Dowling—columnist for The Guardian, husband, father of three, a person who once got into a shark tank for money—does not purport to have any pearls of wisdom about wedded life. What he does have is more than twenty years of marriage experience, and plenty of hilarious advice for what not to do in almost every conjugal situation.             With the sharp wit that has made his Guardian columns a weekly must-read, Dowling explores what it means to be a good husband in the twenty-first century. The bar has been raised dramatically in the last hundred years: back in the day, every time you went out for cigarettes, it was simply expected that you came back. Now, every time you’re sent out for espresso pods and tampons, it is expected that you come back with the right sort. And being a father doesn’t seem to command much innate respect these days, either. When his first child was born, Dowling imagined himself eliciting a natural awe as the distant, authoritative figurehead; he did not anticipate his children hijacking his Twitter account to post heartfelt admissions of loserdom like “Hi, I suck at everything I try in life.”             Still, two decades of wedded bliss is nothing to sneeze at, particularly from a couple who agreed to get married with the resigned determination of two people plotting to bury a body in the woods. How to Be a Husband is a wickedly funny guide to surviving the era of “The End of Men” (hint: it involves DIY), and an unexpectedly poignant memoir about love, marriage, and staying together until death doth you part.