What am I Reading? - April 2021 - Turning the Tables

 

It started with a table flip, and ended with a ride home from a federal prison... I was very familiar with the story of Real Housewives of New Jersey's Teresa Giudice, a seemingly short-tempered, cash-flashing housewife. In Turning The Tables: From Housewife to Inmate and Back Again, we hear more of the nuance of the story, concluding at the time of her release from prison in 2016. A collection of old stories, musings, and journals let us into the inner psyche of the woman, whose husband, "Juicy Joe" left  to begin his own sentence at the beginning of her freedom

The most straining part of this story was to see two people that seemed like they used to be so in love, now so broken. When reading about their heartfelt calls and visits at the Danbury correctional center, when  compared to the reality of their draining separation, I felt like I was missing a piece of the puzzle. Granted, both have served prison sentences, lost parents, and Joe was deported back to Italy by ICE since he was technically an illegal immigrant as a child and never got a green card.  I really have to thank Co-author K.C, Baker for whatever she did for this book, which I suspect is turning it from half sentences and incorrectly used phrases, and making it easy for a human to understand. Watching her speak to her friends and family on TV can be a stressful experience if you like to hear people speaking the Queen's English, but I digress..., I now can see some shred of humanity to this woman that I hadn't seen before. She cares deeply for her friends, her kids, and her family. She also believes in the importance faith, fitness, and being a polite housemate. I think her time away taught her some humility and patience, which she was in short supply of up until that point. After all, she did almost black out in rage and flip over a table in the middle of a restaurant... As Countess Lu says, "Money can't buy you class."

via GIPHY

I give it a 4 out of 5! Minus a point for Juicy Joe, just as person. 

My Mommy Likes Underwear Dance Parties and Red Wine- Odd Mom Out

   I just discovered my new favorite half hour show, Bravo's Odd Mom Out. In a network long dedicated to desperate housewives of whatever city (this week someone launched a new wine), and opinionated gay fashion moguls, they're trying to make a go at real scripted television.

Author of the novel  Momzillas, Jill Kargman plays a fictionalized version of herself. At that, she is a carbo-loading, dark-joking mom of three that doesn't buy into her in-laws crazy NY rich airs. Yes, these people make the Gossip Girl trust funders look tame). I think they might be on to something here. I could not stop laughing during the first episode when Jill attend her sister-in-law's soul cycle fundraiser to end childhood obesity (giving gastric bypass to low income kids). She manages to make it to the top of the leader board, then gets stuck squatting in pain and can't get back up in the bathroom. Of course, the mommy mafia is non too kind to Jill and she has one normal friend, who is a doctor and also not well off enough to be considered  truly NY rich.

In the second episode, Jill's mother in law, brother-in-law and stick thin  pregnant sister-in-law (the fiercely peppy Abby Elliot) insist they have to change their last name to Von Weber after discovering family history on a trip to Austria. Jill and her lawyer husband protest, until Jill starts seeing the papering and perks of being a Von Weber, and the true escalated level of soul one must sell with that level of presiege (facials, burial plots with a view, better interviews for kindergartens.

The main thing that sets this show apart from other sitcommy shows is that everyone has been Jill at some point, over stressed, judged, wearing a unicorn t-shirt to the gym, and her character is very accessible.