Translated from  Spanish to English by Megan McDowell

Do you have any favourite books on fatherhood? 

Alejandro Zambra gives us a very free, eclectic perspective on what it is to be a new father and also the relationship he has with his own father. In a way, documenting how these relationships are shaping him. I see so few books giving a personal insight into fatherhood that I was just curious to pick this up

Zambra tries to step away from the ways we are told to parent and instead think about how his own experiences influence his fatherhood. His own personal truths. I found a lot of this interesting to read, Zambra is equal parts playful and contemplative – it’s even evident in the format he chooses for this book. Some of it is non fiction- thoughts, memories, essays. Some of it is fiction- some of my favourites were the short stories. In The Kid With No Dad, he looks at some of the misconceptions of single motherhood through the friendship of two boys. 

I found it refreshing to read parenting from someone who is seriously considering its weight but also can clearly be light hearted about it

There’s a lot of communication via letters, a theme in this book. Letters to fathers, letters to friends, letters to sons. Some of them are read, some of them are not. Another theme was shared memory, especially where he considers how his father exists differently in his friend’s memory. We even get his memories of contemplating fatherhood while accidentally on magic mushrooms (for a migraine of course) where he imagines a friend as his son. 

He thinks about why we have children at all- both his own thoughts and thoughts of his friends 

Childish Literature is also very clearly about his own love of literature which he’s trying to share with his son, even at a young age. There are many references to his favourite authors which gave me things to google. He considers how children’s books are equally literature, we shouldn’t condescend. Humorously though, he separately also recounts an ongoing situation where his Dad had been trying to get him to read a particular book he loves. He doesn’t read it for years, his dad steals it back

Alot of pieces I loved, like the opening piece where he remembers snapshots of his son from when he was 20 mins old, or Jennifer Zambra where he speaks of how he met his wife- but there were also a couple I didn’t care about too much  like “Intro To Football Sadness” but I get what he was doing with it. 

I also like that he’s thinking about who his father has become as a grandparent. How his toddler son is also shaping his Dad. I do think about that a bit as well. Grandparents just lose all the disciplinarian stuff, every day gifts and cake etc 

In his closing message to his son, he says thanks to him because the book exists because of him but that he doesn’t have to read it. I liked that because I think that can sum up parenting sometimes