Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

I'm very interested in the ways we think about bodies — which ones we deem acceptable, attractive, worthy of praise. In this collection of essays on masculinity and fatherhood, Cian Cruise pulls back the layers on why we can't stop talking about Daddies.

". . . every single dad that I have ever seen in a TV show or movie helped inform my idea of fatherhood. Those images are burned indelibly into my mind's retina, albeit vaguely, whether I want them or not. They inhabit a similar space as my friends' dads growing up."

I guess I need to start paying closer attention to the descriptions before I request a book from NetGalley. I expected this one to be a series of humorous essays about dadding, something akin to Dave Barry. Instead we're treated to what is essentially unfunny, critical reviews of films and television programs, with the commentary wrapped around a fatherhood theme. The biggest problem with this approach is that Cruise's recaps of films I've seen, like Locke, made for tediously repetitive reading, while his dissertations on works I was unfamiliar with weren't engaging enough to catch my interest; basically, all the essays bored me.

Also, the author's overuse of footnotes was maddening, especially since most of the comments were asides rather than actual links to source materials.

My enjoyment level was about a two, but I'll add an extra star since it was my misunderstanding that led to my reading this in the first place.

Thanks to Netgalley and Dundurn Press for the ARC of this!

This was a fascinating look at Dads in pop culture, with an easy conversational tone that I really enjoyed. Papas ranged from the classic (Calvin’s Dad of Calvin and Hobbes) to the most modern (Bluey’s Dad) and ran the gauntlet of media, genres, and archetypes. My biggest complaint was the footnotes, which I get are a thing in non-fiction but with the formatting (moving them off page from the line they went with) I found it really disruptive to go to them or to remember what they’d been referencing when I got to them, and I think most could’ve just been part of the paragraph? Overall interesting and easy to read, and I’d recommend it to those interested in masculinity and parenthood in the media.

A cute look at pop culture look at Dads, and what they myth of "Dad" shows us about our families. I agreed with Cruise on most points, reminding me most dads try their best and if they miss our expectations, maybe our expectations are to blame.

A short and compact book looking at movie and TV dads. Examining how they are perceived and how they come across to our author. I found the writing of this book a little haphazard, a bit disorganised and not like work I am used to reading. That being said, I am stepping out of my comfort zones with chosen work. I found myself flicking through some of the chapters that were of less interest. Not bad but not the best.