Lucas Mann’s Attachments: Essays on Fatherhood and Other Performances is a well-written collection of essays, one whose craft I can admire, though to be honest the essays didn’t speak deeply to me or engage me fully. I think in this case, it’s more an aspect of missing this particular audience than any flaw in the writing itself.

The essays all deal with fatherhood as the title indicates, all of them focused on Mann’s experience with his very young daughter as he was the home parent while his wife worked. Some of the scenes are what one might expect, dad at the playground, dad angsting over phone usage, etc. These moments are well conveyed but not, as noted unexpected nor particularly original. To his credit, Mann makes this point himself early on, that parenting has that paradoxical sense of being wholly unique as an experience and also being something that has been done by billions of people over time. So, you know, not so unique. He's self-aware in other ways as well, as when he realizes that a dad talking about being a parenting dad can be an act of performance, which lends a sense of insincerity to it. Or when he discusses the way parents tend to judge other parents, but then taking it a second step to it being due to how the one judging had the same inclination (or at least has thought about it) as the one being judged. In other words, we’re judging ourselves as we judge that “terrible parent over there.”

Again, while I could appreciate these points, they still felt a bit familiar. I had a harder time with some of the book’s assumptions on its readership, which at times seemed a bit niche. Such as a reference to Dad influencer “Henpecked Hall” as “another account that, if you’re at all online, you’ve probably come across.” And yet, I am online (a lot) and have never come across it or any of the others mentioned. I never, despite parenting in the age of internet and also being a stay-at-home dad, scrolled through Dad blogs, Tik-Toks, Instagrams, etc. Nor do I know anyone who did. These and a few other such references made the book feel a little narrow-cast to me.

My favorite essay, “An Essay About Watching Brad Pitt East That Is Really About My Own Shit” was a combination of personal memoir and pop culture analysis, as Mann uses his own experience with being heavy and his very personal fear of layering that anxiety onto his daughter while also exploring the image of Brad Pitt as the “beautiful man” who is often shown eating garbage in his films. It’s a sharply incisive, well-balanced essay. In general, I preferred the longer essays to the shorter ones. In the end, I found myself wishing for a bit more startlement in language, metaphor, approach to the topic. For the most part, the essays held my attention, and certainly had strong moments that provoked some thoughtful consideration, but they felt a little flat overall. A solid collection but not one that grabbed me at any particular moment.

summary: so this book was marketed as a poetry/ non-fiction, research book. however, in reality its just a bunch of nonsense thrown together, with no plot of moving idea. there is no research or studies mentioned.

footnotes: this book makes it very obvious the author is a hard liberal and wants no debate about it. when reaching for a book about fatherly attachments and roles, the last thing i wanted to know was what political party the author supported. even if you are a liberal, the first 1o sections are so openly political it completely takes away from the message the author is trying to promote. definitely something to keep in mind if you were thinking about reading this book.

summary i dnf'd this book about 25% of the way through. I just didn't see any point. there was no substance to the book at all. like i said earlier, there was no plot or structure to the book at all. there were random chapters and line breaks in places that made no sense. the text was mostly the authors thoughts about parenting and being a father, but any profoundness was overshadowed by the glaring politicizing of the writing and the inadequate writing style and prose. not something i would recommend at all.