Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time

I heard Brigid's interview on the radio and decided this book could have useful information for anyone. It does-read the bulleted appendix and find a few nuggets. But it does not come across as useful to anyone. Generally, I am not living in “the overwhelm,” so maybe my first problem was that I couldn't completely see myself in the book.

I was disappointed with the disjointed narrative, in part because the thesis seemed to change. So much of this book is about the singular condition of working middle class wives in America, although parts admit that all adults can feel time pressured. Even though I am part of the target audience, I felt like much of the good points in the book were hampered by whining about the challenges.

The author does go on informative adventures like having fun, learning about Danish culture, and talking with experts. Sections from these adventures are useful and are largely summarized in the Appendices.


Best of luck to Brigid as she continues to seek peace.

The book itself is great; the subtitle was poorly chosen. It should be something like “Why Mom Never Has Time” since it's almost entirely focused on working women with kids.

It covers a lot of ground, opening with a relatable description of The Overwhelm, discussion of negative workplace norms toward mothers and family-focused dads, family implications when there's inherent bias toward the “woman-as-homemaker” mindset, examples of people doing it better (Denmark) and why play is worth thinking about. If you read nothing else, read the section on Play.

While the author talks about herself, her family, and how she's made changes as a result of her research, this definitely reads more like investigative journalism (her profession) vs. a personal memoir, with an extensive list of endnotes.

My favorite part was about how the culture of work, leisure, and parenting in other countries (Denmark) compare to that in the U.S. It doesn't have to be this way. But it is.

Fascinating collection of research of work, families, time, and play. Remember that one article about time confetti that was being shared around awhile ago? That is just the beginning. Also alloparents, all children should have at least three responsible adults in their day-to-day lives.

Always good to be reminded of the importance of play.

This book is good, but am definitely not in the target audience! I am sure ‘Moms' trying to live up to a punishing ideal of motherhood in the less than Mom-friendly USA will identify a lot with this book.

I did take away some good points about defining what is ‘good enough' and identifying how you'll know when you get there. I think a lot of people keep that never-ending to-do list of things they simply don't have time to do in their heads.

I thought this was going to be a time management book, but it's incidentally a history of the concept of leisure: how it's defined, who is able to take advantage of it, and how it has changed. Super interesting and relatable.