[4.5 stars]

Philpott’s sophomore essay collection centers around a health crisis involving her son, raising teenagers and the prospect of her teens leaving the house, her own anxiety, and COVID. Philpott's words about her son's health crisis were a comfort to me during my own family's health crisis (fortuitous timing) and Philpott's stories about her family and her childhood wrapped up with astute life wisdom makes me (as a middle aged Mom) feel seen. The opening section alternates chapters about her son's traumatic health crisis with lighter chapters about her own childhood, animals that live near their house, etc. This structure was compelling in a Friday Night Lights pilot episode kind of way (I don't know if we can be friends if you don't get this reference). If you loved I Miss You When I Blink, you'll love Bomb Shelter as well.

I really wanted to love this the pet turtle was such a great character and in my mind I think anyone that champions the independent bookstore life is my heroine. Sadly enough the level of motherly and general anxiety seemed really something to do something about rather than spin
it into a repetitive story. I hope in the writing Mary Laura got some reflective clarity. As for me I had an illness anxiety dream after doing some before bed reading...Maybe this is a first thing in the morning book if you are sensitive?

Bomb Shelter is a collection of essays by Mary Laura Philpott who writes about her life and her “hostages to fortune” as Sir Francis Bacon once called the peril of loving one’s children and spouse. Her son had a seizure in the night and was later diagnosed with epilepsy and of course learning to manage that and her fears, especially as he grows older occupies her mind. But then her daughter has asthma, her father had heart trouble, and so on. Philpott is recounting her many worries and fears, her coping with them, with COVID quarantine, with aging, and the minutiae of modern life.



I think if I had read Bomb Shelter in a different year when the world was less fraught with war and peril I would have appreciated Philpott’s excellent writing style. She is personable and endearing. She writes as though she’s sharing coffee with you. But, this also reminded me of the comment from one of my professors after I shared with him my undergraduate thesis. He wrote two words, “So what?” They made me go back and rework my work to tie it into the larger world’s trade patterns and the economy of the colonial era. While reading this, I felt like saying those two words more than once.

This is a very inward-looking book, focused on her problems which loom very large to her but are very small in the scale of problems most people I know have. She has all the privileges of upper-middle-class life, good healthcare, economic security, and stability, and yet is always fretting. She often made me think of how my mom would describe a neighbor as hunting for molehills to make into mountains. She says she is happy, I take her at her word, but she is hunting for reasons to be unhappy.

I received an e-galley of Bomb Shelter from the publisher through NetGalley.

Bomb Shelter at Atria Books | Simon and Schuster
Mary Laura Philpott author site

The book had some relatable stories that I enjoyed. I felt that the author was a little too anxious for me.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Mary Laura Philpott did such an incredible job of bringing a voice to the worries that plague us all during our day-to-day lives. The anxiety we feel when we hear that scary medical diagnosis, our concerns for our family and friends, and overall concerns about the world's direction sometimes. Normally hearing these things would be depressing, but Philpott just makes you feel seen and reminds you that you're not the only one feeling these things. Fear not, there is an underlying feeling of hope and resilience in this book!

From my blog: Always With a Book

This was a bookclub pick for Zibby’s Virtual Bookclub and while I ended up having to miss the discussion, I’m so glad I picked this book up. I really enjoyed this collection of essays and will definitely be seeking out more books by this author.

I will say that while most of this book focuses on caring for your children and I do not have any, I still found myself relating to this book so don’t let that deter you from picking this one up. It could be caring for anyone, whether that be your child, your parents or even your significant other or yourself. There were just so many little tidbits of wisdom peppered throughout this book that I know I will be going back to and while I did listen to this one – and loved that it is indeed narrated by the author herself, which is always my favorite in these cases – I have a feeling I am going to end up picking up a hard copy so I can refer back to certain passages. This one for instance really spoke to me:

Everyone has something. And most things aren’t so bad…you don’t get to choose what your thing is, whether you get just one thing or more or how your thing will respond to your efforts to manage it. And no matter how willingly you accept that about yourself, your compliance with fate doesn’t earn you any say in anyone else’s thing either. Not even your own child’s.

I can’t tell you how many times I laughed out loud while reading this one – especially during the meditation scene – but then the author would write something so profound, I would have to stop and really think about it. I love that and I cannot wait to read more from this author.

What a read. I finished this book a few weeks ago and I am still thinking about it. It was definitely a raw exploration of personal thoughts. The writing was beautiful, I sometimes felt like I was imposing on the main characters thoughts by reading the book! I am not a parent, but I could definitely empathize with those fears that come with taking on such a massive role. Would definitely recommend.

An honest, funny and real look at what it's like to be the mother of teenagers and living in a pandemic. Amusing and reminded me of David Sedaris - pure entertainment.

Miss You When I Blink was like a balm for my soul when I read it back in 2020, and I couldn't wait to read Philpott's next one. I loved this one, too, but just a little less. While Bomb Shelter had the same voice as her previous, the subject matter was a little less relevant to me. Miss You When I Blink talked a lot about her career and early marriage, and this one had more of a focus on motherhood. Since I'm not a mother, it didn't quite resonate as much, but was still very comforting and enjoyable.

"Bomb Shelter", by Mary Laura Philpott, was a heartwarming story about the mundane, parenting, worry, health, aging, success and family bonds, told in a gripping, loveable and relatable manner. I really enjoyed this book! Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for the copy for review. All opinions are my own.

Bomb Shelter is a master class in essay writing and memoirs. Philpott’s ability to weave story lines together and find meaning in the mundane is unmatched. I was reading this book while having my hair cut and had to stop periodically to read a short passage. My stylist and I would both have ‘chill bumps’ as she called them.

This is spectacular second book, and I adored her first. Highly recommend to literally everyone.

I plan on using excerpts from this book to share with students as a model text for organization and style.

Stated to be a Memoir in Essays this reads as a love story to family. Every word, every thought is infused with caring. Philpott is such an extraordinary writer that you can’t help but feel the pain, the anxiety, the fear and when you want to curl up in a ball and mourn the loss of security she gently brings you back down to reality and the fight to find normalcy in the insanity. She holds your hand and tickles you while you try to hold in the laughter as you experience a moment of hilarity, just a moment, fleeting and then back to running through stingrays.

There are so many wonderful, uplifting, heartbreaking stories on the pages in this book I was just gobsmacked. Turtles, Turtles, Turtles - we had one that came around every year and we looked for him and we named him, and he marked our seasons, our years, our memories - and I had forgotten until I read about Frank the box turtle. What a wonderful story - so relatable - told with just the right amount of levity amidst the chaos while looking for the truth.

Philpott has discovered so many truths and fictions and discusses them in calm prose explaining the inevitable failure we all face when we have to choose one over the other. Wow, this is hard lesson to learn and admit that you may have to sacrifice one to save one. She does it with such heartbreaking clarity you nod and accept that it was inevitable. Powerful thoughts, emotions and writing.

How do you mourn the passage of time — the letting go - the milestones that have passed as we looked away at something else- that we will never experience again. It happened - you missed it - oh well - now what? We all thought we had more time. Philpott spends pages on this and I kept shaking my head in acknowledgment as she nails each point, each event and invites you to “come stand quietly by the fruit” with her. It is all in the chapter “The Great Fortune of Ordinary Sadness”

While “Bomb Shelter” may not be the uplifting, Ha Ha, memoir that some readers are looking for, it is a beautiful, meaningful piece of writing that had tremendous staying power. It makes perfect sense for an author who admits to trying to make sense of her life “by stacking stories upon stories”. I am unsure whether this qualifies as sense but it made for great reading.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for a copy.

There was a lot to like with this book! First of all, Mary Laura Philpott just seems like the coolest person ever and I want to hang out with her. My personal issue with her books is that I’m just a little bit in a different stage than her. My daughter is only two…where is I think I had if I were a mother of teenagers I would’ve gotten so much more out of this. But that’s actually a great thing bc I’ll come back to this in some years when I’m ready. I really like the writing style she’s so authentic and raw and I will definitely keep reading more by this author!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an e ARC of this book.
A delightful memoir composed of vignettes dealing with life, death love, fear. Filled with humor, a whimsical view of life. Loved every bit.

Bomb Shelter, by Mary Laura Philpott, was a revelation. First, it is absolutely NOT about war or the home front. More to the book''s theme I discovered that other women in the world worry "strategically" in the fantastical belief that worry will somehow protect us and those we love from disaster. Should disaster strike, it reflects our obvious failure to protect. Philpott moves from this to parenting, careers, loss, aging, and grief. Throughout, her love of life and sense of humor take center stage. Her conversational style of writing pulls you in and carries you forward.. I wasn't even conscious of chapters beginning or ending.

I thoroughly appreciated this book. I highlighted lots and hope that I someday will circle back to savor those sections. Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read a digital ARC.

This was highly enjoyable and I really thought this was a great book. This is a memoir of anxiety, motherhood, and self knowledge. I think so many people would find this as almost a form of therapy. Stories of parenthood, anxiety and more. I loved I Miss You When I Blink and enjoyed this one just as much (if not even more) I think that this group of essays will appeal especially to those with teenagers. Also, glad to know there's someone out there who worries just as much as I do!

I thoroughly enjoyed this. Philpott’s writing felt conversational, like she was speaking at a dinner party, and I was, in rapt attention, listening to her stories. I look forward to rereading it in another decade from a new perspective.

I don't normally read essay collections but I decided to give I miss you When I blink a go last year based on all the hype and really enjoyed it so I wanted to read this one as well. While this is a group of essays I found enough of a thread of theming between the stories to read more memoir than essay to me. There is something about Philpott's writing that I found completely relatable. As a wife, as a mother, as a friend, she writes about her love of her family and success but still has to deal with the anxiety of it all and how we have to deal with the big and small things all at the same time. I find myself feeling like I am having a conversation with an old friend while reading her work. She makes me laugh, cry, and feel all the things that come with trying to do it all for my family while constantly feeling successful and simultaneously feeling like I am failing.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As a lover of memoirs, while this one was good, it fell a little short for me.

A collection of essays, Mary shares stories from her life with us. I think it just felt disjointed in the format presented.

I loved this book and apparently Prince Harry does, too, as indicated by this week's People Magazine. Love for children and letting go is highlighted and appealed to me as a parent. The writing is strong and on point. I loved the interactions with her family and how she dealt with a medical scare with her son. Her Covid episode was realistic and she brings Nashville to life. Life is not easy and Philpott let's the reader know that's okay, love anyway.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley