What started as a pithy Facebook update has turned Adam Mansbach into a book world wonder. Unless you've been hiding under a very large rock, you've probably heard by now of his book, Go the F**k to Sleep. Thirty-four-year-old Mansbach, who is based in San Francisco, wrote the book last summer after umpteen bedtime battles with his busy, then-two-year-old daughter, Vivien.
“It began with me cracking a joke about ‘Look out for my forthcoming children’s book, Go the F**k to Sleep,’” said Mansbach “I’m no social media wizard. It’s not like I used Facebook in any particularly sophisticated way. The response was positive enough that it encouraged me to keep making the joke for the next couple of weeks in real life.”
The book reads like an ironic lullaby, with four-line stanzas, the first two lines of which are soft and lilting, working up to the hilarious, expletive-laden pleas:
All the kids from day care are in dreamland.
The froggie has made his last leap.
Hell, no, you can’t go to the bathroom.
You know where you can go?
Take a wild guess... Needless to say, the story resonates with any number of exasperated parents.
Mansbach taps into the realities of modern parenthood by striking the funny bone where it is most sensitive. “There’s this culture of preciousness and perfection around parenting," he said, "So people are a little bit reluctant to admit to some of the frustrations because you’re supposed to be a super parent and not complain."
300,000 copies have been printed so far, and Go the F**k to Sleep is about to go into its fifth print run. There was even talk of a movie deal, before the book was even released. (After an online leak by a bookseller, which Mansbach inisists wasn't a marketing ploy, Go the F**k to Sleep went viral.)
In spite of the leak, the book is being touted as the "ultimate ironic baby-shower gift".
For Mansbach, things just keep getting better. Pulp Fiction actor, Samuel L. Jackson, can be heard by clicking this link.
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