3 out of 4 stars
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Daddy 3.0: A Comedy of Errors is a humorous novel written by Rob Armstrong and published in 2016. The main character in the story is Nick Owen, a recently out of work father of twin three-year-old girls. Nick’s wife, Liz, is working a surgical fellowship, so Nick has taken on the day-to-day care of his two daughters alone while his wife works long shifts. Despite his perseverance, Nick’s wife seems to notice everything he does wrong and nothing he does right, along with the other stay-at-home moms in their New York apartment building.
Nick starts out as an immediately likeable character. Although he does vocally point out his flaws, he feels like a real person sharing real-life events. Completely opposite of my feelings about Nick, I found Liz to be constantly nagging and unable to express even the slightest bit of understanding for her husband. When the children of the couple start acting out at lunch, the ultimate trouble comes from one of the twins removing a turtle from the aquarium in the restaurant, which resulted in a request for them to leave an not return. Liz immediately determines that this is all Nick’s fault, blaming him for not being able to control their girls. I found her to be totally unreasonable, despite the author’s attempts to shine a light on Nick’s love and admiration for her.
The author demonstrated a smooth and comedic writing style, with numerous laugh-out-loud moments that, as a parent, I can relate to all too well. The dialogue between characters felt realistic, even including the heated dialogue between Nick and Liz while in marital disagreements. One of my favorite elements of this story was the nicknames Nick gave to the other stay-at-home moms in their apartment – in example, Supermom, Lion Tamer, Good Heart, and Nifty Fifty Wife. The nicknames seemed to give the characters an impersonal feel, although I can say the author did a great job of giving each of them a detailed attitude description.
I was a bit surprised with how often Nick took his children out for entertainment for a few reasons. The family was constantly strapped for cash with only a low singular income, and it seems that every time Nick and the twins would venture out of their home, the girls expressed terrible behavior that is only explained by a three-year-old’s attitude. I was also a bit surprised by the pace of the story. The story was told in Nick’s perspective, which included several instances of trying to revive the relationship he shared with his wife. He tried several times to talk to Liz about their growing distance, however, she constantly seemed to brush him away. Throughout the story, it seemed that nothing he said could make her happy, but the ending was a rushed, happy-ending, which didn’t seem to match with the flow of the rest of the story.
I give Daddy 3.0 a rating of 3 out of 4 stars. The humor included in the story was enough to prove its worthiness to me, and I would happily recommend this novel to other readers looking for a light, comedic story. I did find a few grammatical errors throughout the story, and a few missing words, although they did not distract my reading. The rushed ending was the main cause for the imperfect rating, but I still think other readers of fiction would enjoy this story.
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Daddy 3.0
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I agree with you that the ending felt rushed. I think it might be because other parts of the book were a bit slow paced. It was a jolt when the final sections were fast paced.
