Product Description

Hello. My Name is Jenny. And I'm a Wife Her Vera Wang gown still warm, Jenny Lee explores the subject no friend would ever talk about: what happens after the band stops playing and the guests go home. Covering finances, the freakish occurrences of getting beaten at Scrabble, meeting other couples, and establishing principles (It's not that I can't cook. I don't cook.), it's the hilarious, all-too-true story of what it means to be a wifewith a real-life husband, one television remote, and the sneaking suspicion that he's using your very, very expensive, very, very hard-to-find shampoo.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #324300 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Were Candace Bushnell to chronicle her first year of marriage, it might look something like former New Yorker-about-town Lee's frank, witty account of coming to terms with what matrimony really means. When the sparkles on her engagement ring have dimmed, the Vera Wang has been packed for posterity and the words "until death do us part" have begun to sink in, Lee confronts her "glass-slipper fantasy" of marriage. Reality, she discovers, requires a great deal of sacrifice (moving to frumpy Boston), compromise, (sharing her exorbitantly expensive shampoo) and adjustment (grappling with putting on the "newlywed nineteen"). From cooking to nagging, from cleaning to fiscal responsibility ("I learned the hard way that my husband doesn't consider a Neiman Marcus last-call shoe sale an emergency") and from the art of couple socializing back to nagging again, Lee's anecdotes from the post-honeymoon period go from very amusing to a bit stale by the book's close. Luckily, though, by then Lee has learned to appreciate those subtle yet intimate "happily-ever-after" moments, which is an important lesson for detail-obsessed brides destined for disillusionment in the wake of all the nuptial hoopla. And to the bridesmaids who will purchase this book as a send-off, take comfort: now Bridezilla has someone else to bug.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Who is Lee? And why has she written a book on surviving marriage? While she intends to be whimsical and funny-the publisher, in fact, is marketing this to the Bridget Jones demographic-she comes off as snotty, shallow, and cold. She compares housewifery to slavery and insists that her flower- and jewelry-savvy husband is not gay, for example. Beautiful and married to a doctor, Lee dully drones on in a whiny list of likes (shoe shopping) and dislikes (picking up after her husband). Other concerns include expensive French sheets and rare, exorbitantly priced shampoos. Perhaps it's unnecessary for her to mention that she felt "wholly unprepared for how big an impact marriage would have" on her life. Accordingly, her "advice" is useless (e.g., "honeymoon calories don't count!"). Not recommended, even as light entertainment; for a more substantial view of matrimony, consider Iris Krasnow's Surrendering to Marriage or Anne Roiphe's Married: A Fine Predicament.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Jenny Lee was born in Tennessee, lived in New York City in her twenties (boy, did she!), and now lives in Boston with her (cute) husband, Cosmas, and their (even cuter) dog, Wendell. She has not lost a Scrabble game since her honeymoon.

Customer Reviews

not for all brides (or wives)
I was recently given this book as a gift at a wedding shower. As a bride-to-be I thought it might be fun to take a spin on the humorous side of post-wedding life, i.e. what happens after the honeymoon is over. Jenny Lee claims that no one ever told her what life was like after the wedding and so she set out to write a book to right the wrong she felt. "I Do. I Did. Now What?!" is at times funny; at other times the reader feels like the eavesdropper of a dirty-laundry airing session.

Lee sets out by telling the history of her relationship with her husband and fills her memoirs with both humorous and bland anecdotes. Several of these are ones that readers can relate to - coping with the adjustments of living with another person and their not-so-neat habits. And the book does have several chuckle moments. Yet perhaps because I've never been the stereotypical girl who loves to shop and loves shoes above all else, I found Lee's "humor" sometimes ingratiating. And that also means that this book isn't a "one size fits all"; not all women are like what is portrayed in Lee's writing.

"I Do. I Did. Now What?!" is a quick, sometimes witty read, something like a memoir in the chick-lit genre. Yet in spite of her dedication to her husband, I found myself feeling sorry for him sometimes. In several of her anecdotes she mentions how her husband takes her and all that she does for him for granted. I doubt she realizes that her husband must also be a saint in order to put up with some of her habits and idiosyncracies that grated on my nerves just reading about them. There's no new, big stand-out advice that hasn't been said at one time or another; yet Jenny Lee sometimes manages to make the old somewhat entertaining.

Hilarious and touching - a delight to read
This book is a brilliant, touching, and hilarious. A friend gave me a copy of "I do, I did, Now What" in the middle of my first winter of law school. I'd just gotten married over the summer and between the pressures of adjusting to married life and trying to juggle law school, I was feeling pretty stressed-out and a little depressed. I started reading the book to take a break from finals and I just couldn't put it down. Each chapter is poignant and hilarious. The author references pop culture and current fads in a fun, self-deprecating, and charming manner. As a starving student, I don't know the difference between a Prada bag and an Old Navy tote - but I still found her musings on fashion etc. to be wry, entertaining, and very tongue in cheek. The author seems totally irreverent and willing to poke fun at herself and all the foibles of young marriage. But she also seems deeply, madly in love with her husband - who comes across as a really nice man. Some of the best moments in the book come at the end of the vignettes when the author and her husband put all the miscommunications and craziness aside and reach a common ground. At the end of the day, they seem to treat each other with a lot of love, respect, and patience. It made me reflect on all the silly little arguments I have with my husband and how trivial they are at the end of the day compared to how much I love him.
All in all, reading this book was a breath of fresh air. It taught me to take a step back and see the funny side of all the little quirks and skirmishes of adjusting to married life. After reading it, I shared the book with my husband. We typically have really different taste in books and movies (he goes for action, suspense while I prefer comedies and romances). But, to my surprise, he actually enjoyed the book. I found him sheepishly reading it in bed one day. All in all, I've recommended this book to a ton of my friends (both married and single) and they've all loved it.

Hilarious and helpful
My fiancee and I read this together, it's witty and full of sage advice. We both enjoyed reading it, even though Lee is definitely a girly girl. Ms. Lee provides valuable insight that is otherwise unavailable to soon to be wedded couples (and newly weds for that matter).