"So it turns out that Tannen talks about the Big Three that mothers and daughters fight about: hair, clothes and weight."
"Oh," my mother said. "I thought one of those would be nails."
And thus I looked down at my nails and thought "yeah, she's right, I really do need a manicure."
Of course, my mother never suggested outright that I needed to get my nails done. That's largely Tannen's point in her book: the way mothers and daughters communicate is a different kettle of fish than the way any other two human beings would interact.
This book is short on hard data or studies - it's more based on anecdotes, with Tannen's own story of her and her mother mixed in. This is less annoying than it sounds, as I think the best part of this book is feeling a sense of relief that you and your mother aren't dysfunctional for fighting over your hair for the past 20 years - it's just par for the course.
This would be a great book club selection for a club where there are mothers and daughters.
