My takeaway: Marriage is boring and pointless but it sure does make for some great sex with other people. Also, parenting is hard so just don’t do it. I mean, sure, have kids but just don’t bother with the parenting part.Talk about an alienating read. The only similarity I share with the main character is that I am a married white woman and even I felt offended on behalf of affluent British mothers everywhere. And once I was done being offended, I was bored. This book seems to be reinforcing negative stereotypes of stay-at-home mothers. I know a lot of people ask, “What do they do all day?” and after reading this, those people will feel justified in smugly knowing that home-makers do nothing, as illustrated by the mothers in this story. Except for Alpha Mom who is an overbearing, obnoxious, unsympathetic, success-oriented freak of nature thereby showing that mothers who over-parent and adhere to structure are worse than the devil and nobody likes them. Nobody. Also, they’re closeted coke addicts.Seriously, though, what does Lucy Sweeney, the slummy mummy, do all day? She laments how hard motherhood is and lists out her typical routine once or twice but she’s hardly reliable so you have to take it all with a grain of salt and wonder how much of her day is in her imagination and how much she actually accomplishes and why motherhood is so difficult for her, in particular. This would have been a good moment to embark on a rudimentary chat about the birds and the bees but I just didn’t have time, she says. How? How can you not have time? You’re ironing your jeans. JEANS! The whole point of jeans is to throw them on and not care. They don’t need to be ironed and if you have time to do that, you have time to explain basic sex to your three-year-old who wants a pet sperm. And you could have run a load of laundry in that time, too. Good lord, woman!Dude, motherhood is hard so don’t downplay it by showing the amusing silliness of an always-messy car (complete with escaped hamster. No, it’s not a Kia), the whimsical nature of frazzled mothers who forget they have kids in said car while trying to save face after running out of gasoline three blocks from the house as opposed to the neurotic mother who has a chart of activities for the entire year pasted to the living room wall, or by writing off parents who hire people to raise their children while they, the parents, enjoy a life of exercise, manicures, and pubic waxing. These scenarios might be a cutesy way to make mothers feel better about what they perceive as their own parenting shortcomings but put together as a whole in this ridiculous package, it just reinforces the stupid stereotypes that stay at home mothers are dithering idiots, holier-than-thou mommy warriors, or money-hungry social climbers. But, again, I’m not a mom and maybe these tales of can’t-get-it-doneness vs overdone-ness vs hands-free doneness really are a panacea to the overworked, tired, always-questioning stay at home parent. Maybe moms read this and feel better about not having a clean house while simultaneously being smug over how wrong in-control moms and moms who have hired staff are.Oh, right. Hired staff. So everyone in this story has enough money for au pairs and nannies and house cleaners and laundry service and the like. Is that real life in England? Can the average middle-class family really afford help? If I could afford a housecleaner, even just once a month, I’d have one in in a hot second. Domestic assistance must be much more affordable for a single-income three child family in London than it is for a dual-income zero child family in the middle of Colorado. So, then, how is it that Lucy, who only has the luxury of an aged house cleaner who won’t do the laundry and then, later, a laundry service, is still behind in domestic chores if she can afford help? Again, what the hell does she do all day while her kids are in school?To me, it seemed like the crux of this tale was that extramarital affairs are de rigueur and apparently a good idea, to boot. That’s actually the whole point of being married, so you can enjoy infidelity. Ok, yes, I know, this is supposed to be a light and amusing glimpse into how and why adultery happens within the confines of a contented marriage and the potential consequences thereafter. I get that a bored stay-at-home mom would be enticed by an attentive (though completely less than charming) stay-at-home dad and flirting would happen and the daydreams, etc. but would it really become such a drawn-out chase full of overblown tension and self-recrimination but no obvious moments of real responsibility taking place? Maybe stay-at-home parents have a lot more time, energy, and ability to have wild flings (they must, as they obviously do nothing else all day long - all you stay-at-home parents had better be having torrid affairs with each other or else this book has lied to me) and maybe it’s true that all men want to stray from their wives as I think all the men in this story have done at some point, but...ok, no, I didn't believe any of that. Not a word. Granted, I don’t know about these things, this isn’t how my life runs. However, I do know hypocrisy, having engaged in it a time or two, myself, and this story is just rife with the stuff. Everyone is justifying having sex outside of marriage and even if they admit it’s not ok, in general there’s a valid reason these people are doing it and lying and creating drama but boy howdy, they all become so judgey when other people have affairs or, worse, when they suspect their own partners of having affairs and then they start lecturing and pontificating and I'm puking so I need to move on. So I guess my problem was less with all the screwing around outside the marriage chamber and more with the hypocrisy that went along with it. Own up, people, otherwise, shut up.You’ll be surprised to note, I am sure, that women are helpless, hapless morons subject to the whims and vagaries of their male counterparts. Lucy left her journalism career to become a SHM and is passively engaged in letting her rather assholey colleague-in-parenting chase her and paw at her and clumsily pseudo-seduce her, Lucy’s college friend and former sister-in-law is getting over her divorce by letting her new boyfriend and his roommate share her (she goes along with it because why not? The problem here is this was not her decision, it was theirs) until she's too tired of sex and wants to go back to a one-man relationship, the other college friend, Emma, is putting her own pretty spiffy life on hold for a married man, the married man’s wife is finding fulfillment in material objects and maybe her trainer as any trophy wife would, Lucy’s mother-in-law leaves her life to start another at the request of a man...all nicely, tritely showing that liberated women who are trying to define their lives as they see fit still make most of their decisions based on what the men around them want. Also, married women cannot successfully have affairs because they can’t compartmentalize and their inability to lie would give it all away...says Lucy and her friends. Affairs are only for single women and all the men, people. Take note.Just what makes Lucy so engaging to the sexy stay at home dad, Yummy Mummy #1, Celebrity Dad, the former fling, her two BFFs, and everyone else who adores her? I don’t get her popularity. I thought she was irritating with her self-proclaimed awareness and empathy for others while, in truth, being ridiculously self-involved, busily justifying all her mistakes and failings as something other than mistakes and failings. Nothing is ever her fault and she’ll lie her way out of any situation or, at least, spin it to her benefit. It’s not that she is confident in herself like Yummy Mummy #1 (the only character I liked because she was the only one who seemed to face everything honestly and with mostly-clear sight), she just wants to be liked too badly by everyone, including herself, so much so that she’ll sweep any potential detractors under the rug. Of course, everyone else was horrid, as well...I guess miserable people like other miserable people and Lucy was the best liked because she was the most awful?I am fairly sure this is supposed to be a tale of hilarious mishaps via a ditzy but delightful modern mommy, probably what Mad About the Boy was also supposed to be. And like Bridget Jones #3, which may have actually been the impetus behind this story (I am pretending the author was all, “What ever happened to our good friend, BJ. Oh, hey, I should write a novel about a crazy but lovable dingbat who can’t get her shit together but manages to hold down a household and marriage and friends and an emotional affair but only by the skin of her teeth and an enormous dose of good luck! Hoorah!), it missed the mark because instead of being engaging and droll, this tale of loathsome characters in silly situations is actually really boring. If I wanted that, I’d watch "Jersey Shore" or something. Is that even still a show? And that ending in which everyone has all the realizations and learns all the lessons? Most over-the-top, eye-rolling, puke-worthy finale ever.On the other hand, the reader is good and aside from the constant repetition and the inability to stick to the linear timeline, it’s not too badly written so I can’t take away all the stars. Just most of them.
Lucy három fiúgyerek anyja, s bár próbált dolgozó nő is maradni, végül feladta a BBCnél végzett produceri munkáját, hogy inkább az otthonára koncentráljon (miért van az, hogy az ilyen regényekben anyukák, vagy szinglik csomószor a showbizben dolgoznak?:). S bár híresen jó szervező volt, a háztartás vezetése és a gyerekek körüli teendők rendszerintvalami kisebb-nagyobb de olvasók számára vicces katasztrófákba torkollnak. Amiket vagy sikerül egy jó kis blöffel lepleznie, vagy sem. Természetesen főleg akkor kerül bajba, ha összehozza a sors az iskola Szexis Házias Apukájával (Sexy Domesticared Dad – otthonról dolgozik, ő vigyáz a gyerekekre, míg a neje meg munkába jár). Miközben Lucy féjre egyre több időt kénytelen Milánóban tölteni legújabb munkája miatt, úgy tűnik, hogy a jobbára ártalmatlan fantáziálgatások, amelynek főszereplője az említett apuka volt, talán valósággá válnak. De hogy ne unatkozzunk van elvált barátnő aki próbál új partnert keresni, meg csinos, gazdag anyuka, akinek valahol mégis van valami takargatni valója, házasságtörés, szeretők, pszichiáter testvér, akinek mindenre van valami elmélete és tanácsa, csak épp a saját életét nem tudja letisztázni.A regény közepéig tartottam attól, hogy kicsit ellenszenvessé fog válni a hősnő, meg a sok vágyakozása a Sexy Domesticated Dad iránt, de szerencsére ez nem történt meg. A csúcspont és a megoldások felé közeledve kezd komolyabbá válni a történet, a vége azonban kicsit el lett túlozva, s amolyan gyorsan összecsapott amerikai filmekre jellemző a végső nagy jelenet (számomra kicsit hihetetlen, hogy jöhet mindenki egy akkora városban, mint London pont össze egy fedél alá.Részletek: http://olvasonaplo.net/olvasonaplo/20...
Do You like book Slummy Mummy (2007)?
It's no surprise i picked up slummy mummy from the noe valley library. they bill it as a bridget jones diary for moms. i'm not a mom, but it was pretty funny. here is a woman who has given up her career as a producer for a big news show in england to be a stay at home mom. obviously in order to have risen so high in her career, she was good at it. she is not good at being a stay at home mom. she loses the keys, the car, the credit card, doesn't pay the bills, can barely keep the kids getting to school and back. she is totally scattered and flighty. i feel like this is how i would be if i were a mom. i never can understand how they are able to get everything done!! her husband is a very methodical man and quite the opposite of her, and the whole book is focused on her wanting to cheat on him with one of the dads from the school. Apparently, in this book and in many tv shows i've seen lately, no one takes school busses anymore, everyone has complex school dropping off rules and the parents have these whole pto clubs where they make parties and such. this never happened when i was a kid! or, maybe it's just cuz we weren't rich and went to public school. the other moms all have lots of hired help, but our slummy mummy is trying to do it all herself, cuz they're not really rich. anyway, good book, felt deep sympathy and empathy for this scattered woman, i'm always forgetting things the way she does, so i really understand. i was not a fan of her cheating, but i was a fan that she hung out with friends, who were not mommy saints, but stayed out all weekend partying and such. the ending was just a clusterf*ck really and made no sense, a hurried attempt to horribly tie things up.
—Merredith
It's not laugh out loud funny, it's just a bit pathetic. I feel the same about Bridget Jones and I Don't Know How She Does It, although I know many people love them. There are moments when I think, yes, that's just what it feels like:"Now, faced with the prospect of my youngest child starting Nursery three mornings a week, it is time to rebuild myself, but I can no longer remember how the pieces fit together ... Somewhere in the domestic maelstrom I have lost myself. I can see where I came from, but I'm uncertain where I am going."But with each moment of recognition of Life As A Mum, there are more moments when I want to tell Lucy to take a teaspoon of cement and harden up. I have no tolerance for people whose life is a disaster if they never try to do anything about it. I like books that teach me or books that take me away, not books that show me my own life, but with extra stupid stuff thrown in. Seriously, if your husband is going away and you have 3 kids to get to school in the morning, fill the petrol tank before he goes. Put some sandwiches and dinners in the freezer in advance, and stick a whiteboard on the fridge so you can remember when the art project is due. Don't wear your doofusness like a shabby badge of honour. Don't look at the potential train wreck in front of you and drive towards it in case it might be fun.I'm done. This book is going on to my "life's too short" pile.
—Helen
I had really hoped that this would be a fun read about domestic bliss and all it's mishaps, and while there were certainly a fair share of mishaps the story went in a totally different direction. While her mommy moments were cute and had me laughing while I read, the rest of the story was dull and a little shallow. I didn't feel for any of the characters and felt that the story was too clean. The ending was very abrupt and not at all what I had expected. It took me forever to read this book, considering it's a quasi-chick lit book.
—Marianne
