I have a longstanding literary love affair with Kathy Lette. Each time I've gone through a life-changing experience (marriage, pregnancy, being a new mum, ...), she's been there writing a book about it that takes all the things that have been worrying me to death and turning them into a hilarious, farcical but oh-so-close-to-the-truth account. That was the same feeling I had when I read this book.
In her own words (and also those of the health professionals dealing with her), at the grand old age of 43¼, Cari is a "geriatric mum" ! She's also a first time mum, encountering all the usual problems and panic attacks that any new mum or mum-to-be goes through, so you spend a lot of time reading this book nodding and chuckling at things she writes and reminiscing about your own pregnancies.
The book starts off with her clutching a pregnancy test in the toilet at work and watching a blue line appear and follows the first two years of her little bundle of joy's life. As a slightly older mum this time around (I was 36 when I had Pierre), her remarks about not being on the same wavelengths as her peers in the NCT group made me chuckle. I was horrified to discover that my 6-year-old daughter is in the same class as the daughter of a girl I taught in class a few years ago - how old did that make me feel ?! I bet the Adrian Mole reference in the title will go straight over the heads of anyone not in the same age bracket too !
It's a refreshingly frank, warts and all mum's memoir, so she talks about the "darker" side of being a mum, including breastfeeding problems, lots of projectile vomiting (and pooing !) and her "caesarian overhang" (although I've got one of those too and I didn't even have a caesarian !), but it's ultimately a celebration of being a parent, whatever your age.
I think this is one of those "you had to be there" books that mainly new mums of a certain age will fully appreciate, but as I fit perfectly into the target audience, I absolutely loved it. I raced through it in 3 days, reading way past my bedtime and desperately trying not to wake up my snoring husband beside me as I snorted with laughter at some of her anecdotes. It's a breath of fresh air and I totally recommend it to all you mummy bloggers out there, because it actually reads very much like a mummy blog. (Cari actually has a blog here.)
star rating : 4.5/5
RRP : £11.99
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Vermilion (3 Feb 2011)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0091935652
ISBN-13: 978-0091935658
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sounds good!
ReplyDeletei've seen this before and fancy reading it, need to see if i can get it at the library!
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