I Don't Know How She Does It

Allison Pearson
2002

Can a woman successfully juggle a high-flying career in finance and a family? Not without lashings of guilt, overcompensation and a horribly cynical outlook on life.

Kate Reddy thinks she's got the balance right, although she's always open to more guilty introspection. Her tale rushes headlong through missing children's bedtimes, overcompensating towards passive-aggressive nanny, being exploited in the workplace because she's a woman and trying to keep up with other women who have given up and gone home to be mothers.

The tale seems to have no apparent plotline - things lurch from one almost-disaster to another, and when a hint of storyline appears two-thirds of the way through, I thought it was played out too quickly.

Funny in places, brilliantly hilarious in others, overall this book smacked of the desperation of Kate, and although it's a relief when she finally sorts herself out, I thought the ending was both too nicely wrapped up (everyone's fate nicely laid out for easy digestion) Kate's own fate is not very satisfactory, after her struggle to cope throughout the rest of book.

Date Finished: 18/07/07
Year Total: 20