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I Don't Know How She Does it (Paperback)

by Allison Pearson (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Customers buy this book with How Not to be a Perfect Mother: The International Bestseller by Libby Purves

I Don't Know How She Does it + How Not to be a Perfect Mother: The International Bestseller
Price For Both: £11.98

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Product details

  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage; New edition edition (1 May 2003)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0099428385
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099428381
  • Product Dimensions: 19.7 x 13.2 x 2.5 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 40,405 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
For some considerable time, Allison Pearson's journalism and television punditry have represented an oasis of wit and intelligence in an era of dumbing-down. Her speciality is the perfectly judged observation: the devastatingly spot-on anatomising of the foibles of human behaviour--always unsparing, but always full of good humour. It’s hardly surprising, then, that I Don't Know How She Does It: Kate Reddy is crammed full of those same qualities: this beguiling and sharply observed novel is based on her weekly Daily Telegraph column. The publishers tell us that this is "a comedy about failure, a tragedy about success", and that gets it about right; at the centre of this utterly readable tale is the beleaguered Kate Reddy.

Pearson's heroine spends her life dealing with nagging guilt and the impossible demands of an over-busy life. Yes, we're talking about the crushing demands put on modern women--and Kate is a classic case of just how difficult it is to "have it all". Career, relationships, marriage--as many women know, managing them all is a Herculean task. And as Kate's juggling act carries her closer and closer to disaster, Allison Pearson herself pulls off a particularly jaw-dropping juggling act herself: certainly, I Don't Know How She Does It is a delightful comedy of manners with a beautifully observed heroine (with whom it's very easy to identify), but there are some razor-sharp points made under the surface here about women in the new century. But this is never at the expense of an unputdownable read--Pearson is much too canny a writer to forget the fact that we want to be entertained first and foremost, whatever else an author may freight in to their narrative. No wonder all those Hollywood film studios are already putting up millions for the screen rights. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Tony Parsons, author of Man and Boy
...'a grown-up novel that is hilarious, heartbreaking and brimming with the bitter-sweet tang of all our lives.'

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Customer Reviews

58 Reviews
5 star:
 (31)
4 star:
 (7)
3 star:
 (8)
2 star:
 (4)
1 star:
 (8)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (58 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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37 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Great fun, but not much substance, 6 Jul 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: I Don't Know How She Does it (Hardcover)
This is a perfectly judged piece of marketing - it's like Bridget Jones for the older woman, and it has exactly the same virtues and exactly the same faults. The virtues first - it's laugh-out-loud funny, readable, and not very taxing. The flaws; it's soooo light that it might blow away if you took it to the beach (as is no doubt intended). It does have moments of real poignancy, but they don't strike very deep. And the ending is so contrived it leaves Mills and Boon looking natural.

Two things really got to me, though, and made it hard for me to accept this book for what it is. First, the children - ostensibly the focus of the heroine's thoughts - are so poorly characterised that they might be anyone's. I know it's idiotic to compare this to Tolstoy, but Anna Karenin does show that it's possible to write about a mother's dilemma without erasing the child altogether.

The second thing is the heroine's extreme wealth. Of course some working mothers do have jobs in the city, but it's pitifully unrepresentative of working mothers as a whole, most of whom cannot afford Paula and Juanita (the nanny and the cleaner). And even though Kate doesn't get her bonus, she never seems overdrawn, or over the limit on her credit cards. She never worries about money, dialling up limos like there's no tomorrow. This extreme solvency seems to me a sign that this book is actually fantasy, not reality. If you are looking for a romance of Working Motherhood, this is for you. If it's truth-telling you want, try Helen Simpson's Hey Yeah Right Get A Life.

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33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Very entertaining, but....., 17 Feb 2003
By J J GAYNOR (London, U.K) - See all my reviews
This review is from: I Don't Know How She Does it (Hardcover)
This is a fun, read-in-three-days kind of novel, but pretty much forgettable. The major problem I had with this book was that I loathed Kate - partly for her snobbishness, but mainly for her stupidity. I mean, how can she really think that she can have it all? I had no sympathy for her at all and I really wanted Richard not to come back to her. She says that her family are the most important thing to her and that her family are suffering because she is nearly always at work, but it takes three quarters of the book for her to do something about it.

I also thought that Allison Pearson was trying to have it both ways, in that she perhaps was trying to paint an accurate picture of working women's lives in modern society, but the fact that Kate is such an incredibly high earner - not being representative of most working mothers after all - really undermines her argument.

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33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Something missing, 12 Jul 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: I Don't Know How She Does it (Hardcover)
Allison Pearson can, as we already know, write. Her forte is wonderful observations, pithily put. The resonance of what she writes about (I have two children; my wife and I both work) made me laugh and cry several times.

You should read the book if the above sounds good to you. If you want to read a story, however, be warned. The story doesn't start until page 288. Before that, you'll be embroiled in the hectic life of Kate Reddy, forever wondering if the plot possibilities she tees up will ever come to pass. Once you get to page 288, when Kate Reddy is confronted by events that require her to start making choices, you'll find major events dealt with very sketchily or barely mentioned in passing; the author skims over the few elements of real story that exist in the book. At times, it seems the author 'chokes' when faced with exploring how her heroine might develop when not merely coping with working motherhood.

I like a good storyline in novels. Maybe Ms Pearson was just too busy to put one in.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed
I buy loads of books and squirrel them away. So five years on I got this one out and it was a let down. Read more
Published 22 days ago by Eartha Josephine

5.0 out of 5 stars Are you a parent or going to be one, read this!
I don't have kids yet, and half of the book is about my reasons that i hesitate to have one. You might think it's something to entertain yourself on a sunny beach, but it is more... Read more
Published 26 days ago by S. Svensson

4.0 out of 5 stars Quite sad actually
This was a very honestly written tells it like it is story. I felt quite emotional as I read Kate's constant juggle with work and family. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Net

3.0 out of 5 stars A book of two halves
This starts out witty and smart, the sort of book you might expect from Pearson's knowing comments on Newsnight Review over the years. Read more
Published 21 months ago by International Cowgirl

4.0 out of 5 stars The first book I've ever recognised myself in.........
Not normally being a fan of "Chick lit" I was a little put off by the cover, but I had been recommended this by a friend as I too am a working mum in the City with 2 under 5's... Read more
Published 22 months ago by CA

3.0 out of 5 stars Realistic
This is a realistic account of the pressures involved in juggling work and family life, with only occasional exaggerations for the sake of a joke. Read more
Published on 6 Dec 2006 by Reptile

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic and very accurate
I work in central London and am the mother of two children, bizzarely enough the same age as Kates. This was like reading a book about my life. Read more
Published on 1 Jul 2006 by P. McIntyre

5.0 out of 5 stars I dont know how she does it
What a fab read.

I was laying next to someone on holiday who laughed so much when she was reading this book I asked to borrow it after she had finished. Read more

Published on 31 Jan 2006 by Robert Burge

5.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining and really enjoyable read !
This book made me laugh out loud and made me want to cry all in the first chapter. It was perfectly paced, had pleasing and very beleiveable characters and I loved every word of... Read more
Published on 26 Jul 2005 by Lisa

5.0 out of 5 stars a must read if you juggle a management job, kids and a home!
Quite simply a great piece of writing if you have a management position and are trying to prove yourself against the testosterone in the office whilst trying magnificiently to run... Read more
Published on 4 Jul 2005

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