What They Say.....Look, I was doing OK. I got through the oil spill on the road that is turning forty. Lost a little control, but I drove into the skid just like the driving instructors tell you to and afterwards things were fine again, no, really, they were better than fine.
Kate Reddy had it all: a nice home, two adorable kids, a good husband. Then her kids became teenagers (read: monsters). Richard, her husband, quit his job, taking up bicycling and therapeutic counseling: drinking green potions, dressing head to toe in Lycra, and spending his time—and their money—on his own therapy. Since Richard no longer sees a regular income as part of the path to enlightenment, it’s left to Kate to go back to work.
Companies aren’t necessarily keen on hiring 49-year-old mothers, so Kate does what she must: knocks a few years off her age, hires a trainer, joins a Women Returners group, and prepares a new resume that has a shot at a literary prize for experimental fiction.
When Kate manages to secure a job at the very hedge fund she founded, she finds herself in an impossible juggling act: proving herself (again) at work, dealing with teen drama, and trying to look after increasingly frail parents as the clock keeps ticking toward her 50th birthday. Then, of course, an old flame shows up out of the blue, and Kate finds herself facing off with everyone from Russian mobsters to a literal stallion.
Surely it will all work out in the end. After all, how hard can it be?
What I Say.....I loved the first Kate Reddy book, I Don't Know How She Does It, so I was excited to get an advance copy of How Hard Can It Be? To be honest, it can be very hard. Raising kids, navigating a failing marriage, finishing this book.
It was a hard book to read because Kate's life was like your worst day over and over again, but she owned so much of it. Her teenaged daughter sends a picture of her ass across the school internet and her biggest concern is how many likes it didn't get. Her son is busy killing people via video games while swearing with his friends. Honestly, these kids both needed a swift kick. But Kate fawns over them, keeping the butt pic a secret from her husband, doing her daughter's homework and groveling for any crumbs of kindness she can get from her teens.
Her husband is so obviously checked out and having an affair, but Kate doesn't seem to notice his lack of interest in her or their family and his daily disappearances, although he has quit his job to pursue his dream of being a therapist, forcing Kate back to work.
Kate goes back to work at her old fund, and is immediately successful, showing up younger men easily. And suddenly an old flame shows back up into her life, stirring up feelings that she never got over.
So, the book that showed how hard it is to be a working mother ends up making a rich ex-flame the solution to all of Kate's problems. He fixes things behind the scenes just to help her. Blah, blah, blah. How about Kate can solve her own problems?
The other part of the book the I didn't love was the constant description of how old and awful Kate felt like she looked, how her body, her uterus, and her skin were failing her, along with her memory. The constant references to "Roy" as the keeper of her memories was super annoying. I'm the same age as Kate and I don't feel that bad about myself - reading this was depressing.
That may have been why I didn't enjoy this book - it made me feel like my life was over at 47, and the only way to make it better was to find a rich man. No thanks. But i may be alone in my opinion, because it's got a really great Goodreads rating.
Current Goodreads Rating 4.09
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