Filed under: Book reviews | Tags: books on motherhood, identity crisis, modern motherhood, Polly Williams, self doubt, yummy mummy
By Polly Williams
Amy Crane is in crisis mode. Many months after giving birth she still looks five months pregnant and can’t remember the last time she shaved. Or wore something other than sweatpants. Or had an orgasm for that matter. She suspects her boyfriend is cheating on her, but motherhood has brought up issues she has with her own childhood, and she’s wallowing in self-doubt. Then she meets Alice, a yummy mummy of the highest order, who takes it upon herself to revamp Amy’s image and her love life. As Amy transforms from scummy to yummy, and climbs out of depression, her libido awakens and then things get complicated…
While I appreciated aspects of this book — it’s colloquially written, our heroine is candid and self-deprecating, and it made me feel less like an alien ‘cause I’ve struggled (and continue to struggle) with my new identity as mommy and wife — I thought it was often glib, and consequently trite. I also found it 100 pages too long. Even so, this book is better at most at honestly covering the contradictions at the heart of modern motherhood.
1 Comment so far
Leave a comment
Victoria Jelinek 
Excellent review. I tried getting the book at the book store but it is marked”import” and unavailable. Powell’s will have it; I do support the local book store,however. xo, Mom
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 15:00:45 +0000 To: bfjelinek@hotmail.com
Comment by Barbara January 28, 2014 @ 12:40 am