Book Review: How Hard Can it Be? by Allison Pearson

Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook, free of charge,from St. Martin's Press, via Netgalley,for review purposes. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it,  all opinions are my own. 



Allison Pearson's brilliant debut novel, I Don't Know How She Does It, was a New York Times bestseller with four million copies sold around the world. Called "the definitive social comedy of working motherhood" (The Washington Post) and "a hysterical look—in both the laughing and crying senses of the world—at the life of Supermom" (The New York Times), I Don't Know How She Does It introduced Kate Reddy, a woman as sharp as she was funny. As Oprah Winfrey put it, Kate's story became "the national anthem for working mothers."

how hard can it be cover

Seven years later, Kate Reddy is facing her 50th birthday. Her children have turned into impossible teenagers; her mother and in-laws are in precarious health; and her husband is having a midlife crisis that leaves her desperate to restart her career after years away from the workplace. Once again, Kate is scrambling to keep all the balls in the air in a juggling act that an early review from the U.K. Express hailed as "sparkling, funny, and poignant...a triumphant return for Pearson."
Will Kate reclaim her rightful place at the very hedge fund she founded, or will she strangle in her new “shaping” underwear? Will she rekindle an old flame, or will her house burn to the ground when a rowdy mob shows up for her daughter’s surprise (to her parents) Christmas party? Surely it will all work out in the end. After all, how hard can it be?

Review:

First a confession, I have not read the precursor to this book, so I came to the characters blind. Kate is HILARIOUS. She is everyone of us with tweens and teens. She is relatable, as is her entire family. I'd like to call this book an HONEST fairytale, because it is! Kate has to deal with issues that everyone understands: menopause, midlife crises, millinenial coworkers and a marriage past its prime. It's like a look at mid life with a bite. I laughed my way through the book, smiled with Kate and cheered for everyone at the end. This is your feel good read of the Summer, so don't miss it!


How Hard Can it Be? cartoon


About the Author:

ALLISON PEARSON is the author of the hugely bestselling I Don't Know How She Does It, which became a major motion picture starring Sarah Jessica Parker, and I Think I Love You. Pearson was named Newcomer of the Year at the British Book Awards for her first book. She has written for The Daily Telegraph, The Times (UK), The Daily Mail, Time, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Observer and countless other publications. Pearson has won many awards including Columnist of the Year, Critic of the Year and Interviewer of the Year. She lives in Cambridge, England, with the New Yorker film critic Anthony Lane, and their two children.

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