The School Run

by Sophie King

This book presents a week in the lives of seven peopleall on the same route to school. Harriet is waiting for her husband to tell her if their marriage is on or off, while Pippa is about to receive some potentially devastating hospital results. Evie has one week to save her career, and Nick's wife died two years ago, leaving him with a troublesome teenage daughter. Martine, a French au pair, is about to run off with a married man while Kitty accepts a bet to find a man in a week. And Betty watches by the roadside, looking for the driver who killed her son. Little do any of them know that by the end of the week, the school run will have become a collision course, connecting their lives in more ways than one.

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction, Romance, Contemporary

352 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2005

About the author

I've written six novels, including the bestselling The School Run, and The Wedding Party, which was nominated for Love Story of the Year by the Romantic Novelists Association.

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bored me too many characters gave up to many good books to read

[Emma Long · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reasonable quick read. Took a while to get into. The second half was much better than the first.

[Bex D · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the most part I really enjoyed this book, except for the start of each chapter when all the characters lives intertwined while getting ready for the day, without having the characters names mentioned in the sentences I found it quite confusing. Also I don't understand how one character fit into the story or the ending but NVM

[Carmen VdM · Rating 2 out of 5]

Te veel personages, te rommelig en die radiozender had er zeker uit gemogen.

[Sandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the book, a nice light-hearted read. I felt it could have been padded out a bit more. The last part of the story really seemed to happen out of nowhere, I felt a bit ambushed by it and to me it felt out of place. Had it been building up, maybe it would have made more sense. I felt the book ended quite abruptly too. The Kindle edition literally ends at like 68% and the other bit is a chapter of her new look which was weird.
An okay read overall, not sure I would recommend though.

[Teresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected a different kind of story with The School Run, something lighter. There were a lot of characters with a lot of back and forth with their stories, which usually doesn't bother me butwhen it switched hed, unless it wasnoted, it wasn't immediately clear which character's story I was reading. All of the characters were unhappy and they each had serious challenges to face within the one week that the book takes place. OK really not a ad book, just not what anticipated.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this one. As the name suggests - it follows a number of families who do the school run over a week. Some are having marital problems, medical problems, guilt issues- and as the book progresses, some of the problems are connected to other characters. It was an easy book to pick up whenever I had a moment, on the bus to work, lunchbreaks etc!

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this multiple POV tale of contemporary urban life as seen through the eyes of a cross section of Londoners. Exactly the light, pleasant kind of thing to read while parked outside a school, waiting for the bell to ring and kids to come streaming out.

[Maria Pia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a nice story...read it in a couple of days. It's about the life of 7 people over 7 days, and the way they interact during the school run. It makes you think twice about having kids :-)

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I completely missed all of the foreshadowing. There were so many turns and loops that I was not expecting. I don't want to call them plot twists because they weren't that significant to the story, but the whole book took me by surprise.

~characters~

🌸Harriet🌸
I didn't really care about her story until the endand I love the advice she gives Pippa at the end.

🍪Pippa🍪
Bro... I knew exactly how her story line was going to go. From beginning to end. I did not care about it at all.

💅Evie💅
I loved her. I don't know why but she is an absolute boss bitch.

👩‍🏫Kitty👩‍🏫
Her story was why I bought this book in the first place. It was so cute and I loved it. She is the teacher I've always wanted.

📷Nick📷
SPINELESS! Grow a backbone and reprimand your daughter when she's being a bitch.

😨Betty😨
This lady was so crazy. I was genuinely scared of her. I thought her story line would be interesting but it was just confusing and very disturbing.

Overall it was not that great a book, but we live and learn. The characters and plot were okay. The end was quite exciting, annnnnnd that's all I've got to say.

3 stars

[Lady Galaxy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was just too confusing, especially the dumps where it kept skipping from one household to the next so that you couldn't really tell which characters were speaking. I'm tired of this current fad of having multiple viewpoints. There were so many different storylines going that I kept losing track of who had the lump and who had the husband in Dubai and who had the step daughters and which one was the teacher. The male photographer and the French au pair were the only two that were distinctive enough to keep track of. The final wrap ups were even more confusing that the previous chapters. There was an interesting story somewhere hidden in all those threads. I wish I had been able to follow it!

[Kelly-Marie Pollock · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd actually rate this 3.5 stars.
It was a little bit hard to follow who was talking at times and the end seemed incredibly rushed. It was however a nice quick read and a pleasant escape from day to day life.

[Kayley Stannard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Far too many characters couldn’t keep up with what was happening.

[Jessica Börjesson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seg och trist

[Carla Diton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick book, once you got into it

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pleasant easy read but nothing memorable

[Kendra Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Intricacies of Life

This is a story of life in suburbia, the ins and outs, ups and downs. Cleverly written so that you remember who is who and their connections

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the more stressful novels I have read, but innovative and enjoyable.

[Clare Ballinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a tricky start trying to work out who the characters and their families were, the plot tied in together really well.

[Angela Vick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, it is a great idea following a group of people through a week of their lives. However it is sometimes difficult to keep track of which characters the action is about

[Hayley 🐝 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Soooooo boring DNF

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good enjoyable easy to read book. Easy to keep your interest as there is so much going on with so many different families and all their dramas.
Clearly the mothers are the driving force behind each family,holding it all together while the men frankly are all rather pathetic.
At a point in the first half it did get rather confusing as there was just too many people to try and keep track of,trying to remember who was who and who's child belonged to who and so forth.

I liked Kitty the teacher as she seemed quite fun but normal and Evie was nice too with all the crap she had to put up with from her step daughters who I really wish she had stood up to more.
I rather disliked Harriett as she was quite a pathetic woman who let her jerk of a husband treat her like rubbish again and again,she irritated me so much.

It was over rather quickly and abrupt tho I was glad of the outcomes for them,pity we didn't get an epilogue after a few years or so,just to let us know what they were all up to.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too many different voices in this book, and at least on my kindle copy, they were not clearly defined, and it could be tricky to work out who was the focus throughout a single chapter, sliding back and forth between them.

It began to get really quite interesting, but then it all came to a halt. So many loose ends not really tied up, only hinted at. The version I read suddenly finished, with many more pages of other stuff, like previews etc, so while reading it and anticipating the ending, I didn't realise it was shorter than it appeared.

I read it less than a week ago, and I've already forgotten much of it.

[Vanessa Lobato · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slightly struggled to follow the story of all seven characters but soon got into them. Characters very middle class but the right side of believable and interesting enough that I cared what happened to them and liked how their stories intertwined over the week of school runs. Fast paced page turner with an unexpected ending that ties up all the stories in a very satisfactory way.

[Frances Andrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book from the moment I started reading X every parent can relate to the school run lol
I loved all the characters and how they were brought together in some ways X busy, hectic lives and children. It's about finding balance, your priorities and seeing what really truly matters xxx an enjoyable book and I was sad it ended X

[Caroline Roberts · Rating 1 out of 5]

Chick lit, and not very good chick lit at that. Picked up from a bookshelf of left behind titles at the reception area on holiday and really this book would be firmly under the heading of undemanding beach reading.

[Sharon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Found it really confusing with all the different characters, there was so many of them it was difficult to remember who was who, who was married to who and whose children belonged to whom. I also thought it would be a lot more light hearted than it was.

[Gillian Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent light and easy read especially if you are a school Mum run.

I did get slightly confused at first between all the different characters and families, but managed to work it out pretty quick - maybe that was just me though.

Would recommend, especially if you enjoy chicklit like me.

[EssentiallyMeagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book in one day. I wouldn't say that I couldn't put it down, but it was good. It's about 7 families who have children that all go to the same school in England. It's an easy read

[Wati · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun and it reminds us of ourself as a mum.