It feels like only yesterday I was the youngest person in the room, I had my whole life in front of me. I had time to burn, I spent my whole day snogging boys and backcombing my hair. I was a young thing, with a lovely body, life was fun, and I hadn't a care in the world. Now - it feels like two minutes later - I'm a little bit old. OK, I'm not in elasticated stockings or on Meals on Wheels whizzing down the stairs on my stairlift, but my life is more than half over. I've been there, done that, got the packamac. I'm so old that I remember dances with drum solos, the arrival of unisex hairdressers and had a crush on Ilya Kuryakin. I am up at the top of the hill, and over the other side again. What all this means, is that I am grumpy. But I've earnt it... I lived through Boney M and leg warmers and the Crossroads Motel.
Obviously in a book this size I wouldn't be able to share with you ALL of my grumps. But I've decided to write down some of the secret thoughts that beset a woman of a certain age, some of the wicked things that occur to a woman who takes a lot of things to the dry cleaners, has to have her roots done every four weeks and finds it hard to wear high heels. And guess what: they still fancy people, still have silly little crushes on people at work, still - shock horror - have sex. You will discover that women of a certain age are just as provocative and turned on as women in their twenties. Probably more so. So get over it. Middle-aged women are sexy, funny and infinitely lovable. They are also taking over the world.'
This was funny and poignant. Underneath the disorganised woman juggling family and career and trying to squeeze in some personal time here and there, there's a loving mother, daughter and wife.
How time whips by, with all the things you plan to do undone, and the reverse true. Life taken up with mishaps and afterthoughts. The placid holiday drifting down a river that goes awry, the surprise visits of the inlaws, the massive to-do that is Christmas...
A continuing chaos of things to do, things left undone, things that were done but shouldn't, all illustrated in lists and Post-It notes as well as the text. There's delight in the details.
All told, a pleasant read, and one that resonates with this middle-aged family man, likewise as disorganised.
This was an ok book but not great. I loved the TV series that this book is based on but unfortunately the book missed the mark.
What could have been an amusing look at a year of a working mother who's children are starting to grow up just turns into the story of a woman complaining about what she has to do.
At 38 though I am possibly 10 years away from the target audience for this book so I would recommend it to anyone over 45 and going through the menopause.
At first I found this book depressing, but when I got to the middle chapters and it hit on me how tough it is for a working mother to juggle her career and managing her family... this book makes me appreciate my mother more.
I don't find it funny even though I know it's intended to be so. Maybe I will in a couple of decades. But this book is indeed an eye-opener.