The Bad Mother's Handbook - Kate Long

Advantages: Entertaining and thought provoking.
Disadvantages: Misleading title.

...several generations of mothers in the story reacted to events in their family's lives. There often aren't simple right or wrong ways of dealing with a problem. It gives the reader facts on which to make up their own minds. To me it was more like a modern history of a fictional family from Lancashire. The author named their pit village Bank Top, which is situated near Wigan, Greater Manchester. This book can be read as a simple story of the year ...
...that in it. Although the way the book is written makes it easy to read, before anyone dismisses this as "chick lit", at least read the following quote from the book. "Everyone's history is a product of someone else's; what we think of as our own experience is only what's been bestowed on us by others and you can't walk away from that." The main characters are Nan, her daughter Karen, and her granddaughter Charlotte. They all have turns in sharing ... Read review

Advantages: Great storyline
Disadvantages: None

...is definitley a book for the girls. A bad mothers handbook is a rather misleading title, when I bought it in Tesco for a bargain price of £3.87 I was expecting all the do’s and don’ts of motherhood, what constitutes being a good mummy and what makes you a bad mummy…. well I was wrong. *** Synopsis *** The Bad Mothers Handbook takes place around the year 1997, now 1997 was the year that the disgraceful Labour Party came to power ...
...we live a year in the life of Charlotte, Karen (Charlotte’s mother) and Nan (Karen’s mother), three generations of one family and three different viewpoints on life’s ups and downs as they occur. *** Characters *** The book is written with three different viewpoints. Firstly, we have Charlotte, she is the daughter/grandaughetr who gets pregnant, lives with her mother who is on the verge of having a breakdown and her Nan who god ... Read review

Advantages: Very funny, refreshing
Disadvantages: Not as good as it could've been

...5 years. That was in the early 80s. Now, it's 1997 and Karen is bitter and angry. She cares for Nan, who now has Alzheimer's and is liable to set the house on fire if left unattended for too long, works part time as a classroom assistant and has to deal with a moody teenager. Things haven't turned out well. Then Charlotte goes and gets herself pregnant. Karen is furious - Charlotte was supposed to get good A levels and go to University (perhaps ...
...ex-council-house background. The family's hopes were resting on Charlotte to finally improve their stance and become truly Middle Class. Karen has lectured Charlotte about this so many times and now she's gone and made the same mistake her mother did! Meanwhile, Nan harbours a lot of secrets - some stretching back to the 1920s and some later ones that could very much affect the family now. She tells her story in a set of memories, alongside Karen ... Read review

Advantages: hilarious, sad, but realistic
Disadvantages: ends suddenly

Front Cover. ~~~~~~~~~~ The copy I have of this book is the most recent, which has a baby pink background. The authors name is written in large blue letters, followed by the title 'The Bad Mothers Handbook', which is written in dark pink letters. The cover also pictures the characters that appear in the t.v series(more about that later), one of which is Catherine Tate. On the bottom right hand corner it has the words 'As seen on T.V'. About the ...
...include: Swallowing Grandma Queen Mum The daughter game (due to be released this year). Kate Long has also written short stories for 'Womans Own', 'Woman and Home', 'The Sunday Express and 'The Sunday Night Book Club'. The Book. ~~~~~~~~~ The book was first published in 2004 by Picador, it was published again in 2007. The book is a number one best seller and it has been translated in twenty two languages. The title may suggest that this is ... Read review

Advantages: addictive, compelling, brilliant
Disadvantages: The end

I loved the title of this book, anything for a Bad Mother is fine by me. This is the first novel Kate Long has written The Cover I am a sucker for a hardback, and this book was no exception. the cover is a creamy colour and the title is printed boldly, mostly in turquoise but the word 'Bad' is bright pink. A badly drawn person stands below the title. The authors name is at the bottom in that lovely pink colour. This book wins no prizes for the ...
...it has no appeal. The Price I bought this on special offer for £8.99, although you can pick it up in paperback for half that price. The Author There is very little information about the author. there is a photo of her on the inside of the back cover, and it tells you she lives in Shropshire. So not giving much away there. the Story This book delves into the lives of three females who share a house. They are all related, there is the Gran, the ... Read review

Advantages: An easy, enjoyable read with plenty of humour
Disadvantages: The ending left me a little unsatisfied

...The intriguingly titled "Swallowing Grandma" is the second novel, following her successful "The Bad Mother's Handbook" (which I haven't read) by Kate Long. The story is narrated by Katherine Millar, an eighteen-year-old girl living in the fictional Lancashire village of Banktop, not far from Bolton (the big city!) with her blind grandmother, Poll (short for Pollyanna - a hilariously unsuitable name given that, unlike the heroine of the classic children's book with the same name, Poll never appears to look on the bright side of anything.) Katherine finds her life pretty dismal. She's overweight, unpopular at school and her grandmother persists in treating her like a particularly incompetent five-year-old, while still depending on her day-to-day help and assistance. Unsurprisingly, Katherine suffers from cripplingly low self... Read review

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Advantages: tender and movivng
Disadvantages: The first few chapters

...of her mother. I never expected to care for Katherine when I started the book but by the end of it I rebook I really empathised with her. If you can get past the first few chapters of Swallowing Grandmother (which are pretty awful) stick with it as it is a sensitively written book that reminded me of how hard it was to be a teenager in a small town and the quest to break free. I am now tempted to read Kate Long's first novel "The Bad Mother's Handbook " I bought my copy of "Swallowing Grandma " on Amazon for £3.95... Read review

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