Sorry guys but once again this 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 under Teflon Tony, Princess Diana Died (I’ll make no comment) and Charlotte got pregnant accidentally. So 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 bless her is as mad as a hatter.
Charlotte is just taken her ‘A’ Levels and was supposed to be going to University, however, now she has got herself pregnant by a not so nice boy and she has to decide what to do with her life.
The second viewpoint is that of Charlotte’s mother, who is very disappointed in her daughter for repeating the mistake she made when she became Charlotte. She hoped that Charlotte would go off to University and do all the things she couldn’t, instead she is facing life as a young grandmother looking after her own mother who is getting increasingly more and more dependant on being watched twenty four hours a day.
Finally, we have Nan; she takes the news of Charlotte’s pregnancy very well, unlike her daughter. The eternal optimist she believes everything will work out for the best and she has other things on her mind, her brother drowned when she was a little girl and Nan spends much of her time throughout the book trying to remember where she was and what she was doing, but with old age it becomes increasingly difficult to remember the past.
So, this book takes us through the stages of Charlotte’s pregnancy whilst hopping between the lives of Mum, Nan and Charlotte herself.
The book itself is set out into sections which detail the whole 9 months of Charlotte’s pregnancy. We first get to know all about Charlotte’s immediate family and that she lives with her mum, who is divorced from her dad and that her Nan, who is her mum’s mum lives with them and that she needs a lot of care.
***The story ***
Charlotte is currently seeing a boy who we know as Paul, someone we don’t get to know a lot about other than that she sleeps with him quite early on in their relationship and the condom splits after they sleep together. Both Paul and Charlotte are very inexperienced in this side of their relationship and Kate Long details very well what it is like the first time you sleep with someone and how it makes you feel, being a girl who quite clearly fancies a boy, who is in turn being typically male and is very laid back and non-committal.
From here on in Charlotte is on her own being pregnant, unsure on whether she can confide in her mother or not she confides in a boy known as Daniel who is one of the school geeks. He becomes a really good friend to Charlotte, his father is a doctor and in turn, Daniel is there for Charlotte when she needs him the most.
Her mother is too angry with Charlotte at getting pregnant to be bothered with her, she is so wrapped up in her own life, which revolves around looking after her mother, going to work and flitting from relationship to relationship. Nan on the other hand isn’t as daft as she appears to be and knew from an early period that Charlotte was pregnant and she tells her it will all be alright.
So we go through the book with Charlotte and her pregnancy and how it makes her feel, both attending school, sitting her ‘A’ Levels and getting her results, through life with her new friend Daniel and finally the birth. The whole time mum is still angry with her daughter and is finding it increasingly difficult to look after her mother, but reality soon kicks in and mum has to be the strong one for both Charlotte and her own mother, no matter how difficult.
*** My opinion ***
I really enjoyed reading this book, in places it is hilariously funny, working with old people who do voluntary work in my office, I could often relate to the frustrations felt by both Charlotte and Karen with her mum and Nan.
From start to finish this book will have you hooked following the lives of Charlotte, Karen and Nan and it is really interesting reading a book from three different viewpoints, of all whom share something in common, yet all of whom see things from a totally different perspective and it brings to light how much a girl depends on her mother, no matter what the consequences are.
If you are looking for something light hearted but with a bit of realism and something you can relate to then this is the book for you. It isn’t predictable in any way and there are a lot of twists and turns to keep you reading for hours on end. I managed to read this book in two days because I enjoyed it so much.
*** Book Facts ***
Pages – 350 Chapters – 12 Published by BCA
I bought this book from Tesco for £3.87 and it is also available online at Amazon and your usual book places, Whsmiths and other high street book shops.
I took this book on holiday earlier his year and had almost finished it by the time we arrived! You are right, it is compulsive reading. You have done well to describe the book without giving too much away.
tekin21 16.05.2005 22:53
Sounds like my kind of read - added to my list! Jane x
toyah666 26.04.2005 21:38
i have also written a review on this. i wish i read your review first as yours is excellent and goes into much more detail. I tried not to go into too much detail as i didnt want to give the story away. xx
Oct 11th, 2004
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