Rating: 
Summary: Frustrating at times, but ultimately enjoyable
Review: At times, I found this book really frustrating, because it seemed liked no one considered that there might be other options besides the mom working full time or the mom staying home full time. For example: Kate makes more than Richard, and they pay the nanny more than what Richard makes. Why not just have Richard stay home with the kids? But noooooo. Men are too muddle-headed to manage the lives of children, so that option is never even considered! But Kate does have a point about part-time work, as I am discovering: you get sucked in to more and more work (or you get hopelessly placed on the mommy track). Anyway, despite my frustrations with the lack of options--or maybe because of them--I was drawn into the book. I enjoyed the humor and the pathos, and I recommend this for all working mothers and those who have to work and live with them.
Rating: 
Summary: Hysterical
Review: This book is very funny. Kate Reddy is a pathetic mother and woman for the majority of the book, but her insights and observation are so dead on they might scare you. After I was repulsed by her self obsessed behaviour, she manages to redeem herself and I found myself actually liking her by the end. If you're a working mother, please try to find time (ha, ha!) to treat yourself to this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Must be a good book ...
Review: IDKHSDI must be a better book than I thought it was ... any book that reads so simply, yet reads so differently to so many different people, has got to have something going for it.Kate is a woman who thinks she wants to have it all, to have the perfect career and be the perfect wife and mother, and maybe have an affair on the side. In her case, however, all she has is the perfect career (and, oddly for a book of this ilk, most of her success in that is either lucky or sexual). I wanted to like Kate, but it was hard. She was atrocious to her children, despicable to her husband and either rude or kowtowing to everyone else she encountered. Her professional life was filled with completely unprofessional mishaps (sure it was for humor, but still). The differences of opinions in reviews here is amazing. Reviewers think Kate is brilliant; I thought she was at least as goofy as Bridget Jones. People think Richard was lazy; I think he failed to live up to Kate's unspoken expectations. People see their lives in Kate's; I thought her a total caricature of the professional woman and mother. People objected to the ending; I thought it was true to form, as someone like Kate could never really toss it all away. Neither Kate nor many of her reviewers here consider raising your own kids a viable option. Not everyone can, or would if they could, but it's certainly as worthwhile as equity-fund management. This is a generally funny, if repetitive book, slightly plotless. Some excellent observations are made about women in the professional workforce. Lots of corny-but-cute symbolism is thrown in. The reviews here on Amazon, however, are a much better sociological statement than IDKHSDI itself.
Rating:
Summary: You Don't Know? Ask Most Working Moms How They Do It ...
Review: I had to read the book. I'm no longer the atypical working mom, per se, but I still work. I needed to know I'm still a part of the kinship of frazzled working moms. One of my favorite passages of the book about sums it up. "Daily existance was a constant assessment of who needed my attention the most : the children, the office or my husband. You'll notice I leave myself out of that list ... Selfishness just wasn't an option : no time."
Rating:
Summary: Conflicted Lady
Review: The easy answer to the title question "I Don't Know How She Does It" is: Just throw money at it. Heroine Kate Reddy, has cash in abundance. Right then, I knew I'd like the book. I wasn't in for an exhausting drama of baby on hip, phone in ear, mop in hand, and brain numb with juggling finances. Good! Kate is a very well compensated corporate hedge fund manager in The City (in the U.S., translate to Wall Street). Her job is 24/7, stress-filled, and calls for international travel. She lives in an almost renovated townhouse with her darling almost-perfect husband and two children, baby Ben and kindergartner Emily. Kate grew up poor with an irresponsible father. Husband Richard's background is achingly comfortable and stable. That's the setup. Kate, though awesomely energetic, witty, capable and yes--lovable-- can manage only if Everything Goes Perfectly. One slip, and the entire structure collapses. She is sleep deprived, nervous, self-punishing and a shocking nag. The burning question: Can she somehow do a perfect job and be a Perfect Mother and Wife? No, of course, not but contrary to what many reviewers complained about, Kate did not Sell Out when she did the big scam, quit her job and bought a house in the country. You just know the cottage industry she is trying to "help" with her ever-increasing guidance, will blossom into a hugely successful, Kate-run conglomerate. Kate was inept with her household help. Her cleaning lady has a back problem that does not allow her to bend or reach over her head; therefore, she can only clean (?) what is right in front of her. And the Nanny Problem. How can this be? We Americans know the English invented nannies and train them so the parents only meet their sweet smelling, well-dressed offspring twice a day. Not so at Kate's house. I wondered why it wasn't in the job description to have Nanny feed, bathe and pajama the children by the time Kate came home. Also, the English are famous for turning over their tykes to a good boarding school at an ungodly early age and sustaining only a nodding acquaintance with said tykes thereafter. Not Kate. I believe she will strain to keep the children with her until they are both gray haired. It's enough to make you lose faith in the English Way of Life. "IDKHSDI's" Kate is a vast improvement over Bridget Jones. Kate doesn't meander through her life. She has depth and a willingness to change. She is interesting enough to make the pages fly and we, as readers dream up suggestions by the carload to improve her sense of well being. Remember you can spend as much of Kate's money you want make things better!
-sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer
Rating: 
Summary: I Don't Know Why People Loved this Book
Review: I found this woman absolutely despicable. Poor jack-of-all-trades, master of none. She wants to have it all and in the process mutilates the lives of everyone around her. I didn't laugh once. I didn't cry. I did feel incredible shame that our global society has so many woman like this one - woman who not only leave their families, husbands and friends in their flustered wake as they kid themselves into believing what important people they are in the business world - but also who look down their noses in disdain at the women who feel their place is with their families. I feel sympathy for the poor sheep who read books like this and feel that something must be wrong with them for getting sleep and spending time with their kids and doing things that make their families see how important they are to her. What was the purpose of this book? Are we supposed to feel sorry for her? No, we are supposed to be in envious awe of her as the superwoman who sacrifices so much for - for what? I never did figure that out. Maybe we wouldn't have a 60% divorce rate and such a high kids-on-drug rate if woman like this didn't tout their lives in poorly written books before they stopped and meditated on why they had to live this *fulfilling* life style. Logistically, it was hard to follow with all the British references - some that could not even be infered by context. I had no problem with Bridget Jone's Diary (a much better book depicting a life that could be related to). Of course, gratuitous use of the 'f' word everywhere - can't have a best seller without it. Every cliche, every predictable predicament -every yawnnnnnn sex reference, yeah, she has it all.
Rating:
Summary: Witty, Entertaining, and Thought Provoking
Review: Allison Pearson's debut novel was a surprise to me. I was expecting a laugh riot yarn about a working mother trying to juggle her career and family, not a book that actually strikes quite an emotional chord and presents a heroine that's not always likable, but quite honest in her portrayal.
Kate Reddy is an English woman who works as a hedge fund manager. She's very successful at her job, so much so she hardly gets any time with her two young children and husband. Her witty voice brings to mind Bridget Jones, and her situations, "The Nanny Diaries". At first I wasn't sure I was really going to like the novel because I found myself reacting to her in a negative light. But as the novel progressed, I found myself having a greater understanding and empathy for the character. Allison Pearson has written an entertaining story that should also provoke some interesting discussions about not just working mothers, but working parents in general.
Rating:
Summary: I Don't Know How Anyone Can't Love This Book
Review: As a working mother of two girls who are constantly getting colds, demanding Bagel Bites, requiring clean paint brushes and spilling cat food, I completely related to Kate's plight. I haven't been quite as tortured by guilt since I work at home (I may be around, but I do have to rely on TV babysitting when I'm on a deadline), but the combined pressures of work and family have certainly forced me to forget things like where I parked the car and how much money I had in the bank. I hope I can maintain a sense of humor about it all. Reading this novel was a sharing the pain evening for me. I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Rating:
Summary: A great book!
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I am a stay at home Mom of 3 kids and I was still able to relate to this character.
Rating:
Summary: I LAUGHED. I CRIED.
Review: I read this book from Stockholm to LA while on business travel. I laughed out loud and sobbed out loud. The flight attendent asked me if I was ok. I was so embarrassed. I am a mother of two and a sales director for a high tech company. I liked that Kate was real - warts and all. Yes, it would have been a nice ending for her to triumph with it all. But she grew up and didn't want it *all* the way it was working for her. I can't believe all the judgemental reviews from everyone. God, it is just hilarious fiction that I would still recommend highly to all my working mother friends that I can't find time to go to lunch with.
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