Rating: 
Summary: Well-written but cardboard characters
Review: Okay, I know this is a parody, but is there a working mother out there who could identify with this woman? She doesn't seem to like her children, she treats her husband abhorantly, and her crises are self-made! (I mean, really, the kid doesn't need a Teletubbies cake, he needs his Mommy at home from her business travel!) Life as a working mother is hectic, but this woman made herself a victim. Also the story seems to be missing. Buy the Nanny Diaries -- it's better.
Rating: 
Summary: Exhausting
Review: I was absolutely exhausted reading this book! I have been a work-outside-of-the-home mother, a stay-at-home mother, and a part-time-at-home mother. A lot of what Kate Reddy goes through is true to life, but this book was just too much! I didn't care about her childhood, and I thought the degree to which Kate/the author patronized and infantilized men was just ridiculous. Kate Reddy did not have my sympathy one bit. She deserved to feel guilty and exhausted.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Christmas Gift for Working Moms
Review: I started reading this book on an airplane and laughed all the way home! Since then, I have purchased several copies as gifts. This novel is so painfully funny that you will forget that it is not a true story. Kate Reddy is the totally honest alter ego of all of us who work two jobs with great intensity. Don't bother buying this for the stay-at-home moms. This book is definitely intended for those of us who work in traditional male environments while trying to raise our children (and spouses) and maintain what little is left of our sanity!
Rating:
Summary: The story of my life
Review: There are few books that can make a reader laugh out loud, or reach for a cellphone to call the kids just to make sure they were okay. "I Don't Know How She Does It" is one such book. As a former full-time working mother, it was easy for me to relate to her feelings of guilt over time she spent with her kids, anger at not having the home in perfect working order, frustration over her deteriorating relationship with her husband, and excitement over the thrill of a budding email romance.Some critics call the story a fairy tale-- but it could be no further than the truth for me: it was the story of my life, as well as the lives of more than a few of my friends. The book may not be for everyone, but it certainly touches a chord with those of us women who dared to dream of having it all-- a high-profile job, gorgeous husband and children. ...
Rating:
Summary: Unsettling
Review: Ultimately this is the story of the poor rich successful girl (yes, I realize she wasn't born rich) that popped two kids out and didn't realize they instantly came with a nanny. She's a control freak who can't control anything. NOT impressed and very glad I got it from the library.
Rating:
Summary: A thoroughly examined life
Review: As almost everyone knows by now, this book is a diary of Kate Reddy, who holds down a power job in London while trying to have a life. The writing is magnificent: lots of little gems, some of which might get censored in an online review. Don't miss her description of hanging out in the kitchen with her inlaws at Christmas. This book can be read on several levels. I must admit I was exhausted at first, just reading about Kate's efforts to juggle her life. Being single and childless, I can only admire the fortitude of working mothers who really do try to "do everything." And I was disappointed in the ending, where Kate does seem to walk away from a part of herself. I couldn't help wishing this couple would go to marriage counseling! Kate and her husband seem to have different values and her abrasiveness can be annoying, even to the reader who is rooting for her. Marriages like this one -- very strong wife, kind supportive husband -- ususally do not last without outside help. I also wanted to encourage Kate to hire a coach to help her set priorities and develop somem assertiveness. Her friend and colleague at work, Candy, even teases her about being too quick to say yes and to accept tough jobs with no compensation. When Kate says, "Nobody got bonuses," Candy says, "And you believe that?" Either Candy is a saboteur rather than a true friend, or Kate has contributed to her own powerlessness. While some women (and men) will be appalled at the crudity of Kate's boss, I think the author is just being realistic. The securities industry was always known for its machismo, as described in Michael Lewis's Liar's Poker. A senior woman like Kate will have less access to legalistic harassment remedies than a clerk-typist -- and Kate makes this point herself. She has to choose: a job or a lawsuit. The fact that her boss is an Australian adds to the realism: the author understands the male-female dynamic of "down under." Even if you get frustrated, it will be hard to stop turning the pages. There is suspense created by the author ("How will Kate get out of this mess?") but, more important, the underlying theme: How much of Kate's stress is created by her dual roles -- and how much by her own assertiveness and coping skills?
Rating:
Summary: I Don't Know WhyThis Is A Bestseller
Review: As fiction, this novel doesn't work. The characters are absurd and one-dimensional. Almost every page contains supposed pearls of wisdom about work and women, mothers and children, men and women. Some of these hit the mark (the Muffia who look down on working moms is dead on as are the pangs of guilt the heroine feels because she knows she is failing her children but these are way too frequent and honest!) but most don't, and also don't belong in a novel but rather perhaps an essay about these topics. The heroine is a silly person, and in the space we see, a bad mother and wife, as well as a poor role model for working women. By accepting her view, it becomes impossible for women to do it all or to do anything well. She criticizes her husband for not doing as much as she does and then gets upset when he cooks elegant food. Yikes! There is no real character development and most of the changes occur in the last chapter while we get agonizing detail about matters such as clothes changes in the rest of the book. Guess Pearson didn't know how to end it because she got her point across -- working moms must fail -- and that was what she was concerned with. A more helpful and interesting take on the subject would include what one can do within some of the constraints that Pearson accurately depicts: how to create personal fulfillment without sacrificing children and marriage, how to set limits at work to aid time with one's family or even work part-time for a while (heroine dismisses this out of hand), and also keep some sort of personal values rather than lionizing the accoutrements of financial success. Good topic, bad execution and outdated ideas doom this one from page one.
Rating:
Summary: Frighteningly True
Review: A very funny book. It is a parody of course. Kate is the ultimate extreme career woman, but there is not one working woman out there who does not relate to the essence of Kate's struggle. I honestly laughed and cried. Author Allison Pearson hit the nail on the head. Sometimes a little too close to home as I winced in recognition. Other times I got to congratulate myself on not being quite "as bad as Kate." But I loved it. It is a good story with an ending that provided food for thought about some of the choices I have made with my life.
Rating:
Summary: Completely enjoyable -- couldn't put it down!
Review: Here is a book that captures with humor the countervailing forces that pull mothers today apart -- to keep their hard won career and continue to accomplish professional goals and earn money, and to be a good mother to their children. But as this book so deftly shows, society cuts mothers no slack, work expects slavish obedience, and there aren't enough hours to do it all. The compromises required leave us guilty and sad.
Kate Reddy has the added disadvantage of being English, and working in the London's financial center, a place that is years behind the U.S. in maternity policy and sexual harassment law and even more riddled with sexist, boorish men than our own Wall Street. (Believe it or not! From my experience she does not exaggerate.) Kate works hard, travels incessantly, misses her children, loses touch with her hapless but kind husband, not to mention her friends, and observes her own frantic life with a wry wit. Her observations on the primary role women play in the home, even when they are the chief breadwinner outside, are on the money. Men who leave work early to attend their daughter's class play are showing a wonderful fatherly interest. But if a mother does the same she is shirking and overburdened with her home life.
But Kate is always sympathetic -- all mothers will understand when she gets exasperated with her husband when he refuses stock the house with paper towels as requested because he can't bring himself to ask for the brand: Kitten Soft. Or when she reflects with regret on how she left her first child to return to work too soon, before she and the baby had a chance to settle in together. Or when she gets upset with herself because when she tries to cook she is a stranger in her own kitchen, and when asked her daughter's eating preferences, finds she doesn't know. No successful working father would have to deal with these issues or the guilt and regret they cause. Kate's love for her children is palpable, which is what makes the book work.
Read this book, whether you work or not. You'll find things you'd been thinking reflected here, but in a funny and entertaining style.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed in the end!
Review: I bought and devoured this book because I too am a working professional and mom to 2 small children. Like Kate Reddy, I work 50+ hour weeks and juggle, juggle, juggle. That "juggling act" the author nails down. The list making, prioritizing, conflicts with the stay-at-home moms, guilt feelings, incongruity of your personal life with the "macho" atmosphere of a profressional office! The anecdotes and feelings discussed are dead-on. That is why the end is such a disappointment. I was cheering for Kate Reddy (recognizing my own situation) and was disappointed that the book ended with heroine giving up. Rather than recognizing the value and strength in the struggle to have professional and personal lives, the book ends with the usual sexist backlash AGAINST working woman. It ends as yet another cautionary tale against the evils of women working and having kids - Ms. Reddy loses her husband, alienates her kids and quits her job. In a pathetic attempt to endow her heroine with some remaining ambition, the author suggests that she will informally pursue her professional goals while staying home but this falls flat (remember how Diane Keaton's character made it big in baby food in the movie "Baby Boom?" This is similar situation).
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