Smile When You Are Hurting

Rating:
Summary: Not bad for a quick read
Review: This book was very easy and light reading, in keeping with the title, and despite a fairly serious subject. It is the story of a young mother and how she manages to raise her children alone despite her lack of job skills and money. The author's writing has a certain rough charm that kept me going to the end, although it would have benefitted from some careful editing. While she writes of her travails quite cheerfully, there are darker undertones to the story such as their grinding poverty (one egg shared among six people?), young children having to work, and her own careless and failed search for love. When your date asks you for money it is usually not a good sign. Still, there is honesty when she writes about her relationships with men that seems to be lacking when she writes about her relationships with her children, maybe because she reiterates once too often how well they got along and how much she is their "friend." I am not sure about the abrupt and overly dramatic ending of the book, however. It seemed somewhat pointless unless you believe in signs and portents in dreams.