Why Mummy Series 4 Books Collection set by Gill Sims (Why Mummy Drinks Book & Journal, Why Mummy Swears, Why Mummy Doesn’t Give a)

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Pentru că, deseori, tații nu sunt cei mai implicați în această perioadă a vieții de familie și aici nu știu a cui e vina, ori a mamelor că își iau prea multe responsabilități pe umerii lor, ori a societății că educă două categorii de părinți: mame și tați.

We're then immersed in Ellen's chaotic, madcap life, raising Peter and Jane, coping with her husband's irritating habits, designing an app, while defending herself against the 'coven' of yummy mummies in the playground. She befriends Sam, an uber-fit dad who happens to be gay, and together, they and her other friend Hannah spend a lot of time getting sozzled, particularly when there are relatives staying at home. Her rather well-off parents-in-law descend from their house in France to add to the work our Mummy has to do. They drink, there are boring, repeated stories and only her father-in-law sees that his daughter-in-law is the bottom of the pile, used by everyone, and with no way out. His solution, pour her another drink. Here we see Ellen dealing with devilish kids, hers as well as others, trophy mummies, irate head teachers, troublesome in laws ... meeting up with old paramour, making friends with yummy men and welcoming new neighbours.

Pe lângă faptul că e amuzantă, reflectă, pe alocuri, sută la sută, provocările vieții de părinte, mai ales a unei mame.

This book raised a few wry smiles, but that's it. The funniest part for me was the Xmas from hell spent with her sister-in-law and her hubby Amaris & Bardo (previously known as Louisa & Kevin). Born again hippies, with an ever growing brood of progeny, they were pretty grubby, annoying & had hygiene habits that left a lot to be desired. But at least they were mildly amusing. Or maybe this part of the book was amusing as it was not filled with the me, me, me angst. She appears to be obsessed about getting her friend Hannah laid by a new guy she's fantasizing about called Sam, who is actually gay! She's constantly inviting people over to her place and every instance is a complete disaster I.e. Fireworks party, Christmas party, Pancakes...I had to look up what FML* stood for. Groan. Really?? Well there's a snippet of information I didn't need to add to my already overcrowded brain.

This is a comic insight into the life of a middle class family and the travails of life that disrupt all efforts to be more organised. It is written in the form of a diary, Ellen is a woman looking to change her mess of a life with her recalcitrant young children, Peter and Jane, and her tech obsessed husband, Simon, and family dog. Her turning 39 awakens all her insecurities and fears about the process of aging, she is determined to be more fashion conscious and improve her image, and be the more perfect and organised mother. So she draws up plans, gives us insights into how her actual life has been. Like all the best laid plans, they scarcely survive the realities of life. There are the stresses of the school gate mummies, Lucy Atkinson's perfect mommy and The Coven, always perfectly turned out, with whom Ellen can barely compete. Although the occasional Dad at the gate sends hearts aflutter. The author has obviously learnt everything first hand and has managed to convey every experience a parent could endure, funny, sad, serious or lighthearted, into a fabulous set of books every mother (and possibly fathers - for a once in a lifetime chance to see inside a women’s mind) should read. However, it was very readable and I enjoyed the story as it unfolded. There were a couple of laugh out loud moments, but it was definitely not as funny as I was expecting.Some women are idiots unto themselves. Yes I see why she drinks, it's a few hours of fuzzy pleasure not having to face up to the realities of her life and her absolute stupidity of putting up with a man and his family who use her. Falling in love is a dizzying emotion, but the love that comes in marriage brings with it rights and duties, and the duties are all on her side. Things absolutely deteriorate when there is a big row over her overspending on the shopping although it is mostly his sister and her insistence on organic, non-gluten wholefood from specialist shops. Mummy says, do you think I have time to traipse around the supermarkets to save a few pence on this item and that? His sister comes with her brood and her campervan having left her unfaithful husband and not wanting to actually work, decides she will leech again off her brother and sister-in-law. She would like her own house in France, but her parents are suddenly short of money. The book group liked the diary format of 'Why Mummy Drinks', comparing it to 'The Diary of Adrian Mole', but this time with a 39 year old (equally irritating and confused) mum.

I enjoyed the format of the book as being split like a diary, this helped as there was a point to work towards and helped build drama. The book itself was an absolute joy to read, it was so much fun and absolutely joyful. I loved the story, and felt so connected to Gill Sims' autobiographical character in this book, through her opinions and thoughts. I loved seeing the connections between each of the family members in this book and all of the fun anecdotes. I also really liked the layout of this book, as it is set up to read like a diary with different accounts of Gills' life throughout her two children's' examination years in school, at ages 16 and 18. It was also really interesting to see the dynamic between two separated parents, and how Gill raised her children primarily as a single parent. I was happy to get to the end. Too much use of the F word for me. Not a fan of the Diary format. “ L. Billings.This book will make you so glad you've read it and make you realise that your own family life is very much a normal one. People may portray a totally different image at the school gate, but what goes on behind closed doors is more than likely very similar to your own. None of us are perfect and we all have good intentions but we do the best with what we have. Through Ellen she reminds of us this but brings a lot of humour into it also. More like whine. Incessantly. About everything. And everyone. Mweh. I wanted to drink while reading this. Maybe I should have, I may have enjoyed it more. It got really tedious about half way through the part about baby-sitting Edward. Peter breaking his leg added nothing to the story.