I Don't Know How She Does It: A Comedy about Failure, a Tragedy about Success - Hardcover

Pearson, Allison

3.33

21,977 ratings by Goodreads

9780701173029: I Don't Know How She Does It: A Comedy about Failure, a Tragedy about Success

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0701173025 ISBN 13: 9780701173029

Publisher: Chatto & Windus, 2002

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

A victim of time famine, thirty-five-year-old Kate counts seconds like other women count calories. As she runs between appointments, through her head spools the crazy tape-loop of every high-flying mother's life: client reports, bouncy castles, Bob The Builder, transatlantic phone calls, dental appointments, pelvic floor exercises, flights to New York, sex (too knackered), and stress-busting massages she always has to cancel (too busy). Factor in a controlling nanny, a chauvinist Australian boss, a long-suffering husband, two demanding children and an e-mail lover, and you have a woman juggling so many balls that some day soon something's going to hit the ground. Pearson brings her sharp wit and compassionate intelligence to this hilarious and, at times, piercingly sad study of the human cost of trying to Have It All. Women everywhere are already talking about the Kate Reddy column which appears weekly in the Daily Telegraph, and recommending it to their sisters, mothers, friends and even their bewildered partners. This fictional debut by one of Britain's most gifted journalists is the subject of a movie deal with Miramax rumoured to be for almost $1million and has sold around the world, sparking bidding wars in Spain, Germany and Japan. Everyone is getting Reddy for Kate. (2001-12-28)

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

Review:

For some considerable time, Allison Pearson's journalism and television punditry have represented an oasis of wit and intelligence in an era of dumbing-down. Her speciality is the perfectly judged observation: the devastatingly spot-on anatomising of the foibles of human behaviour--always unsparing, but always full of good humour. It’s hardly surprising, then, that I Don't Know How She Does It: Kate Reddy is crammed full of those same qualities: this beguiling and sharply observed novel is based on her weekly Daily Telegraph column. The publishers tell us that this is "a comedy about failure, a tragedy about success", and that gets it about right; at the centre of this utterly readable tale is the beleaguered Kate Reddy.

Pearson's heroine spends her life dealing with nagging guilt and the impossible demands of an over-busy life. Yes, we're talking about the crushing demands put on modern women--and Kate is a classic case of just how difficult it is to "have it all". Career, relationships, marriage--as many women know, managing them all is a Herculean task. And as Kate's juggling act carries her closer and closer to disaster, Allison Pearson herself pulls off a particularly jaw-dropping juggling act herself: certainly, I Don't Know How She Does It is a delightful comedy of manners with a beautifully observed heroine (with whom it's very easy to identify), but there are some razor-sharp points made under the surface here about women in the new century. But this is never at the expense of an unputdownable read--Pearson is much too canny a writer to forget the fact that we want to be entertained first and foremost, whatever else an author may freight in to their narrative. No wonder all those Hollywood film studios are already putting up millions for the screen rights. --Barry Forshaw

Review:

It might change your life (Observer 2003-02-25)

The kind of book you fall in love with - a grown-up novel that is hilarious, heartbreaking and brimming with the bitter-sweet tang of all our lives (Tony Parsons 2003-02-25)

Allison Pearson is one of the stars of her generation (Evening Standard 2003-02-25)

I can't think of a woman who wouldn't want this book (Guardian 2003-02-25)

Her social observation is unerringly accurate...Pearson is unafraid of dealing with the big stuff...so beautifully written that it brought tears to my eyes, as well as a wry smile (Telegraph 2003-02-25)

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.