Motherhood is hard. And that’s coming from a mother who has a supportive partner, doesn’t have to work and parent, and who has a secure home and food on the table. I’m incredibly privileged, something that I am highly aware of. I’ve got a lot of health issues – chronic medical conditions, ADHD that I’m only just learning how to deal with in my 40s, and mental health issues (likely because of having undiagnosed ADHD for my entire life). So I’ve got some other stuff going on that makes things a bit harder for me, but then I think most moms do, too. Life doesn’t stop lifing just because you now have one or more tiny beings following you around demanding snacks and/or to have their bum wiped. I don’t think we have historically talked enough about the hard parts of motherhood, nor have we given mothers as much credit as they deserve, particularly those who are doing it alone, working while doing it, dealing with other challenges or whose kids have special needs. It is not a cakewalk.
So when I saw this book, it called to me. It’s a novel about a mother of two who is trying (and mostly failing) to juggle kids, work, marriage, the demands of the perfect mums from her kids’ school and a broken dishwasher, all at the same time. It’s one of the most honest portrayals of modern motherhood I’ve found in a book so far, and not only that, it’s funny to boot. Reading this felt like having a friend I could actually talk truth with who not only wouldn’t judge me, but who would raise me by sharing how her motherhood situation was going. I don’t have many friends these days, and I don’t really ever see the ones I do have, so this is something that’s missing from my life. Mangan nailed it, and she made me feel not only less alone, but like I was allowed to feel all my feels – and have a laugh at the same time.
I’m relatively new to Lucy Mangan’s work. I read Bookworm by Lucy Mangan earlier this year (I have been trying to write the review for it but need to re-read it to get the details right) and absolutely loved it. She’s smart, funny, and a life-long reader, which makes her great at understanding what’s happening in the minds and lives of people around her. She brings all of her best observational skills and wit to this novel, all about a mother who – as many of us these days – is struggling to hold it all together. I’m quickly becoming a huge fan of her work, and I’m looking forward to finding anything and everything else she has written. But I think that this book will always have a special place in my heart because of how much it lightened it. I definitely recommend this to any mothers out there who are feeling overwhelmed, overworked, overwraught and just generally over it.
Meet Liz: all she wants is some peace and quiet so she can read a book with her cat Henry, love of her life, by her side. But trampling all over this dream is a group of wild things also known as Liz’s family. Namely:
Richard – a man, a husband, no serious rival to Henry.
Thomas – their sensitive seven year old son, for whom life is a bed of pain already.
Evie – five year old acrobat, gangster, anarchist, daughter.
And as if her family’s demands (Where are the door keys? Are we made of plastic? Do ‘ghost poos’ really count?) weren’t enough, Liz must also contend with the madness of parents, friends, bosses, and at least one hovering nemesis. Are We Having Fun Yet? is a year with one woman as she faces all the storms of modern life (babysitters, death, threadworms) on her epic quest for that holy grail: a moment to herself. – Goodreads
Book Title: Are We Having Fun Yet?
Author: Lucy Mangan
Edition: Paperback
Published By: Souvenir Press Ltd.
Released: October 14, 2021
Genre: Fiction, Working Moms, Modern Motherhood, Family, Humour
Pages: 320
Date Read: August 15-September 20, 2024
Rating: 8/10
Average Goodreads Rating: 3.80/5 (1,508 ratings)