How Hard Can It Be? by Allison Pearson

Kate Reddy is not my kind of heroine.  I found her vain, facile and self absorbed and could not take a liking to this woman at all.  She routinely misses what is under her nose because her mind is constantly full of herself - whilst she is busy narrating the story that shows her as a bit of a martyr.  You see Kate is nearly 50 and has 2 teenage children and a husband that is having a mid-life crisis all of his own.  So, she worries about her appearance (almost to obsession as far as I can tell), she worries about her children but misses glaringly obvious clues to what is happening in their lives, she tolerates her husband and is oblivious to what may be happening in his life.  Kate is a mess.  Kate is also going through the perimenopause and, she decides, this is the source of all her woes.  No Kate, the source of most of your woes is your self-absorption.

The only reason I gave this book 3 Stars is the description it gives of the menopause and the humour that is doled out alongside it is actually rather good.  If you are a woman that has started or completed the journey you will recognise some, if not all, of the symptoms described here.  I even did a little mental cheer at the long list of possible symptoms - nice to see the hair in strange places and disappearing from others get mentions.  It is also brutally honest about the psychological fallout of hormonal ebbing and likening to Emily's teenage hormonal surges is actually quite shrewd.

Why did the main character have to be so unpleasant? 

I know I'm harping on about it but she did spoil the book for me.

Would I read another Allison Pearson book?  Yes, yes I would but if that heroine is decidedly unpalatable then it will only be one more.