The second meeting of the WIGZ Book Club was held last week. The book chosen was The Secret Life of a Slummy Mummy by Fiona Neill, a hilarious account of the busy life of a thirty something mum that had us all laughing out loud.
We began the meeting by discussing how we'd managed to acquire the book. Our excellent libraries in Zeeland offer a service whereby for a small fee (€1.50), they will obtain books from other libraries in The Netherlands, just ask at the information desk. Other sources discussed were book barns, although these can be quite expensive, Amazon second hand, and Tesco deals which often offer several books for a bargain price.
The discussion points were as follows:
Did the plot hold you or were there moments when your attention wandered?
Were the characters believable?
What impression did it leave on you?
Would the novel make a good movie and who would you cast?
Despite the comic nature of the book we did feel that it raised some rather sobering issues for women. The main character, Lucy, had decided to give up the job that she loved in order to bring up her children. This in itself is not always looked on as being the right thing to do, especially by those mothers who choose to stay in work, whilst others condemn working mothers. An average mother's working day extends way beyond the 9 to 5, it usually means an early start to get the children ready for school or the nursery, followed by work or housework, and at least one after school activity per week, usually more. It begs the question as to whether we are better or worse off with our hard won equality which in reality doesn’t even always mean equal pay let alone equal domestic workload.
Happily, Lucy copes, (just!) and it is her engaging character and her interaction with the people around her which makes the book so entertaining.
A perfect summer read that even the men will enjoy!
We awarded it 4/5.
Read along and leave your comments .......who would you pick to play Lucy or Alpha mum in the film version? We'd love to hear from you!
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