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I Don't Know How She Does It - Chapte...

The TVClubHouse: Archives: Movies & Library 2003 -2004: Library: June 2003 - April 2004: TVCH Book Club (ARCHIVES): I Don't Know How She Does It - Chapter One users admin

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Hermione69

Wednesday, January 22, 2003 - 7:02 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I find her very believable, especially from the heart-to-hearts I have had with my sister. Our mom took about 7 years off of work to raise the three of us (sis, me and baby brother in that order) and it enriched our lives in so many ways. My sister's family cannot financially afford to do that. Like Kate, she has a lot of guilt about it. I think that comes with the territory.

Twiggyish

Wednesday, January 22, 2003 - 7:40 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Yes, I think so, too. But then, Kate takes everything to the extreme.

Hermione69

Wednesday, January 22, 2003 - 7:55 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
My sister can take everything to the extreme, too, LOL. I wonder if Kate is the oldest child in her own family?

Marysafan

Wednesday, January 22, 2003 - 9:20 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Yes...Hermoine she is. I am an oldest child and could relate to a lot of her thinking...and see myself....and it wasn't pretty!

Hermione69

Thursday, January 23, 2003 - 7:55 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
That is very interesting to me that she is an oldest child. I know my sister started taking on responsibility very young. There was probably pressure from my parents to be the big sister and be more responsible, and being the oldest by nature, I think, causes people to look after things more. I see my sister at 35 still take responsibility for far too many things. Sometimes I want to shake her and tell her to relax and enjoy the wonderful life that she has but it is so easy to peek inside someone else's doors and think they have it made when the reality is we all fight our own demons.

Wargod

Thursday, January 23, 2003 - 6:55 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Oy. After reading the first chapter, I go back to being a working mom! My guilt though, stemmed from the fact that I was the mother who sent store bought stuff to school, depended on someone else taking and picking the kids up, not being home most the time when they were sick.

I always knew though, that working full time, having two small kids, a hubby who changed shifts every few months, and throwing college classes into it that I would not be perfect, and I'd have to rely on others to help me out. SO, when I was working, I couldn't have imagined hubby not reading a note from school if he was home, or cleaning up, or a million other things...probably not the way I would have done it, but, he would have done it.

Now though that I'm home...I am the obsessive mother, LOL. Hubby doesn't usualy get the chance to read the letters from school...because I've already seen them. He doesn't get to help clean, becaue I'll be damned if he has to come home after work to do it. OK, sometimes he has to cook, and I still take store bought goodies to school, but thats because my cooking sucks, LOL.

I just feel like if Kate gave Richard a chance, he might prove to be a useful husband and father and she wouldn't stress over it. But, she is totally obsessive about being the perfect mother and perfect at her job! It seems like because of this, she has a lot of resentment towards her husband (talking about the note from school and about the lady in the moon not getting to rest.)

On to chapter two, LOL. I can't wait to see how this turns out.

Alegria

Thursday, January 23, 2003 - 8:42 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I have been enjoying this book. Kate is frantically juggling her career, marriage, children, friendships. She is spreading herself thinly in all areas and does not feel like a success because of this. It also sounds like she finds it easier to deal with work demands than with those of her family. She is faking things a lot of the time. I like her :)

Knightpatti

Friday, January 24, 2003 - 5:32 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I agree with you Wargod about Richard Kate does not think that he can do anything right! She never makes time just for him and I do believe she could if she wanted. I do not think at this point she has much desire for her husband and they are definitely not working together to help each other out.

Calamity

Monday, January 27, 2003 - 12:11 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Saturday I spotted this book in my library's New Fiction area. Kinda surprised me that it was available. I've read up to the chapter on Boxing Day. Left the book at home though so I'll just write a few general impressions of the story so far.

Kate is a likeable main character and some of the lines are very funny (my favorite was probably the crack about the "only non-PC man in Scandinavia"). But I wonder if this were an American novel, would I get tired of all the name-brand dropping? While I recognize many of the references, it's only as "oh that's a famous department store", "that's a football team", "she's a television chef", etc. I think if they were more familiar to me, I might feel like it's all bit forced or too trendy.

Seamonkey

Monday, January 27, 2003 - 1:31 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Of course they do say "Hoovering" to mean generic vaccuuming.. like many of us say "kleenex" to mean any tissue and I remember parents of my friends when I was a kid saying "Frigidaire" as a generic term for refrigerator.

One of my friends liked "hoovering" so well (from Secrets and Lies) that she now jokes about "hoovering" when she vaccuums.