I Don't Know How She Does It

The Life of Kate Reddy, Working Mother

By: Allison Pearson

Narrated by: Emma Fielding

Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

For every woman trying to strike that impossible balance between work and home - and pretending that she has - and for every woman who has wanted to hurl the acquaintance who coos admiringly, "Honestly, I just don't know how you do it," out a window, here's a novel to make you cringe with recognition and laugh out loud. With fierce, unsentimental irony, Allison Pearson's novel brilliantly dramatizes the dilemma of working motherhood at the start of the 21st century.

Meet Kate Reddy, hedge-fund manager and mother of two. She can juggle nine different currencies in five different time zones and get herself and two children washed and dressed and out of the house in half an hour. In Kate's life, Everything Goes Perfectly as long as Everything Goes Perfectly. She lies to her own mother about how much time she spends with her kids; practices pelvic floor squeezes in the boardroom; applies tips from Toddler Taming to soothe her irascible boss; uses her cell phone in the office bathroom to procure a hamster for her daughter's birthday ("Any working mother who says she doesn't bribe her kids can add Liar to her résumé"); and cries into the laundry hamper when she misses her children's bedtime.

In a novel that is at once uproariously funny and achingly sad, Allison Pearson captures the guilty secret lives of working women - the self-recrimination, the comic deceptions, the giddy exhaustion, the despair - as no other writer has. Kate Reddy's conflict - How are we meant to pass our days? How are we to reconcile the two passions, work and motherhood, that divide our lives? - gets at the private absurdities of working motherhood as only a novel could: with humor, drama, and bracing wisdom.

©2002 Allison Pearson (P)2002 Random House Inc., Random House Audio, a Division of Random House Inc.

Critic reviews

"Delightfully fast moving and breathlessly readable, with dozens of laugh-aloud moments and many tenderly touching ones." (Publishers Weekly)
"A rare and beautiful hybrid: a devastatingly funny novel that's also a compelling fictional world." (Amazon.com)
"A compelling manifesto on the plight of working mothers that manages to be both angry and funny." (Booklist)

Actually she doesn't!

While you pick up this book as something light and fun to read it is anything but...however,it is enjoyable. I especially liked the voice of the woman who read the book as well as the references to all the british items: nappies,tea, etc. The main character Kate, is certainly not to be admired and seems quite thick in the head as she navigates the world of business, but much of what she experiences rings true. The fallout from her poor decisions wrectks havoc on her family and I won't give away the end, although it is what one expects. It was our book clubs book for January. I am sure it will provide fair discussion.

I Don't Know How She Does It

This is the best audio book I have listened to. The book itself, about a busy executive mother trying to juggle the demands of work, marriage, child rearing, is poignant but written so that it is drolly comic as well. The reading is the best I have heard -- good change of voice for different characters, filled with nuance and absolutely perfect for the book.

Excellent

This book is both funny & sad at times. I think that it is an extremely accurate portrayal of the trials of a working mother.

Unlike other reviewers, I thought that the narrator was excellent & not at all distracting.

Entertaining, not deep...

If you're looking for a book that gives you a real insight into the life of a working mom of two, this gives you a pretty good idea... but if you're looking for this book to give you insight and ANSWERS, it won't do that. Duh, it's a work of fiction. It is, however, entertaining, although a tad tedious and run-on at times. It's the perfect book to listen to as you wash dishes and vacuum...

fabulous listening!

I found this book so very true ...both sadly and happily true! I really enjoyed it!

I Don't Know How She Does It

Very funny, witty, and appropriate to today's career moms. The reader is excellent. It keeps you longing for more.

Oddly depressing

I have to admit, I couldn't get through the end of this book. I had the thought that it would improve, but the story just seemed so endlessly discouraging and bleak. There were mildly humorous bits, just not enough to sustain my interest. The narrator is great, and I think the book may seem funnier to other people than it did to me. It seemed like all the bad parts of being a working mother and none of the good things.

Superb

The wonderful narration and fascinating main character make this one of the best audio books I've ever come across. Great!

Funny & Enjoyable

This is my first review of an audiobook but I could not fail to drop a line of support for this piece. It is realistic and thought provoking while keeping you smiling, as well as laughing out loud at times, throughout. The narration is excellent with the wonderful British accent and character work. I usually go slowly, in bits an pieces, stories that are based a little too much on reality and not enough mystery, romance, etc. but I found I could hardly put this one down because you wanted to see how she would pull it all together and to enjoy the next poignant or laughable moment. It is also wonderful how she doesn't just leave you hanging at the end not knowing how the loose ends are tied up or thinking that everything was truly figured out and understood. There are bits and pieces of us all throughout this book and I agreed that it would be a fun book for guys to read to get a quick view of the craziness that often fills a women's world.

A delightful comedy

I really enjoyed this book. It was very funny and I think most working mothers can relate to this story. The narrator did a wonderful job. I highly recommend this book.