How Hard Can It Be?

By: Allison Pearson

Narrated by: Poppy Miller

Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

From the New York Times best-selling author of I Don't Know How She Does It comes an audiobook about starting over and facing life with a sense of humor. 

This program is read by acclaimed actor Poppy Miller, who stars as Ginny Weasley in the Broadway production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Allison Pearson's brilliant debut novel, I Don't Know How She Does It, was a New York Times best seller with four million copies sold around the world. Called "the definitive social comedy of working motherhood" (The Washington Post) and "a hysterical look - in both the laughing and crying senses of the world - at the life of Supermom" (The New York Times), I Don't Know How She Does It introduced Kate Reddy, a woman as sharp as she was funny. As Oprah Winfrey put it, Kate's story became "the national anthem for working mothers."

Seven years later, Kate Reddy is facing her 50th birthday. Her children have turned into impossible teenagers; her mother and in-laws are in precarious health; and her husband is having a midlife crisis that leaves her desperate to restart her career after years away from the workplace. Once again, Kate is scrambling to keep all the balls in the air in a juggling act that an early review from the UK Express hailed as "sparkling, funny, and poignant...a triumphant return for Pearson."

Will Kate reclaim her rightful place at the very hedge fund she founded, or will she strangle in her new “shaping” underwear? Will she rekindle an old flame, or will her house burn to the ground when a rowdy mob shows up for her daughter’s surprise (to her parents) Christmas party? Surely it will all work out in the end. After all, how hard can it be?

©2018 Allison Pearson (P)2018 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Few sequels beat the original, but How Hard Can It Be? does so hands down. Kate Reddy's comeback as a pushing-50 'Returner', re-entering the workforce after a spell on the mommy track, is zesty, razor-sharp, and hilarious.... Get ready for Kate!" (Tina Brown)

"Written with Allison’s trademark wit and lacerating insight, How Hard Can It Be? is an honest, hilarious look at being a woman of a certain age. Anyone who, like me, adored Kate Reddy in I Don’t Know How She Does It, will be delighted to revisit her fierce and honest take on the figurative and literal bumpy bits of middle age. This book is smart and sharp and funny, funny, funny." (Aline Brosh McKenna, screenwriter of The Devil Wears Prada and co-creator of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend)

this book resonates on so many levels!

I adore Allison Pearson's writing style, her humor, and her ability to call it as it is.

Sooooo depressing

I preface this by saying I didn’t finish it because as a woman who’s age begins with a 4 it made me want to open a vein. The message here seems to be , life for you is over, suck it up until you die.

Awesome! Laughed out loud multiple times.

So good that I shared and highly recommended it to friends. Will make you LOL and tear up other times. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Plan to purchase authors others books now. Great listening experience. Both writer and reader are excellent.

Not a Bad Book but Not For Me

This will be the first audiobook I don't finish. Not because it's poorly written or a bad story but because I'm the wrong audience. It's about a pre-menopausal woman dealing with difficult teenagers struggling with her finances and in a low point in her marriage; consequently she is facing some serious self-esteem problems due to all of the above.

I'm Not In That season of my life yet so I just can't relate. Her parenting style is completely different from mine so again I can't relate. Basically this is not a bad book, I'm just the wrong audience.

WHAT A HOOT!

A must for any Mumma out there in her late 40’s.
Witty, True, Honest, Hilarious, Lovely, Refreshing - an Amazing Book!
Thanks for the laugh! I totally related to the entire book.

Fun book - would definitely recommend

A very fun, engaging audiobook and fantastic narration by Poppy Miller. It kept me entertained during long runs.

Completely immersed

This was a fantastically read aloud book. The actor reading it was perfect for the part. Now that it’s finished, I’m sad because I had her voice in my head for over 12 hours! And the story was relatable. Well done!

Loved it- life’s bumps with a laugh

Thank you Allison!! Wow well said-
Now if we could all end like Kate!
Great character development and narration.

LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!

Even better than the first book!!!!! A truly excellent listen!!! Highly recommend this book as a thoroughly entertaining read

too lifelike

Made me laugh, made me sad. ending doesn't seem real, but doesn't matter. LOVE it

fantastic to listen to !

loved it so so much.first book that had my attention from the start. the reader was great