What did you think of How Hard Can It Be? by Allison Pearson?

A very late review - sorry.

It’s an enjoyable read. You would probably get most out of it if you are late forties / early fifties, so I am a little young. It’s not the sort of book I would generally read but I happily read it through to the end and found myself laughing out loud in places.

Apologies for the very late review but I had to start it several times as I just couldn’t get into it. I’ve read it now and i found it fairly enjoyable. I found some of the characters a bit over exaggerated but parts of it are fairly true to life.

Apologies for the late review.....
I found How Hard Can It Be? by Allison Pearson to be really relatable, being in my late 40's and trying to get back into the workforce, and this is a witty, realistic book that shows the humour as well as the struggles.
Really enjoyable!

i really liked it ! I could identify with the character ....however I thought the ending was a bit silly and twee but I guess that's why it is fiction and not real life lol

Thanks for my copy. Here is the complete review which has been uploaded on goodreads and amazon as well.

onerightword.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/how-hard-can-it-be-allison-pearson.html

Some characters had unnecessarily exaggerated characteristics. A bit like Motherland, they just seem silly and v irritating, but apart from that a good read.

I'm just over halfway through this book and, although it is not the type of book I would normally choose, i'm finding it an enjoyable, easy read and hard to put down. Even though I am not at the same stage of life as Kate, I can identify with a lot of her feelings and frustrations. It is annoying me slightly how she doesn't voice her feelings to her husband and seems oblivious to the marks on her daughter's body but overall I am enjoying the story and the character of Kate. However I do find it worrying that this is what I have to look forward to, as it is hard enough having two young children!

Half way through and loving. I can relate to Kate. Looking forward to seeing how things pan out..

Thank you for the book!
I found this an easy read, but that was part of the charm. It was entertaining and parts made me giggle out loud!
Kate is turning 50 soon, looking after ailing parents, teenage children, running a house and trying to work. Although I’m far off 50, there were parts that I could relate to and it made me think more about my future health.
Richards character seemed a bit too undeveloped, there didn’t seem to be much nice about him, and Kate didn’t seem to care too much that her marriage and family was being split up, or that her husbands behavior wasn’t ok. I would have expected more frustration over the husband and maybe a few good points in him to be shown.
Her relationship with her daughter seemed close and easy to relate to. A few parts seemed a bit unbelievable but it was overall enjoyable and a nice read. I’m not sure if it was good enough that I’d go out and buy the first one, but maybe I’d get it from the library if it was there 😉

Thank you for the book. I haven't read 'I Don't Know How She Does It' so I came to it as a stand alone book rather than a sequel.

I found it slow going to start with and, I must admit, would probably have given up after the first three or so chapters if I wasn't reviewing it. It did get better and more enjoyable as the story progressed. It is amusing in places but generally had quite a sad air about it. I didn't find it credible that Kate was so out of touch with the ways of modern teenagers nor that she never questioned Rich about his behaviour. I could empathise with some of her feelings though, particularly about trying to return to work and about her memory not being as fast as it once was; there were also some little phrases that struck a chord.

I was a fan of 'I don't know how she does it' and like our main character, Kate Reddy, seem to have aged overnight (sleepwalking through a decade) tipping the age scales at 50+ so I am definitely her age demographic! I found Allison Pearson's writing very empathetic, well observed (albeit a certain Middle Class lifestyle) and very engaging. It's very helpful to have children similar ages (different sexes), a full time job but alas no fitness fanatic DH or love interest... and any dissatisfaction with the book really stems from the fictional, less believable elements. These are the ingredients I found less convincing; her enduring (online) friendship with her old friend Candy Stratton (important in the first book but somewhat contrived here), her ability to exercise/diet and get good results (and the stomach reducing procedure she has... no evidence anyone except journalists do this!) - I would have expected more angst about this (although self esteem/body dysmorphia issues surface with her relationship with her daughter). The aspects which struck a chord were her relationship with her children (the difficult teenage years but still wanting to mother them) and being the sandwich generation with elderly/ageing parents (and relationships with adult siblings) and the solidarity with female friends (I very much liked Sally). I do think Allison is a very good writer; streets ahead of Helen Fielding (I read the last one with Bridget finding love - talk about suspending disbelief!) Allison writes about the peri-menopause with a lot of humour especially brain 'fog' (you'll have to read the book to find out about 'Roy'!)
Like others have mentioned, this is no work of literary fiction but it is grounded in the here and now, and there are very few writers who are able to address some of these issues in a humorous, engaging way. I did lend this to a friend who was very excited to see it out - she too enjoyed some aspects but also had a few reservations.

Thanks for the opportunity to read the book. I also had the chance to read why mummy drinks and found that the books are similarly cliched but at different points in their lives. It was a decent read although I'd have liked to have the first based on others views just to see if there were gaps I the plot. Some of the characters and actions did seem slightly far fetched or left you thinking why or how did you not know that.
It was interesting for me personally as I work with others who have more grown up children so will pass the book to them to read as might resonate more.

I read the original when my two younger children were toddlers and it resonated, so interesting to see how Kate is doing now that her children are teenagers and she is approaching 50 - just like me! I'm about a third of the way in and really enjoying the book. It's not a challenging read, but sometimes that's just fine. I'm relating to lots of the subject matter and the book is making me laugh out loud at times. Thank you for the free copy Mumsnet.

This is a follow up to I Don't Know How She Does It?, which is a pretty apt way of reviewing this latest offering from Allison Pearson. It doesn't matter whether you've read the prequel to this or not as it stands on its own right. Written from the perspective of a woman approaching 50 and all the problems associated with reaching that age, looking for work, husband and children. Ms Pearson really touches a nerve at times and it is one of those special books that can make you laugh out loud at the absurdity of the situations that are unfortunately only too real. Beautifully written in such a easy to read style, I found I didn't want to put it down. Brilliant. Looking forward to reading more. I really enjoyed it for what it is, light fun and entertaining.

I haven't finished it yet but I am really enjoying it. I hadn't read the first book and I didn't feel I should have as it was easy to read as a separate book and I didn't feel I had missed anything. There is plenty of humour and being a parent of teenagers I can relate to a lot of the issues . I am looking forward to reading the rest of the book.

Well, it grew on me. I started off irritated by the whole thing (especially Roy, who thought that was a good device?) but by the end wanted to know what happened to everyone. I won't be rushing to read the first one though (although NorthernLurker's description of how different it is intrigues me a little bit).

I couldn't be doing with the way Rich was allowed to just get on with being hopeless without ever being challenged about it, particularly the way he clearly wasn't engaging with his parents and their needs. Kate was too dozy to be believable on some of the things she missed entirely. And could a bunch of fund managers really be as hopeless as the lot she ended up working with?

It's gone in the charity shop box as there's no way I'll read it again and I won't recommend it to anyone else. But it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.

I agree with NorthernLurker The book is so cliched and the writing so turgid that although I smiled a few times I couldn't finish reading it. But we are obv in the minority Northern!

Oh and I laughed out loud once. Page 307 and that was largely because temporarily Pearson forgot the personality transplant she had inflicted on Rich and wrote the original character for about a page and a half.

Well I've finished it and tbh I'm just relieved I didn't pay for it.

As a standalone book it would be readable and entertaining though, like Kate, Pearson isn't nearly as clever as she thinks she is. As a sequel it's deeply disappointing largely because of the personality transplant several characters, including Kate, have undergone.

We left Kate taking over a toy factory and living in the north, back at her roots, and having shut the door on her almost affair. When we meet her again she has returned to the south, the toy factory is never mentioned and the driver for the move and her return is the frankly unacceptable behaviour of her spouse.

We are introduced to the woman returners, a group Kate joins to support the return to the workforce those of us who read the first book know she didn't leave. This is a really interesting section of the book but what happens to the returners? They are ditched leaving only one character to recur, and she is there only to reflect certain actions and consequences.

Kate's relationship with Emily us reasonably well described though she is irritatingly dense about what's actually happening. Ben's personality is entirely absent and Pearson cops out of dealing with the mother son relationship.

Whilst Kate's mother and sister are obscured by sentimentality, her relationship with her inlaws is clear and the one part of the book I found really interesting. But even then Pearson is disappointing. Kate knows her inlaws will resist moving from their home, and yet she accomplishes it without protest or even description?

And then there's the menopause. Roy her deeply annoying aide memoire and a full host of symptoms which are realistically indeed graphically described. All I can say is if menopause makes you as annoying as Kate, I will be first in the hrt queue.

I utterly loved the first book...I read it a few times when my kids were younger....now a mother of teens, I’m really looking forward to reading this.
Is it out for sale yet?

Hi all. Trying to figure out how I would have applied for a free copy of this book! I have been going around in circles and just can't seem to find a thread showing which books are up for grabs.

Just finished this book. It was brilliant, not the type of book I would normally go for but I really enjoyed it and will look out for other books by this author. Thank you to mumsnet for giving me the chance to read it, hope there are more book reviews to come!

I haven't read the thread to avoid spoilers - I'm about half way through. The first hundred pages or so Kate seemed like a caricature, overly played to the point of just being irritating. It's only my inability to put a book down half way through (and knowing I needed to write about it here) that kept me going.

It's improved since - as the plot has developed so has the character, although I still can't say I like her. I'll see whether this continues, or whether I want to throw the book out of the window by page 300.

Many thanks to Mumsnet / Harper Collins for a copy of this book.

This is the hugely anticipated follow-up to ‘I Don’t Know How She Does It’, the international bestselling novel that was recently adapted into a movie. 'How Hard Can It Be?' sees the return of Kate Reddy, but several years on from the previous novel, as she counts down the days till her 50th birthday. It is once again a bitter-sweet exploration of the challenges of trying to juggle a demanding career with running a family, of parent-child relationships, of the physical and emotional changes a body goes through at that point in one’s life, and ultimately of a marriage in crisis.

--- SPOILER ALERT ---

The story introduces themes that are initially grounded in reality, and with plausible characters. Emily’s story is very well conveyed, for instance. However, as the story progresses, we are introduced to several improbable scenarios, especially how the conclusion neatly wraps up many of the story threads. For example, it is strange how a professional business-woman and economics wizard like Kate could be so out-of-tune with the pitfalls of social media, and technology in general. Plus, how does a father with a wife and 2 kids to support, and a household to run, get away with deciding he will not work or earn money for 2 years, plus simultaneously pay what would be thousands to attend a counselling course and retain, not to mention receiving professional therapy (more costs), AND spending £5000+ to spruce up his bike??? And to add insult to injury, have an extra-marital affair while he’s at it. And at no point do we see Kate actually sit him down and discuss how unacceptable this is - she just takes on the burden of playing ‘superwoman’ once more with little resistance. There isn’t even the expected showdown after her husband’s shenanigans come to light. Of course, by then Kate is in the arms of Jack Abelhammer, and her husband’s actions provide the excuse needed to divorce and pave the way clear to make her relationship with Jack official. And therein lies another truth ... wasn’t Kate already married when her initial romance with Jack happened? And now she is having an affair – again – behind her husband’s back (even though unbeknownst to Kate, her husband is, too)? Despicable.

Having said that, this is still an extremely well-crafted, effervescent, modern day family escapade. It is infused with dry humour and irony. Despite the serious issues covered, the tone is generally light-hearted, the dialogue aerated, and it's more than your average 'romantic/family/coming-of-age comedy drama'. It may not be a literary masterpiece in the conventional sense, but it there’s enough happening to keep you reading to the end. Fans of ‘I Don’t Know How She Does It’ will find this just as engaging.

I have read a couple of chapters of this book, up to now. It is not my usual type of reading but I have to say up to now I am enjoying it. The story is good and is very entertaining and I really like the style of writing. Will update when I've read it all but it's great u[ to now.