Life with a baby, warts and all! (Going Ga Ga - Mel Giedroyc)

Member Name: i_am_joy

Product:	Going Ga Ga - Mel Giedroyc
Date:	04/06/09 (79 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A warm and witty read which will certainly make you laugh, well written

Disadvantages: ----------

My daughter and I have decided to swap a pile of books and have challenged each other to read every single one of them, this is due to the fact that we are both terribly stuck in our reading habits and want to see what else is out there. Myself, I am completely bonkers about historical fiction and detective novels whereas my daughter is a complete chick-lit nut with a few biographies and misery-lit books thrown in - I am not expecting to enjoy her choice of books at all to be completely honest and find myself groaning in despair every time I look at her donated pile.

However I was in for a nice surprise with the very first one of 'her' books that I read, Going Ga Ga is a semi-autobiographical book by comedian Mel Giedroyc which recounts her experiences as new mother to baby Grace. Unlike most chick-lit books I found my interest was drawn in from the very first page, I am already well aware of who Mel is (one half of the Mel and Sue double act from a few years ago) and felt her wacky sense of humour come through as soon as I began reading which was a good sign as if the writing had been as fluffy as I was imagining it would be from the cover of the book then I would have put it straight back in the pile and called a halt to my daughter's challenge.

We meet Mel and her long suffering husband Dan in the middle of an argument about the amount of photos Mel has taken of her new daughter, or more precisely the type of photos that Mel has being taking of her daughter's clothes. Mel wants to keep them for prosperity's sake and thinks it would be nothing short of child neglect to get rid of them as Dan suggests, although pictures of her now outgrown dresses are threatening to take over their small flat. I had to smile at this as my daughter is incredibly snap happy over all of her children and I remember walking into her house one morning just before she gave birth to my youngest granddaughter to find her happily taking photographs of all the outfits she had bought or been given!

During Going Ga Ga Mel tells the reader how stressed, unhappy and generally lonely she feels since having her baby. I'm sure most new mums will be able to relate to her sentiments, although of course Mel intersperses her miseries with comical moments and conversations she has with other mothers and members of the general public. I particularly enjoyed the thread of the book that dealt with her trying to make some friends with other women who have babies, she works herself into such a state over the fact that she doesn't seem able to bond with mothers in general! Then when she does find a friend, Judy, this woman turns out to be the sort of forceful Earth-Mother that most of us would generally want to avoid as she thinks she knows everything and stops at nothing to show Mel up as being a bad mother.

Going Ga Ga is a complete whirlwind of disasters for Mel, I couldn't help but feel sorry for her as she is so obviously overwhelmed with motherhood. Of course, Mel Giedroyc is more than likely an excellent mother in real life and this book is simply based on observations she has made - only hugely embellished to make it laugh out loud funny! At several points throughout the book I actually belly laughed as I remembered long forgotten incidents from when my own daughters' were babies - the greasy hair, maternity clothes for months after the birth and being so tired that you actually consider your bank manager to be a friend all really rung a bell for me even though my eldest is now 28! All of the book is very comical in my opinion, it made me smile on every single page even when the events are so far fetched that it's obvious to the reader that this is the author playing for laughs.

Actually I think you'd have to be a parent or grandparent of a fairly young child to really appreciate this book. I myself thoroughly enjoyed it because my youngest granddaughter is 23 months old so hasn't long passed the baby stage, I felt I could really relate to certain stories Mel intertwined into the book such as it taking so long to actually get baby ready to leave the house that you miss your appointment or perhaps a well meaning friend giving you advice that you really don't want or need.

From cover to cover Going Ga Ga is very wittily written and Mel Giedroyc really is a natural comic, this shines through as she makes her observations and the mood of her writing swings from contented mother to raging maniac at the drop of a hat. This is an easy book to read, I finished it within four days just by dipping in and out of it a chapter at a time whilst doing other things. The author's style of writing is simple, obviously a very educated lady Mel resists the urge to flaunt her clever side and uses language and style that we can all appreciate - I am now thinking of the ridiculous Will Self whose book I recently gave up on after fifteen pages because I couldn't really be bothered holding a dictionary in my other hand to look up every third word in the novel!

Another thing I enjoyed about this book is that it's not strictly speaking a story, it's a collection of Mel's thoughts that are loosely woven together with a series of overlapping incidents that hold the novel together beautifully. This meant it didn't take too much brain power to actually get through the book, the comedy element is the main thing about it rather than the tale told within and this is where the book succeeds in my opinion - it doesn't take itself too seriously at all and for the reader this makes for a refreshing and very enjoyable read.

You can buy a copy of Going Ga Ga for £5.24 from Amazon, which I think is reasonable for such an entertaining and cleverly written book. Otherwise borrow a copy from the library, but do try it if you have recently had a new addition to your family and see how many of Mel's madcap situations ring a bell for you!

Summary: An excellent book by Mel Giedroyc that will have you in stitches.