Yummy? More like kind of forgettable and a pre-credit crunch heroine. (The Rise and Fall of a Yummy Mummy - Polly Williams)

Member Name: azana

Product:	The Rise and Fall of a Yummy Mummy - Polly Williams
Date:	24/06/09 (66 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: light read

Disadvantages: predictable

Last time I was in West London the "Yummy Mummy" tribe appeared to be alive and well, pushing their Bugaboos though maybe looking a bit more nervous since the whole Lehman brothers thing.

This book was set in a pre-credit crunch London, and I first read it when it was published in 2006 and I was living on the fringes of the world the book describes, this novel is about being a new mum and trying to find your way. It is a light "chick lit" read with touches of humour.

I have just finished re-reading this book, having run out of fresh books to read I sometimes plunder my shelves for books I loved first time round, or, as in this case, books I couldn't quite remember reading which I then read before deciding if they are keepers or not. I will be passing this book on, it was mildly enjoyable but not very memorable even on a second read. I'd put my lack of recall down to sleep deprivation in the time it was published and I bought it, but actually suspect that this book is entertaining at the time but fairly forgettable.

Amy Crane, the heroine of this novel, is a mum of six months standing trying to work out her new identity and caught between a crowd of NCT mums and a slick band of "yummy mummies" who fit Botox and shopping into their glamourous nanny-aided motherhood. Amy is not married to Joe, the father of her baby Evie and suspects him of having had an affair whilst she was pregnant - this is not a spoiler by the way as her suspicion is what starts the book.

We follow Amy through a journey of having one of the yummy mummies, Alice, try to give her a makeover, whilst Amy feels she fails to measure up to the expectations of the earth mother NCT types and lusts after a rather two-dimensional Pilates instructor, Josh. Alice has is the glamourous, seemingly non-sleep deprived and as gorgeous as pre kids mum that Amy thinks she wants to be, a MILF (mum I'd like to...f***), according to the book. OK then.

It is all mildly amusing, however I couldn't help but feel that the author was working through some sort of new mum checklist to appeal to the reader. Williams is a journalist, now on her fourth book and I think her third child - this one was written after the birth of her first I believe. There were a few new mum classic experiences of changing vile nappies and trying to squeeze into previous clothes whilst being appalled by your tummy. One reference to a soggy breast pad was obviously meant to be funnier than I found it, but I could relate to some of the incidents in the book and definitely that feeling of finding that your NCT (national child birth trust) group are not necessarily the soul mates you might imagine and it is possible to have nothing in common with people, you won't all be friends just because you have had a baby recently though you might understand each other a bit.

The checklist continued with "scene designed to show loving mum really" and "scene with completely non-child reality understanding woman" and "Botox trip"- I just found I could see it all coming. I also found references to breastfeeding a bit strange and definitely contrived "let's tick that one off without offending anyone" - the author was quite negative in that the language used to describe women feeding was meant to be comic but actually quite scathing, whilst on the other hand the character had fed up until 6 months and was stopping so she could lose weight and get her body back. It was all seemed designed to not offend anyone on either side of the breastfeeding debate whilst not actually adding to the story.

Although I could relate to some of this book I just wasn't sure who this was supposed to appeal to - clearly it does appeal as Polly's website is full of glowing comments about this book (www.pollywilliams.com). The world painted is probably a bit more niche than mummy London-dwellers might imagine - I don't know if anyone uses the term "yummy mummy" in anything but an ironic way anymore though the magazines are still full of celebrities who look as if they lose their baby bump overnight, I am not sure if women aspire to find their old selves, maybe some just accept and enjoy being mums.

The heroine of this book couldn't work out who she wanted to be like just came over as a bit self obsessed. I did like the character of her friend Nicola, who seemed to be there to present some sort of middle path, but some of the other characters were just very cliched, though actually when I lived in London I suppose they were the sort of mums who existed. I never was very yummy though.

Some of the characters in this book were more believable than others and overall it was an ok read for its genre but I would class it as just "alright".
Objectively this may be as personally I have moved on long ago from the worrying about becoming a mum thing - you might enjoy this if you are a newish mum but set in a different time as it is it may not seem very relevant. Pre-recession women might just seem like a world away; though I do believe this book has been re-printed for the American market as "The Yummy Mummy" - I don't know why maybe words like "rise" and "fall" are just a bit unfortunate now.

In the niche genre of female chick lit for people who are mums this is probably an ok book - if you haven't had kids it might put you off in some ways or you might fail to "get" the attempts at humour. I would read another of the author's books if I needed some light diversion and they were available at the library, but for my money there is better chick lit out there.


Book currently available from Amazon £5.49, details below:

Paperback: 371 pages
Publisher: Sphere (31 Aug 2006)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0751537446
ISBN-13: 978-0751537444
Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.6 x 2.6 cm

Summary: an ok sort of read