'Why Mummy Swears' by Gill Sims (HarperCollins, 2019)
I haven't read 'Why Mummy Drinks', but I did recently finish 'Why Mummy Swears', Gill Sims' potty-mouthed sequel, continuing Ellen's story of contemporary motherhood and family life.'Why Mummy Swears' follows mother-of-two Ellen through another 12 months of ups, downs, wobbles and squabbles. While her son Peter ignores her in favour of his tablet, her daughter Jane only speaks to her to demand an Instagram account. Outside the house, Ellen's been suckered into chairing their school's PTA (because no one else will) and her father's Big News has got her pretentious sister Jessica tied up in knots. On top of this, her well of ideas has dried up and it's becoming clear that working from home on a new money-making scheme is not going to pan out. Fortunately, Ellen's dream job comes up just in time. But can she rely on her husband Simon to step up and do his fair share of the parenting so she can go back to work full-time?
The bulk of this book is very funny and a bit silly. It's got the sort of fluffy daftness that brightens your day, even when you can only snatch a few minutes' reading at a time. In that, it's perfect for the busy, 30-40-something audience that it's clearly aimed at.
Perhaps I take life too seriously, but there were parts of it that did leave me feeling kinda... depressed. The persistent nagging from nearly-teen Jane and the arguments between husband and wife about the division of responsibility definitely smacked of 'many a true word said in jest'. This was a smallish niggle, though, and probably says more about me than the book.
'Why Mummy Swears' is also a very contemporary novel. Alongside the usual references to social media sites and modern culture, it's littered with the narrator's creative swearing, in full and abbreviation. It's been quite an education as I had to google quite a few things and there were times where I felt I could have done with a glossary! In other words, 'Why Mummy Swears' is probably only going to appeal to certain readers, but when it does appeal, it's going to hit the spot perfectly.
On the whole, whether it was delivering babies or attending women-only poetry readings, I found the light barminess of 'Why Mummy Swears' refreshing. The best way to take it was to just let it wash over you. As with life, sometimes it's just best to go with the flow and enjoy it.
Now, what next...?
'Why Mummy Swears' by Gill Sims was published in paperback in 2019. This review is based on a free copy received from HarperCollins. Thank you for brightening my month!
