So I know I’ve been particularly rubbish at updating this – because who knew lockdown would actually make reading a little trickier to do? – but it turns out I have a few to add. So that is exactly what I am doing. As I sit here knowing I am back at work in 10 days (and I’ll be honest, after six months I am letting out quiet whoops at the thought), I do kind of wish I had read a bit more than I have done. I’ve done pretty well but actually it’s been difficult at the same time. I’m a teacher and so I have been working. I haven’t been furloughed, as much as everyone seems to think I’ve had a whale of a time during all this, and finding my feet in working from home as well as juggling full time child care of my son has been enough of a challenge. Picking up a book wasn’t really something I factored in to my days; staying sane, eating, responding to what felt like a constant email stream, trying to keep my son occupied during Teams calls and hoping he didn’t announce he needed a poo were top of my priorities. BUT, I am now ready to do a few of these and am looking forward to getting back in the saddle as it were.
So, Dawn O’ Porter… I have previously blogged about “chick lit” (a term I don’t really like all that much as I feel it demeans good writing) and my enjoyment of it. That said, I seemed to only favour Jenny Colgan and so any others I became a little snobbish about. I did, I’ll be honest. I had seen many people mention The Cows and how amazing it was so I decided to give it a go; and the instant I finished it I downloaded So Lucky because I simply could not wait that long to read another. Yes, it’s that good.
I’ll start with a quick look at The Cows. This book follows Tara, Cam and Stella (multiple narrative; instant win with me). All three very different women. Tara works in production and is very good at what she does despite being surrounded by awful people. She also has a daughter who was born after a one night stand with a man who doesn’t know about her. Cam is a successful blogger who is admired by many. Independent and confident, she says how she feels and puts things how they are. Happily child free and plans to stay that way. Stella is more difficult – she is married but unhappy, having lost her sister to cancer and therefore unsure of her own future and lacking in any confidence in who she is without her other half. These three women are interconnected in various ways throughout the story without necessarily always knowing it. All good at what they do but with their own issues – though not the typical “Can’t find a man”, “Can’t get him to propose” or “I’m too fat/thin/ugly/smelly…” which was refreshing. By the way, I don’t think I have actually read a story about a woman who was too smelly… maybe there is a gap?
Without giving too much away, the way this story pans out is a total page turner. I had to know what was coming; I had to know how this developed. There are parts that make you laugh, parts that shock and parts that downright disgust you. It felt modern, there is actual acknowledgement of social media and mobile phones and viral clickbait!, and it also felt realistic. As a mum of a young child, the “Mummy Mafia” (as I call them) frighten the crap out of me. My lack of interest in my child learning Latin at 2 or having swimming lessons at 6 months (seriously, they are not lessons…) always makes me a feel a bit left out. Tara shows a lot of the feelings I had, though I don’t have the hangovers she does, at sometimes just not feeling good enough. Cam I adored and would totally read the blog of someone like that – blunt, honest and unafraid to share her opinions. Stella is… difficult to like but in many ways you understand why she is like that. But still, it’s tough. O’ Porter’s writing is funny, it’s never cliched and it’s always exciting. I laughed out loud many times reading this. I felt what they did. I cried when they did.
The concept of slut shaming and the way the internet treats women is something explored in both books. How the internet is wide open for people to say what they want and to hunt out negativity. Trolls are not going away any time soon unfortunately and O’ Porter’s handling of the subject is excellent. The idea that one slip up, one mistake, one moment of madness can ruin a person’s life is scary. The exploration of it here is as brilliant as it is utterly terrifying. Our online footprint is something that can take away a career, a lifestyle, a reputation, make someone into a laughing stock… It has very much made me double check security of things (not that I would engage in what Tara does here just for the sake of clarity!)
So Lucky follows a similar vein but with very different characters. Once again, I laughed, I cried and I was totally engaged in this. Once again, O’ Porter is rooted in the now. The insta-influencers, the pushy parents, the struggling with you life and career when you have a child. I’m not saying that having a child is all on the woman’s shoulders all the time, Dads are parents too and I am lucky to have a very hands on husband in that sense, but I totally related to it. All those years as a child knowing no mums who worked or all those times the domestic stuff was steered towards me as a female throughout my life are difficult to shake! The women in these stories are seen as “So Lucky” because they have everything- but do they really?
I am being deliberately vague about the stories because I just want people to go out and read them – The Cows is currently a Kindle freebie if you have Prime… I feel bad for being such a snob about her books because now I want more and am utterly lost! Dawn O’ Porter is an awesome writer who has made something fun, exciting, relateable and downright hilarious. I need more and just hope it comes along soon…