Getting A Life

I just finished the book Getting a Life: Stories by Helen Simpson. I bought this book at Borders (I know this because of the Borders sticker on the back, but honestly, I don't remember when I bought this book) and I randomly picked it to read after finishing the last book I read.

So by now anyone who knows me knows that I'm pregnant. And anyone who knows me knows that I wish I could work at home so that Mateo doesn't have to be in daycare. Then I read this book, written by a British author who doesn't have much of a fun sense of humor although re-reading the back of the book synopsis over and over states she does, and I wanted to throw it away or stomp on it or fling it out into the wildness like the frisbee it should be.

Why?

Well, every single story is about women who have 3 or more kids and who have either decided to stay home and raise them or who work and decided to have a nanny raise them. And neither way is particular pleasant, according to the author. It made me very sad. It made me wonder if life is really that terribly dull and painful and marriages just crumble to nothing because a couple introduces a child into the world. Plus, it just was not funny at all. It was more depressing than funny, so once again I'm left feeling I just don't get British humor at all.

It took me a long time to get through this book (checking stats....3 weeks! WAY too long for a bookworm like myself and for a book that doesn't have many difficult thoughts to it), and as I was nearing the end, I was getting rather excited at the prospect of finishing it and moving onto something else. Then I got to a story that features a character named Janine. Yes, that's right. Janine. Spelled the same way as mine name. Janine was a sad wife and mother who loved operas. But didn't much like her husband or the people her husband had to work with. Basically she was the same character as all the others, but her name was Janine. My heart sunk. Coincidental, yes, but still annoying.

I finally finished the book today, and it's immediately going to be donated to the "take a book, leave a book" table at work because I don't want anything to do with it anymore. Curses to you Getting a Life! Curses!!!!