The Bad Mother's Handbook: A Novel [Paperback]

Kate Long (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 27, 2006

BAD MOTHER RULE #1: NEVER, EVER, DO WHAT I DID!

For seventeen-year-old Charlotte Cooper, it’s too late. Despite her best efforts to finish school, tune out her angry, slightly hysterical mother, and cope with her loving but dotty grandmother, she is unexpectedly (now that’s an understatement) pregnant. And don’t even mention the jerk who knocked her up.

Charlotte’s mother, Karen, is trying to convince herself that there are worse things than becoming a grandmother at thirty-three. For instance, there’s wanting to kill Charlotte for the mess she’s made of her life. Between struggling to pay the bills and halfheartedly filling out questionnaires on Internet dating sites, Karen uncovers a scandalous family secret involving her own birth, and then falls back into bed with her sexy ex-husband. So much for perfect timing.

In the meantime, Karen’s mother, Nan, is having a wee bit of trouble with names (sometimes her own). But that doesn’t keep her from retaining a few things she’d rather forget. Of course, Nan knows that everything will work out fine for Charlotte and the baby–these things usually do. Now, if only she could put the pieces of her own fragmented memory together, she might have an interesting tale or two to share.

In this wickedly funny, disarmingly moving novel, three generations of mothers learn that it’s the simplest mistakes that can change your life forever. With wit and wisdom, Kate Long proves that there are as many kinds of mothers as there are daughters, but the love that binds them all is what truly matters.


From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Three independent, prickly women living together in ex-Council housing sort out life and love in this funny, touching and utterly winning debut, a U.K. bestseller. Not only has 17-year-old Charlotte just gotten dumped by her pretty-boy lover, she's also discovered that she's pregnant. It's like history repeating itself, considering that her mom, Karen, had her when she was 16. Karen's going to kill her, Charlotte thinks, and she's half right: Karen's so mad at her smart, independent daughter for ruining her chance for college that she could just about hit her on the head with a skillet. Then there's Nan—Karen's aging, batty adoptive mother, who burns important mail in the toaster and always seems to need a change of her colostomy bag—whom both Charlotte and Karen love and want to strangle. Long tells the story of Charlotte's pregnancy, Karen's search for her birth mother and Nan's tough past through shifting first-person sections (Nan's voice, with its working-class Northern lilt, is particularly strong), moving wittily and gracefully toward an ending that's happily realistic. Good secondary characters—Karen's lazy ex, Steve; Charlotte's sweet would-be love, Daniel—round out a lovable cast in this story about growing up at 17, facing life head-on at 33 and letting go at 81. (Apr.) --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–An unplanned pregnancy led Karen Cooper to marriage at the age of 12 and divorce by 21. She has better things in mind for her daughter and isn't about to let anything stand in the way of Charlotte's pursuing an education and career. But fate has other plans: coming out of a six-month relationship with her boyfriend, Charlotte discovers that she is pregnant. This is a book about mother-daughter relationships and the raw emotions that they can unleash. It is also the story of Karen and Charlotte as individuals and the ways that they deal with life: the various crises that surround taking care of Karen's mother, Nan, who is regressing into childhood; maintaining friendships and studies while progressing through pregnancy to childbirth; and letting go of dreams of Mr. Right. While the first-person frankness is reminiscent of Bridget Jones's Diary (Viking, 1998), Long is far from a Helen Fielding wannabe. She mixes heartbreak and hilarity with a finesse that will have readers cringing and laughing simultaneously. All three voices are just right: Charlotte's vacillations between anxiety and nonchalance; Karen's frazzled nerves and resentment as she allows the role of caretaker to overwhelm her; Nan's brief periods of clarity about the present intermixed with forays into the past. Yelling, swearing, and frustration do not a bad mother make, and the grudging love and respect that Karen and Charlotte have for one another sees them through. Much more than a chick flick in book form, this story has substance and enduring characters.–Kim Dare, Fairfax County Public Library System, VA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (June 27, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345479661
• ISBN-13: 978-0345479662
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.9 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,248,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pleasant Surprise, December 7, 2005

By 

S. A. Waggoner "pettacom" (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bad Mother's Handbook: A Novel (Hardcover)

Don't be put off by the cliched title or the unexceptional bones of the story. What makes this book worthwhile is the author's ability to create distinctive characters, and her success in adding depth and bittersweet reality to an ordinary tale.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Bad Mothers (who are real women) handbook, May 24, 2005

By 

TheIndianExpat "TheIndianExpat" (Asia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bad Mother's Handbook: A Novel (Hardcover)

Funny, despairing, real - if u have ever felt like a loser, winner and half way participant in life at the same time then this novel is for you. Simple, unpretentious, and surprisingly humorous, it traces a brief interlude in the lives of three women ( okay one is a girl) - all daughters, all mothers, the three related to each other - and the men in their lives, intermingled with their mistakes, memories and maudlin catharsis ...all of which build up to a wonderful, soppy, happy hormone releasing end!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A surprisingly entertaining read..., September 27, 2005

By 

marsha (Malaysia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bad Mother's Handbook: A Novel (Hardcover)

The title, `The bad mother handbook', made me pick up this book because I sometimes feel like I am a bad mother. And I am pretty sure I am not the only one who feels this way sometimes. It's when our children pushes us to our limits that we react without thinking - in a humanly way that's full of flaws. In fact, even mothers are not without flaws.

However, despite the title, `The bad mother handbook', given to the book, this book is no self-help book or a guide of any kind, which was what I initially thought it was. It's a novel. It's a story about how three generations of mothers have come together in an understanding, how the past clouded the now and how the now can change the future.

The backdrop for this book was set in 1997, the year that the dearly beloved Princess Diana perished in a fatal car crash. It was also in this year that Nan (the grandmother) started showing signs of her age, Karen (the mother) discovers a secret that she never thought she wanted to find out about, and it is also during this year that Charlotte (the pregnant teen) is also about discover what it is to be a mother.

The continual swapping of storyline and outlook throughout the book was confusing for me in the beginning. I have to admit this, in the beginning, I was just leafing through the pages, disbelieving of the fact that I actually paid RM30+ to read all of this nonsensical stuff. Things that I already know very well, as a mother, thank you very much. Ironically, it was this swapping that got me hook later on in the book. So, essentially, in `The bad mother handbook', there is not ONE main character, but there are three leading ladies! Once you get past the first few chapters and start to understand the characters, you'll soon get into their lives and pray for them.

For Nan, it was difficult to understand the way her story was written because much of it was written in a kind of English that the English used to talk in. For Karen, it's a very today thing since Karen does live in my generation. Well, maybe she's a couple of years older than me (ahem!) but heck, I understand every single word that is written about her and the things that she is going through. For Charlotte, she's just a typical teenager who's just fuming mad because of her mom's behavior and refusal to be more relaxed about her. Charlotte was basically rebelling and acted outrageously because Karen was tuned out of her life. The mother and daughter stopped speaking to each other because they couldn't see eye to eye about almost everything! The moment one of them opened their mouths, the other picks it up as an argument. How it reminds me of my teenage years. Karen, in the meantime, is hung-up on the mistake that she has made in the past - particularly, in getting pregnant, getting married, getting divorced and missing out on her education, having to live through each day in a dreary mood in an awful job she hates!

Because of this mistake, she wants only the best for Charlotte and imagine what she felt when Charlotte fell into the very footstep she took - in getting pregnant? And the father of the child is less than responsible towards the pregnancy. In the meantime, Karen goes on a quest to discover her true lineage and Charlotte finds a new friend and best buddy in the most unlikely boy in the whole school. His devotion and friendship (and adoration) got her through most of the tough times written about very realistically in `The bad mother handbook'.

It's not as witty and page-turning as I thought it was going to be but all in all, Kate Long has written a truly well-loved book in the form of `The bad mother handbook'. It's definitely a good read but don't expect Kay Scarpetta stuff in there. read leisurely and you will soon see the true value of a book like `The bad mother handbook'. Well done, Kate Long.