Customer Reviews

Mad Cows

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Although this book seemed to hold promise of a light entertaining read, it soon disintegrates into a tiresome over-written waste of time. The characters in this book are 2 dimensional and cliche-ed, and after a while they all start to sound the same. The plot is improbable with a happy ending and the ubiquitous "where are they now?" prologue conveniently tacked on. But worst of all is the author's writing style. She tries far too hard to be endlessly ever-so-witty, an excruciating embarrassing attempt which falls flat on its face.

this is by far the worst book i have ever read! if you are looking for something light, entertaining or even slightly comedic then keep looking past this book. The plot is slow and seemingly never ending, extremely unrealistic. At most this book is depressing.

Most women know what its like to have just had a baby and it starts crying and your milk starts flowing and drenching the front of your top even though you have nursing pads on.

But Maddy is in Harrods so grabs some frozen peas and puts them inside her top to stop the aching breasts until she can go outside side and feed her son.

Alarm bell ring and everyone rushes outside of harrods. Maddys sits on the steps and starts to breastfeed. The security guard tells her to stop and that it is not the place for it. Well Maddy lets fly verbally at him she is only breastfeeding. The guard calls the police because he has seen the frozen peas under her clothing which she swears she forgot about and she ends up in the lockup with her baby.

The overall story is brilliant. It just needs the 50% of the crudity taken out. But if you like crude jokes this story is for you. (without the crudity i would have given it a 5 star)

This book starts out so funny. Then the turns that this woman's life take really turn shocking. It was hard for me to read, but the wit was so refreshing I had to keep reading, just to get more of it. Kathy Lette definitely enjoys her dark side. I think most young women writers coming out today are totally borrowing from Kathy. From plot twists to sarcastic commentary, you can find everything in one of her books years before the others. I would've given it 5 stars, but it does plod at times and at a certain point, she just throws out one-liners sentence after sentence that are so clever, but need more space to be appreciated. Also, she quotes the prequel to this one - Foetal Attraction - too much. I know she wants to make sure everyone gets to hear her brilliant wit, but she should trust that they will read the other books if they like her. Other than these really minor points, it's brilliant.

As my own 1-1/2 year old son ran amock and made a shambles of several rooms, I burned through this book about the misadventures of Maddy, her baby son Jack, and an assortment of other vivid characters. Lette's crisp, witty writing tells a story of new motherhood with just enough exaggeration to make it a great escape from genuine new motherhood. This is not to say that only we stroller-pushers will love it...but there's definitely a lot more vigorous nodding and sighing going on when the reader can empathize with Maddy's breastfeeding woes, for example. (Although I doubt many of us ever had to re-interpret lactation etiquette for a stay in a women's lockup.) Maddy's ambivalence about motherhood is no laughing matter, though; it's an all-too-true portrayal, albeit in an absurdish context, of the difficult transition from carefree independence to the duty-laden role of a primary-caretaker parent. Maddy's dealings with her baby's father, the vain midlifer Alex, are filled with the pain of betrayal and the ache of leftover lust, but Lette's made Maddy enough of a resilient smartass to keep us laughing and rooting for her. I never doubted Maddy would get what she wanted. It was the getting-there I loved most

This is another C grade novel from Ms Lette, who hit her peak in her teenage years with the book Puberty Blues (co written, incidently). Mad Cows offers the reader another unbelievable plot, unlikeable characters and those irritating recycled puns that Kathy is fond of using time and time again (in interviews, in the paper, on TV, etc.)

This book was turned into a straight to video movie that rivals "Blow Dry" as the worst British comedy ever made.

And what a shame, considering that Lette is married to such a classy guy, the QC Geoffrey Robertson, human rights lawyer.

Argh!

this book was sort of bad... i didnt really enjoy it...it was supposed 2 be funny but not being a mother i guess i couldnt see the humor... i guess the author only writes 4 a certain audience...obviously not me. but whatever....its cool, no offense... 2 the point, the book was pretty boring, not that funny, pretty predictable, w/ a weak ending...

I read this book whilst in the dreary United Kingdom, and at times felt a bit like the unfortunate Maddy. As an Aussie brought up in America, I may have been even more foriegn than our brave heroine Madeline, yet I passionatley identifeied with her predicaments. Although I was never inclined to spend time in England's correctional facilities, I was prone to spend time with English men who, on the basis of their lack of morals and responsibility, SHOULD have spent time in said correctional facilities.
Kathy Lette is outrageous... she has a tendency to blow things way out of proportion, making Maddy's escapades all the more believable. After all, nothing is more outrageous than real life, and fiction often fails to capture the absurd reality that most people live. Lette has accomplished a great feat in that I felt all of Maddy's pain, frustration and spunk, and when reading this book on the bloody tube in the mornings on the way to a stifling job in London (thank GOD I got out of that city), I sometimes forgot who I was and identified more with Maddy. I wanted to sprint from the tube at King's Cross and just disappear into the concrete and coal-stained jungle of Cockney land.
I was elated at Maddy's escape from London.. only my own escape topped it

This is a very funny and witty and easy to read book. Kathy is not the new writing genius of the nineties and doesn't seem to care. That's it.

Kathy Lette is Australia's funniest comedian. This hilarious sequel to Foetal Attaction, sees Lette at her wittiest and biting.

What a woman.