From Publishers Weekly
Medwed (
How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life) humorously if cursorily delves into a turbulent mother-in-law and daughter-in-law dynamic. Mrs. Pollock has always disdained Maisie, who was never good enough for her son, Rex, heir to the Pollock chicken pot pie fortune. But the two women's conflicts persist even after Rex and Maisie's divorce, as they clash over the raising of Maisie's teenage son, Tommy, who has himself acquired a less-than-ideal girlfriend. Meanwhile, Maisie's trying hard to get her organizing business, Factotum Inc., off the ground in the Boston area while employing another single mom locked in a custody battle with—you guessed it—her own ex-mother-in-law. Medwed adopts a breezy tone, substituting zingy one-liners (you can't pick battles with a battle-ax) for genuine reflection. A reader would need her own organizing service to keep track of Factotum's numerous eccentric clients, whose foibles are neither adequately developed nor sufficiently mined for comic potential. A frivolous, at times frantic, tone prevails, right down to the resolution of the novel's conflicts, which turn into happy endings faster than it takes to microwave a frozen pot pie.
(May) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Maisie has had it up to here with mothers, even if she is one. Specifically, it is her ex-mother-in-law who drives her berserk. Mother Pollock, doting parent or ranging lunatic—probably both—is controlling, manipulative, and overly possessive of her son (and grandson). Blame it on the pot pies—she sits on top of the Pollock family poultry fortune—and an unyielding sense of competition with other women. But Maisie is over it; in fact, she is happy with her life. Raising 16-year-old Tommy, she even intends to be gracious to his pierced, ragged girlfriend. Her business, Factotum Inc., keeps Maisie busy, and her clients provide amusing side characters, most notably Professor Seamus O’Toole, renowned expert on James Joyce at nearby Harvard. Always trying to save the world, Maisie hires Darlene, a young mother, out of pity but soon gets sucked into Darlene’s child-custody battle, against—who else?—a trashy mother-in-law. This zany, highly comical page-turner feels churned out at times, but Medwed, author of How Elizabeth Browning Saved My Life (2006), is a seasoned and lively storyteller. --Emily Cook
