It's the start of another school year at St. Ambrose. While the children are busy in the classroom, their mothers are learning sharper lessons. Lessons in friendship. Lessons in betrayal. Lessons in the laws of community, the transience of power and how to get invited to lunch. Beatrice, undisputed queen bee. Ruler, by Divine Right, of all school fundraising, this year, last year, and, surely, for many to come. Heather is desperate to volunteer, desperate to be noticed, desperate to belong. Georgie is desperate for a cigarette. Rachel is watching them all, keeping her distance. But soon to discover that the line between amused observer and miserable outcast is a thin one.
Reviews with the most likes.
I received this ARC through First Reads from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Rachel, the narrator, is a children's book illustrator. She's recently separated from her cheating husband (who sounds like a total putz). She likes the school her children attend, but isn't very anxious to volunteer for any of the “mom duties”. On the other hand, most of the other characters are falling over themselves to volunteer for PTA duties. They're all competing for the attention of the queen bee mom, Beatrice (who of course is a total snob). She's the PTA chairwoman, and it quickly becomes apparent that the icky jobs, such as sorting stinky laundry for a fund-raising yard sale, is delegated to the moms she does not like. Then her and her friends work on the activities that are more fun.
Somehow, Rachel has lost her status as BFF with Beatrice. When Rachel challenges her about their friendship, Beatrice explains it wouldn't be right to “take sides” after Rachel's separation with her husband. From here Rachel pretends not to care even though she still takes an awful lot of interest in what Beatrice is doing.
The mothers all are one-dimensional and somewhat unbelievable. I am a mother of school aged children, and I don't really identify with any of these characters. Maybe as a satire that is blowing some of the typical behaviors out of proportion, but certainly not true to life.
It's a vaguely amusing summer read. Just don't expect a lot of aha moments as you identify some of the annoying moms you know in real life.
