Mothers & Daughters

by Kate Long

[Leah]

When Jaz discovers her husband Ian has slept with someone else – a quick fumble that meant nothing, says Ian – she kicks him out leaving Jaz’s mum Carol distraught. She thought Jaz and Ian were made for each other and thinks they should get back together for the sake of their son Matty. Carol joins forces with Ian’s dad David in a bid to reunite their children which only serves to irritate Jaz more. So much so, that Jaz tells both Ian, David and Carol they will never see Matty again. Will Jaz follow through on her threat and can this family ever repair the many shattered relationships?

Although I’ve never read any of Kate Long’s books I have actually heard of her books and I know that her debut novel, The Bad Mother’s Handbook, was made into a TV film and was enjoyed by many. Four books later and we arrive at Kate’s latest book A Mother’s Guide to Cheating. When it arrived in the mail, I thought it looked quite good and sounded fantastic so since I knew it had already been released I decided to start it as soon as I could.

The book immediately captured me, as it’s told from Carol’s point of view which makes it very easy to get into. Each chapter tells us about a photograph Carol has in her huge photograph collection and the story behind the photograph which helps to fill in a lot of gaps about the Morgan family. I thought that was an incredibly unique addition to the book and I looked forward to learning about each and every photograph picked. I say the book captured me immediately and for the first 100 or so pages I did hugely enjoy the book. The problems arose, for me, as the book progressed as little seemed to happen and I found myself getting a little bit bored with the book.

My main problem is the plot. On reading the inside cover I expected a lot more. The inside cover talks about Carol’s marriage to Phil which had a lot of ups and downs due to Phil’s constant cheating and I thought the book might have delved a bit more into that. It was interesting to learn why Carol had stayed with Phil for so many years and is a reason that is trotted out constantly: because of their child, because of Jaz. It’s a subject that is debated often: is it better to just put up with your marriage for the sake of your child or is it actually better to quit while you’re ahead and save the child listening to all of the arguments that would undoubtedly occur in a bad marriage? I personally favour the latter route but I have yet to be married or have a child so I fully appreciate a situation can change. Whereas Carol took the former route – to much criticism from Jaz, I must say – Jaz herself favoured my way of doing things and kicked Ian out as soon as he admitted to his guilt.

What really puzzled me about the entire book was why, after having such an unhappy marriage herself due to a cheating husband, Carol would want Jaz to get back with Ian. It was illogical at best. I don’t understand why Carol would want her daughter to suffer the same amount of unhappiness for twenty-ish years like she had just for the sake of her child particularly when it was abundantly clear Phil and Carol staying together did more harm to Jaz than splitting up ever really would have done. It didn’t make any sense and yet the whole plot of the book hinges on Carol’s bid to get Jaz and Ian back together.

There are other plots woven into the story – the death of Carol’s friend Eileen, Phil’s relationship with his mistress as well as Carol’s father’s failing health. The inclusion of Carol’s dad’s illness was very well handled and very sad to read about. Kate Long handled it very sensitively and I liked reading about Carol going to visit him. The other minor storyline is Jaz’s anger at Carol going behind her back about things which causes Jaz to take Matty away for quite some time. I thought that was fairly selfish of Jaz and, if I’m honest, the entire thing was quite unrealistic. After all, what father worth his salt would just let his child go off for an indeterminate length of time without no contact? It frustrated me to read of Carol’s fruitless search for her grandson. It’s obvious early on that Carol adores her grandson and for Jaz to do that to her own mum was incredibly mean and I found that I couldn’t sympathise with Jaz at all for anything.

Jaz doesn’t come across as very likeable at all. At no point did I ever begin to like Jaz because I found she was far too snippy and selfish and just plain cold-hearted. To make your own mother afraid to speak her mind said it all about Jaz. I quite liked Carol. It’s easy to like her as she narrates the book so you’d be in trouble if you didn’t find her easy to like. She does have a few faults – the biggest being afraid of your own daughter. To see how Jaz taking Matty away had changed Carol’s perception of her daughter was quite hard to read because all Carol worried about was Jaz doing it again. That’s how unpredictable Jaz was. The only man who seemed decent throughout the book from Phil, Ian and David was the latter, David. Both Phil and Ian are nothing but cheats but I liked David. He seemed very nice and although I knew where the romance from the book was coming from, I had no problem with it. Young Matty was probably my favourite character. He was the glue that kept everything together, it seems.

A Mother’s Guide to Cheating was an OK enough read. It’s not the kind of book that makes me want to rush out and buy the rest of Kate’s book but it passed the time well enough, although I did find my attention span lacking as the book drew to a close. Kate Long’s writing is OK, too. It certainly kept me reading and even had me laughing a few times. Carol isn’t like your usual chick lit heroine, which will appeal to a lot of people, and Kate Long certianly knows how to write a family drama. It just wasn’t to my taste, really.