Rebecca Hardiman

It's such a treat to read the first chapter in a book - and know you're going to love every page that follows. Such is the case with Rebecca Hardiman's debut novel Good Eggs.
A good egg: a kind person, someone you're fond of. Of course there is the flip side....a bad egg: a disappointing or unpleasant person, a corrupt or unreliable person, a rogue. (And I remember my own Gran using this phrase!)

The good eggs in this books are the seven members of the Gogarty family. The book is told from show more three points of view (and three generations) - octogenarian Gran Millie, her son Kevin and his daughter Aideen. The bad egg? Well, I won't say as I don't want to spoil the story for you.

Oh my gosh, I adored Millie! We meet her as she is shoplifting a greeting card that she doesn't even need. She's feisty, optimistic, loves her family - but is dreadfully lonely. And the first signs of dementia are there. Kevin's solution? Bring in a carer who can help as well as keep an eye on her. Kevin himself has lost his job and is now looks after his four children as his wife travels for work. I must admit, I didn't like Kevin at all in the beginning, but as the book went on I warmed up to him. His solution? Hmm, you can guess right? He is definitely having a middle age crisis. And then there's Aideen. She's the one who doesn't conform like her three siblings and her temper gets her in trouble quite often. Kevin's solution? Boarding school.

Uh huh, lots that could wrong here for sure. And it does - in spades. But there's so much that is right as well - this is a family who love and care for each other. They just seemed have to lost their way a bit. The journey to finding their way again makes for a rollicking read. I loved the ridiculousness of some of the plot - most of that is down to Millie. I did laugh out loud more than once. Millie reading a racy novel in a senior's home was priceless. There are some serious turns as well for all three of the main characters. The one that happens to Millie made me quite angry as it's something that happens often. (Sorry, I'm being deliberately obtuse as I don't want to spoil the tale for you)

You just can't help but be behind the Gogartys - especially Millie, with Aideen being a close second. The Gogartys are a bit cracked, but are pretty good eggs. And their story was a light-hearted, entertaining read that let me escape. I'll be watching for Hardiman's next novel. show less

There are indeed a few “good eggs” in Rebecca Hardiman’s debut novel Good Eggs, but the truly good ones are not easily identifiable at first glance. Some of the “eggs” are better than others, some are not as good as they first seem to be, and others turn out to be a whole lot better than we thought they were. And, Dublin’s Gogarty family fills almost a whole carton of “eggs” all by itself.

Kevin Gogarty, father of twin teenaged daughters, a younger daughter, and a small son, show more has found himself relegated to the role of house-husband in recent months. His wife has necessarily taken on a more time-consuming job in order to support the family at least until Kevin manages to find a new job for himself. It doesn’t help, however, that all of Kevin’s experience is in a dying industry whose job-base is rapidly shrinking. In the meantime, Kevin is doing a passable job as house-husband while rather halfheartedly looking for a job and keeping tabs on his 82-year-old mother.

Kevin’s world, though, is about to get interesting. Millie, his mother, seems greatly to be enjoying some of the freedoms that come with advanced age: speaking her mind, dressing comfortably at all times, eating whatever she wants to eat at all hours of the day and night, and — in her mind, at least — even a little bit of recreational shoplifting. It’s that last bit that gives Kevin the opportunity to finally insist that his mother accept a home-visiting caretaker into her life, a development that Millie sees as placing her giant step closer to the nursing home life she so dreads. In the meantime, Aideen, one of Kevin’s twins, has become so rebellious and unhappy with her life, that Kevin and his wife decide to send her away to boarding school.

Now, Kevin thinks, life will settle down into the calm routine he needs if he is to get on seriously with his job search. Let’s just say that Kevin could not have been more wrong about that if he had tried.

Bottom Line: Good Eggs is a very funny novel with a heart. At times, the humor is almost slapstick in nature, but the reader is always aware that Millie Gogarty is really just an old woman trying to make the most of what time she has left. She is a memorable character, one with whom many readers will easily identify as they prepare (and hope) to age with a bang rather than with a whimper themselves. It is impossible not to cheer on Millie and Aideen as they enjoy together the adventure of their lifetimes. This one is fun.

Review Copy provided by Publisher - Novel to be published in March 2021 show less

The Gogarty Family is a mess and it is not a laughing matter. Living in Dun Laoghaire on the Irish coast, Millie, the octogenarian matriarch is out of control, smashing up her Renault, shoplifting, distracted and lonely. A few miles away in Dalkey a pretty seaside village, her married son Kevin is out of work, and the carer of his four children. Grace, the mother is the breadwinner, not around much and not a very effective parent. Gerard the oldest child is out of the house and managing show more nicely. His teenage twin daughters Nuala and Aideen are at each other’s throats and wow, I would have thrown in the towel long ago. They are horrible to each other and maybe just horrible in general. The youngest, Ciaran, by all appearances is a lovely little guy.

So, what’s wrong here? Teenagers acting up and out, constantly in trouble. Senior dumping and abuse. Mid-life crisis described in excruciating detail. The “f” bomb used constantly with the rejoinder that “it is an Irish thing.” Wrong and wrong again and so unnecessary. The hateful, destructive, mean and nasty acts perpetrated on fairly innocent victims are off-putting and again unnecessary. Other than the vision of an 80 year old woman climbing in and out of a bathroom window the humor was lost on me.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for a copy. The opinions expressed in this review are mine. show less

Thanks to Simon and Schuster and Netgalley for the free dARC in exchange for an honest review.

In present-day Dublin, Kevin, a father of four, is between jobs and becoming desperate. His elderly mother, Millie, and his teenaged daughter, Aideen, are both breaking bad at the same time. Kevin's wife, Grace, has vanished into her work. Clashing with all three, and suffering a midlife crisis, Kevin must find his feet for the sake of the whole large, dysfunctional Gogarty clan.

Millie goes to show more extraordinary lengths to maintain her independence despite being unable to take care of herself and unable to curb her shoplifting habit. Aideen snoops on Kevin's computer and finds out that he's been shopping for a boarding school for her. She is envious of her pretty twin sister Nuala and is as lost, confused, and enraged as a teenage girl can be.

Kevin's answers to both the Millie Problem and the Aideen Problem backfire spectacularly and Grandmother Millie joins forces with granddaughter Aileen to take matters into their own hands. When it comes to sticking it to the Man (Kevin, in this case) two heads are better than one, even (especially) if the heads are several decades apart in age.

"Good Eggs" is a spry and hilarious novel. Hardiman's writing is clever and inventive. Except for Millie, the characters are not terribly engaging, but the reader can't help but hope that the mad but devoted Gogartys will come right side up at the end. If you like a wild family adventure, sit down to laugh with the Gogartys, Millie especially. show less