How Hard Can It Be?

It's all fun and games until someone posts a belfie.

Kate Reddy is back. And her daughters backSIDE is causing some trouble. We jump right into our favorite bad-a$$, anxiety-ridden, take-charge heroine Kate's life as she is approaching 50 and it seems the hilarity and struggles of parenting, working, wife-ing, friendship and everything else in Kate's life is just as amusing as ever.

Kate's daughter Emily has taken a pic of her butt and the crazy life of Kate's we all know and love, just cannot seem to get any more complicated - until it does. She's been out of the workforce, and looking to get back in, She's not having much of any sort of pleasant relations with husband Richard (yes, surprisingly, still married). She's having a mini show more mid-life crisis trying to accept she's almost 50, her parents are aging, and her kids are now teenagers and the struggles to communicate with these digital-age micro-adults is almost as difficult as communicating with Russian Investors.

As Kate tries to make her way back into the world of investing she once was so good at, she has some pretty cringeworthy experiences, and struggles to find a way in that world as an "aging" woman. We find several comparisons to the past, when just being a mother was the wall between her and success. She finds herself lying to herself and others, trying her best to tiptoe through a marriage in crisis and lack of communication with her children, and praying the looming milestone birthday isn't going to be the demise of any semblance of the woman that she knows she is, and desperately wants to find again. Oh, and did I mention Jack is BACK?!

The book is classic Allison Pearson: witty, entertaining and full of laughs. I didn't realize how much I missed Kate (I totally still picture SJP in every situation...) and I settled into a familiar routine of rooting for her to find her stride and finally be happy with who she is, who she's becoming, and where she might be headed next.

The story is nostalgic of I Don't Know How She Does It, but reads well as a standalone with snippets of backstory that are well-placed and don't interfere. Avoiding any spoilers, I'll just say that I'm pretty sure readers and fans of Kate Reddy will be pleased at how it all turns out. How Hard Can It Be? was refreshing but familiar and it felt like an old friend was back in my life.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the Advanced Copy and opportunity to review this book. show less

Having enjoyed “I don’t know how she does it” when my kids were small, it was with great joy that I picked up a copy of this book and realised that, right now, Kate Reddy is exactly the same age as me! The book was sold, no question.

As might be expected, there is much humour to be had, sharply satirical takes on modern life that had me nodding and agreeing time after time. So many things that rang true about being a parent of teenagers (her son has stretchmarks across his back exactly the same as mine, except that I didn’t know what they were and thought someone had been thrashing him – wish I’d read this first), trying to get back into work after raising a family, and coping with elderly parents. Hilarious, smart, show more entertaining escapism – though whether I can really call it escapism when so much of it mirrored my own life, I’m not sure. show less

Title: How Hard Can It Be?
Author: Allison Pearson
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Series: Kate Reddy, #2
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Five
Review:

"How Hard Can It Be?" by Allison Pearson

My Thoughts....

Well how 'How Hard Can It Be" for Kate Reddy who is close to her 50th birthday? Let's see just what all she has before her: having to lie about her age as she is returning to the workforce due to the fact that her husband [Richard] is out there where he has distant [self-centered], into self help books and bike riding [midlife crisis]. Along with this Kate's daughter has gone on internet and posted a 'inappropriate photos' of herself, then we go on to aging parents [his parents and her mom] and lastly having to deal with menopause. So, just show more from all of this the reader can see that a lots has been thrown on Kate. Oh, I don't want to forget to add more to Kate's woes, a person [Jack Abelhammer] from her past has come into the scene so what will that bring to this story? So, will this story be a 'recipe for disaster, laughs and some heartwarming moment?

"How Hard Can It Be?" was quite a engaging, poignant read where a lots of what Kate Reddy had to go through was very relatable for many who have tackled many of these issues. I thought this novel was a good read that was not only well written, clever and yes very real' that I would recommend as a good read. show less

An amusing, poignant story of the life of Kate Reddy a woman of the sandwich generation trying to balance the needs of her family and aging parents while negotiating the perils of menopause and the difficulties of reentering the workforce. Allison Pearson is spot on with her observations of the indignities facing the middle aged woman as she “gracefully” ages. She also is in tune with the perils facing teenagers today in a world that stresses social media.

I really enjoyed this book, although the ending was perhaps a bit too perfect!

Kate Reddy is no longer the hard-driving hedge fund manager who is determined to have it all. In her earlier novel, "I Don't Know How She Does It," Allison Pearson showed her heroine juggling deadlines at work while trying to tend to her family's needs. Now that she is approaching fifty, Kate is feeling a bit depressed. The house that she and Richard bought is more of a money pit than she had anticipated; her children have become surly teenagers who are wedded to their cell phones and video games; as she approaches the big five-o, her hormones are acting up; and Richard is unemployed and obsessed with cycling.

Now Kate frets over her body (it's okay, but not as toned as she would like). Her daughter, Emily, is getting into trouble with show more social media, Kate and Richard are drifting apart emotionally and physically, and although Kate wants to go back to work, she wonders if she should shave years off her age in order to get hired. Pearson finds comedy and pathos in Kate's situation, although the laughs are often bittersweet.

"How Hard Can It Be?" should find an appreciative audience among middle-aged women who struggle to balance their personal and professional lives. They will identify with this desperate housewife who tries to make ends meet without losing the romantic spark she and Richard once shared. There are aspects of this novel that are entertaining and amusing. The spirited dialogue, mockery of Richard's new age pretentiousness and egotism, Kate's attempts to fit in with a younger staff, and her reunion with Jack Abelhammer, an amiable and attractive hunk who won Kate's heart with his wit, intelligence, and kindness, keep us invested in the story. Ultimately, however, this novel, which shines when the author satirizes the sexism and ageism of our times, is weakened by its excessive length, contrived and cluttered plot, and wildly implausible conclusion. show less

A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is Pearson's part two of the Kate Reddy series—oh how I've missed you, Kate! I actually liked this book better than the first, which I think is an anomaly to like the sequel better than the original.

Kate Reddy is re-entering the work force after being at home with her children because her husband, who appears to be suffering an identity crisis, has gone back to school. To bag the job, she lies about her age. She is feeling the pressure from the much younger workforce, from her demanding mother, ailing in-laws, her contractor, and from her sullen teenagers. And to top it all off, her marriage is F-L-A-T, flat.

How hard can it be to show more face 50, your husband's mid-life crisis, and to restart your career? Pretty hard I would say, especially when you are shouldering the entire household workload as well because your husband is useless, and you are also feeling strangled not only from your shaping garments, but from your obligations.

Kate is every woman, whether old or young, as she embarks on this often hilarious journey of self-discovery—she's more than just a career woman, mother, sister, friend, or wife. She is as smart as she is funny, she is sassy and strong, and above all, resilient. With every turn of the page, you will be rooting for Kate and wishing she was your friend. show less

How Hard Can It Be? is one of those delightful summertime reads that give us a plucky and witty heroine to cheer for as she struggles with enough problems to sink a battleship while we are comforted by the certainty that one way or another she will anchor that ship safely on the shore of happiness. She might not land at the port we were thinking of, but she will get there because that was these books promise us, and Allison Pearson delivers.

How Hard Can It Be? tells the story of Kate Reddy’s return to the workforce after a hiatus to focus on her family. Economics is one reason she must join the “returners”–the women returning to work after child-rearing. Her husband has taken a break from his work, to retrain for a new career, show more enter therapy, and to indulge in an expensive, new hobby. That’s a lot of outflow with no income. But it’s more than necessity for Kate, she wants to be using her skills, fulfilling herself in ways that homemaking cannot.

Kate was once a high-flying fund manager, but at 49, nearing 50, and bothered by perimenopausal symptoms, she knows that she won’t get a good job at her real age, so she decides to pass for 42. Her first interview with a headhunter confirms her suspicions. She does get a job, at the fund she founded years ago, a place where the economic crisis has cleared the office of anyone who might know her.

And so we follow Kate through the pains of parenting teenagers who seem pretty typical, the daughter troubled by social pressures and the son deep into video games, the travails of caring for her mother and in-laws as they age, and her stale marriage which both she and her husband neglect either from exhaustion or disinterest. And of course, there is her struggle to succeed at her job despite her annoying supervisor and coworkers, men who are in urgent need of a #MeToo exposé.

So, not for nothing, is her name Reddy to remind us of the anthemic “I Am Woman”?

How Hard Can It Be? is a pleasant, light book. It won’t consume you, but it’s interesting and kind of a relief after some harrowing and difficult books. This is the book for the beach or the plane ride. It’s fun, it’s familiar, and while we don’t know what exactly will happen, we do know that we will be satisfied as will Kate Reddy.



How Hard Can It Be? will be released on June 5, 2018. I received an ARC from the publisher through Shelf Awareness.

How Hard Can It Be? at St. Martin’s Press | Macmillan
Allison Pearson on Twitter

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