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The Woman with All the Answers by Linda Green


Rating:

3 Stars


Themes:

Domestic Fiction, Dual POV


Thoughts:

This was my first book by this author and I haven’t read many from this midlife style of domestic fiction either so it was all pretty new to me. Having the Alexa as a real human was an intriguing premise and I may have asked the Alexa in our house if she is really a real human called Pauline but she hasn’t been programmed with a response to this book yet. Michelle seemed to have everything that could go wrong for her happen but I know someone who has had that type of year so it didn’t feel like an exaggeration to me. However, she also did seem like a little bit of a midlife cliche at some points but I’m sure that was done intentionally to represent the target audience. I have to admit that Marc did my head in and I get that he’s feeling unfulfilled but why should that mean that he causes more problems that Michelle has to fix and why when he claims the socialisation of ordering sh*t online is what he likes, does he not look after his own mother in his more free time instead of leaving that to Michelle too. Although I know that’s representative as we can see online just how many married single mothers/women there are due to this behaviour in men so even though it peeved me off I know it’s representative and realistic to many people. Pauline is an interesting character as despite us seeing half of the book from her POV, we know so little about her as a person and instead see her perspective on the family instead. It does have quite a sweet ending, all the conflict is resolved and it does feel warm and cosy. Overall, it’s an easy read with a few funny parts.


Favourite Quote:

“Apparently, the job description for being a woman includes all the things others can't be bothered to do. Along with no holidays or sick pay and not so much as a sniff at any wage. And they wonder why we're full of rage.”


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