Whatcha Reading? Just Lie Down

Just Let Me Lie Down: Necessary Terms for the Half-Insane Working Mom is a reflection on the perils of working moms by Kristen van Ogrtrop. Van Ogtrop is the editor of Real Simple – one of my favorite magazines so I was very curious about this book. The book is written for moms who work. As I am not a mom who works, I may be judging this book too harshly, but mostly I just don’t get it.

The format of the book is odd. She approaches the subject of working motherhood by coming up with “terms” that apply. The book shines when the terms are actually poignant stories about her struggles with balancing her career and motherhood. Otherwise, it reads as a series bad punch lines to jokes I don’t understand (see note about not being a working mother). It’s as if she didn’t have enough stories to qualify for an entire book so she just added some of these terms to fill space. I would have preferred a shorter book with her stories as the focus. \

I don’t recommend this one. Some working moms might appreciate knowing that the editor of a great magazine also left her kid at church, struggles to find a way to turn off the Blackberry, and realizes her babysitter may just be better at raising her children. But for me, I’ll just read my working mom friends’ posts on Facebook - they tell the same story.