Mignonne Van Der Walt's Reviews > Confessions of a Domestic Failure

I am just going to come right out and say it: I did not love this book. I do, however, love Bunmi Laditan and her honest take on the world. So I was sorely disappointed to find between the pages a spiritless novel nowhere near the level of clever wit that Laditan employs in her well-known Facebook posts. I struggled to find it entertaining. Maybe I was having a day, but I didn't crack a smile once. Reading it felt like a chore and I was glad to be finished with it. I feel like I might be a tad too critical here, but let me explain...

Ashley Keller was once a career girl who now struggles with the daily demands of stay-at-home motherhood. Her unrealistic expectations of mom-life have left her frustrated, confused and depressed. She embarks on a (ridiculous) Motherhood Better boot camp hoping to transform herself into something other than a hot mess. (At this point I am rolling my eyes pretty hard already.) And that's it. That is the whole storyline. Ashley trying to be what/who she thinks everyone is expecting her to be.

While I completely understand how hard this scenario can be – I do not buy how completely out of touch Ashley is with the basics of living in a house. (This struggle takes up an inordinate amount of time and pages). She seems so helpless and disconnected, it begs the question: Who cleaned her house, washed her clothes and made her meals before she became a mom? The whole 'cleaning the house', 'making the food ' and 'washing the clothes' gig seems as alien to her as having a baby around 24/7. The moments that I could relate to Ashley were completely overshadowed by her whininess and self-occupation. I felt like I wanted to shake her by the shoulders a couple of times and say 'Get a grip lady!' “Stop worrying about your one stretchmark!'"If you have too much crap on the carpet then throw some stuff in the garbage for Pete's sake!'' Anyway...

While the pressures of the 'mom world' are all too real, I found the constant parodies left a bad taste in my mouth. Sleep deprivation, loneliness, a messy house, missed meals, doubt and anxiety, marital tension, negative body image - these are all very real issues that are and should be highlighted and talked about more often. Laditan uses her Facebook posts to bring these issues to the fore in a witty and relatable way. However, the book felt like one post that was stretched to 366 pages. At some point, the humour wears thin. We all laugh because it's true. But at some point reality just isn't that funny anymore.

Overall I found all the characters to be unlikable. I did not feel like rooting for any one of them. They were hollow and one-dimensional; stereotypes of what we think all people are like. At no point did it seem that any of them developed or grew in character. While I am sure there will be plenty of people who will love this novel, I just can't recommend it. If you want to read about someone who is a relateable, likeable hot mess then Bridget Jones would be a better fit.