Product Description

A satire about competitive, over-protective parents driving their children to tutors, to ballet, to insanity ...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8325 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-01
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Synopsis
Alice never imagined that she would end up like this. Is she the only mother who feels so permanently panic-stricken at the terrors of the modern world - or is it normal to sit up in bed all night popping bubble wrap? She worries that too much gluten and dairy may be hindering her children's mental arithmetic. She frets that there are too many cars on the road to let them out of the 4x4. Finally she resolves to take control and tackle her biggest worry of all: her daughter is definitely not going to fail that crucial secondary school entrance exam. Because Alice has decided to take the test in her place...With his trademark comic eye for detail, John O'Farrell has produced a funny and provocative book that will make you laugh, cry and vow never to become that sort of parent. And then you can pass it on to your seven-year-old, because she really ought to be reading grown-up novels by now...

From the Back Cover
Alice never imagined that she would end up like this. Is she the only mother who feels so permanently panic-stricken at the terrors of the modern world - or is it normal to sit up in bed all night popping bubble wrap? She worries that too much gluten and dairy may be hindering her children's mental arithmetic. She frets that there are too many cars on the road to let them out of the 4x4. Finally she resolves to take control and tackle her biggest worry of all: her daughter is definitely not going to fail that crucial secondary school entrance exam. Because Alice has decided to take the test in her place…

With his trademark comic eye for detail, John O'Farrell has produced a funny and provocative book that will make you laugh, cry and vow never to become that sort of parent. And then you can pass it on to your seven-year-old, because she really ought to be reading grown-up novels by now…

About the Author
John O'Farrell:
John O'Farrell is the author of two bestselling novels, THE BEST A MAN CAN GET and THIS IS YOUR LIFE, and the bestselling memoir THINGS CAN ONLY GET BETTER. His name has flashed past at the end of such productions as SPITTING IMAGE, HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU and CHICKEN RUN. He writes a weekly column in the Guardian and a collection of his journalism was recently published as GLOBAL VILLAGE IDIOT. He lives in London with his wife and two children.

Customer Reviews

Funny, but...
I'm a fan of John O'Farrell's incisive wit and social observation and very excited that this is being adapted for TV with Shirley Henderson in the signature role.

The book appears to be a satire of the "miracle cure/self-help" industry that exploits anxious parenting, and for that, I applaud it. But I do feel the need to point out that Learning Difficulties such as dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia (the third of which O'Farrell labels in inverted commas to imply it is a joke) are legitimate and have very real effects which need to be addressed...not by quackery but by recongition and sensible, practical support.

Like some other reviewers I also feel that some of his political arguments are a little too cut-and-dry. Whether or not a school is right for a child comes down to whether that child's particular strengths and weaknesses are recognised: On that measure, state and private schools that can fail equally.

Funny and optimistic, but ultimately far-fetched?
I have read a few of John O'Farrell's other works and had a rough idea what to expect, some social comment mixed with a good deal of clever humour and satire. And I did get this. The novel made me have a really good laugh from time to time, at the main character and first person narrator's (Alice Chaplin's) thoughts and behaviours in her attempts to give her children everything in life, and more. O'Farrell cleverly pokes fun at over-protective parents doing everything for their children and wrapping them in cotton wool, until these children aren't really experiencing the 'real world' as such. A humorous situation plays out, involving entrance exams for private secondary schools. The ultimate message is that a secondary school can be just as worthwhile if not more so than a private fee-paying school in producing a well-rounded, happy child, with other underlying messages to go with it.

A good quick entertaining and humorous read, with well-intentioned messages, even if they are really just a little bit on the idealistic side.

Beware of over anxious Parenting!
The time when our children are totally dependent on us is actually such a short phase of our lives.
At the time you think they will need you for ever, requiring us to make every decision in their young lives. Beware of overanxious parenting as it hinders your enjoyment, as seen in this satirical novel, which works so well because it is based on home truths!

Every second of the children's lives is run to a strict timetable with constant activities. Sadly this reflects today's society with many parents over obsessive behaviour with regards to their children's future. Unfortunately this method of parenting leads to stressed children.

Hilarious look at middle class pretension, however will reading this make those pushy parents think again? Sadly I doubt they will even read it!

May Contain Nuts is a very readable novel that will amuse all those interested in middle class snobbery and paranoid parents.