Moving Along…

Everything I read, see or do has to do double duty. If it doesn’t lead to an idea for an article, then I better be able to blog it. Until I read And God Created the Au Pair. It is only the third book I have ever been unable to finish thanks to my extremely-high boredom threshold.  It’s not so bad that it’s entertaining, but so bad that I may not be able to pick up a book in a relaxed manner ever again. Since it doesn’t come with a warning label, my blog entry will have to suffice.

Usually, I can relate to mom-lit by the end of the first chapter. While no two mothers are alike, there are universal emotions and experiences involved in parenting.

Most writers use their craft to relate to other human beings. And then, there is the odd writer — in this case two sisters named Benedicte Newland and Pascale Smets — who use writing to seperate their characters from the rest of us. Afterall, we’d never meet their standards. At least I wouldn’t since I knowing how to wash dishes regardless of which culture I happen to be living in at the moment and other such dreariness. 

Then again, perhaps its me, not this book with its terribly artificial tone. Perhaps all this blogging and reading other mothers blogs has been bad for my imagination. Perhaps I have become so rooted in reality and genuine emotion that I just can’t take of on a flight-of-fancy where antique versus modern toilets are discussed and men can’t wipe their own sons’ bottoms. I suppose the book is meant to be shocking in an “oh, how the rich are hilarious” kind of way, but it just left me cold.