Review: Mommy Needs a Raise

Mommy Needs a Raise by Sarah Parshall Perry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First things first, while the title does not specify this, the author's primary target audience is not the mother balancing work and motherhood, but the Stay at Home Mum (SAHM as Sarah terms it). That is not to say that husbands and working mothers would not enjoy the book, because I, a recently married husband without any kids on the way, sure did thoroughly savoured the read. More so than I had expected - for it helped me glimpse into and made me fear and appreciate the awesome task that lies ahead for my beloved bride when the little ones would come along. As soon as I closed the final pages, I was thinking that it would be a waste to simply leave the book on my bookshelf, I had to give it away to a friend who is the midst of wrestling in the ring of SAHM. (Sadly my wife is more of a numbers person and would read hear a verbal summary than plough through the leaves of a book, no matter how good I tell it is!)

Usually when I discover that a book is a sneaky biography (unlike what the title had misled me to believe), the feeling would be discovering that your favourite chocolate milk in your fridge had turned sour - I at least do not appreciate paying $10-20 to read about a person's self-praise and self-glorification etc. BUT not only does Sarah write well, I really enjoy reading about her larger-than-life arty-farty personality and probably connected with her earnest humility of the heights from which she has fallen to be a SAHM. I appreciated she was honest and forthright in declaring this was a book about her journey and her family's right at the get-go.

The reason I did not award a 5 star rating is that many of the references were Amercian (I am a Singaporean and could guess what Patient First and Mr Coffee meant, but other non-Amercians may not). Therefore the book is not really catered to an international audience, as Sarah did not footnote to explain what localised references meant (perhaps in the next revision that could be done)? While the first half of the book was amazingly exciting to read, the second was in comparison not as engaging. Perhaps it is none of Sarah's fault that the working woman's lifestyle seemed so much more exciting than the SAHM.

I received this book from Baker Publishing Group's Revel Reads Blog Tour Program for the purposes of providing an unbiased review. All views are my own.

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