Review: Take Mum Out

Take Mum Out by Fiona Gibson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Alice is a thirty-nine year old single mother of two teenage boys, Logan aged sixteen and Fergus aged thirteen. Their father Tom spent years lying on the sofa, not working, drinking too much and generally being a slob, then when Alice kicked him out he somehow transformed and is now married to a woman with her own business (think Boden/ White Company levels of aspirational middle-class living) and has a young daughter.

Alice works as a school secretary during the day and bakes meringues for additional cash in the evenings. Since she and Tom split she hasn't had much time for dating, what with her jobs and bringing up two teenagers but her three best friends are urging her to 'get back on that horse' and each decide to set her up with a lovely man that they know.

I think to describe this as a humorous look at dating in your late thirties kind of sells this book short because it is much more than that. It's about being friends even when you have very little in common, it's about seeing people clearly (but it's also about not judging too quickly). Alice and her sons have a tense relationship, not helped by Tom or Logan's best friend Blake whose parents have just converted their attic into a self-contained apartment for him.

Overall, this was funny, charming, and ultimately life-affirming. I also liked that what I thought would be the romantic twist turned out to be wrong.

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