#BookReview-‘So Lucky’ by Dawn O’Porter

About the book…

I’M A MOTHER
I feel like I’m failing every day

I HAVE A CAREER
I have to shout to make myself heard

I’VE GOT THE BEST FRIENDS
Sometimes I feel so alone

I LOVE MY BODY
I don’t know who I am beyond it

Sometimes it looks like everyone is living their best life.
Everyone, except you.

But no life is perfect, everyone is fighting a private battle of their own – it’s just a struggle to say it out loud.

Fearless, frank and for every woman who’s ever doubted herself, ‘So Lucky‘ is the straight-talking new novel from the Sunday Times bestseller.

Actually, you’re pretty f****** lucky to be you.

‘‘So Lucky’ by Dawn O’Porter was published in hardback, ebook and audiobook formats on 31/10/19-huge thanks to Harper Collins for my review copy of the book, I am truly grateful, and what follows is my honest opinion.

‘So Lucky’ describes how I feel about reading the newest novel from one of the UK’s most dynamic and fearless women writers-it also describes the throwaway remark that most of us unwittingly use to dismiss the success of others.

Especially women.

We do this to ourselves all the time, men rarely underplay their achievements but a woman going ‘hell yes I have worked hard for this home/promotion/personal goal’ is nearly always framed by ‘being in the right place at the right time,’or good fortune. It is almost always given away to outside forces rather than our own sheer hard work.

And by the same token, whether in work or out of it, our female centric standards are always holding us to be better, more beautiful, thinner, faster, smarter, just more until we disappear into the perception of what we should be,and are forever yellow stickered and abandoned on the reduced shelf, living a half life.

This is what the characters in ‘So Lucky’ deal with daily-Ruby, the single parent whose style everyone has opinion on, Beth the mother who finds that being one is so much harder when the ‘perfect’ mother in  law is breathing down her neck, and Lauren whose very lifestyle exists as a yardstick by which other women are measured.

I suspect every reader will relate to all of these women depending on where they are in their life at the time, but one of them more than the other two. For me, it was Ruby, as a single parent the weight of other people’s expectations of failure was suffocating. Being on your own signified to the world that you were unable to hold down a relationship, there must have been something about you that was ‘unlovable’. Give her a wide berth, you could see it in other people’s eyes.

The women’s journies to learning to accept themselves, and casting off expectations is truly brilliant and I defy anyone reading this not to punch the air in recognition of the following-

• bad sex
• awesome sex
• so-so sex
• hating your kids
• loving them so hard you cannot breathe
• wondering who you are and where you are going(and will you ever get there?how will you know?)
• acknowledging that no-one has it all together, no matter what image they project

I cannot think of enough superlatives for this book and could easily bang on for another thousand words about the cover design which is dynamic and brilliant as well as appearing effortlessly cool.

• The black and white of what life expects of you and as well as you expect of yourself straddled with the glistening pink doughnut of being a woman in the 21st Century.
• The hole in the middle, the constant feeling of missing some vital part of yourself, versus the carby delight of scoffing the whole thing.

But I digress! AGAAIN!

There is genuinely only one thing this book review can be boiled down to-Dawn is an incredible writer who nails each and every single thing in this book. Humour, sexiness (as well as the lack thereof), the brutal reality of parenthood, social media ‘standard’ setting and bullshit detecting .

The whole package is a stunning and emotive portrait of modern womanhood that sticks two fingers up to the world, unbuttons your jeans and reaches out for an extra biscuit.

Because life is too short to live by impossible standards.

All you can do is live in the moment,try to learn to love yourself and find it in you to let go of what is pulling you down. And on days when things seem unsurmountable, just remind yourself we are all doing the best we can. But most importantly, the hardest people on our backs are usually ourselves.

So let’s stop, redefine our boundaries and start over again. And if we don’t manage it today, let’s give it a go again tomorrow. We are women, we are sisters , let’s try and be a littler kind to ourselves and each other, what do you say?

Liberating, fearless and contemporary, Dawn O’Porter’s ‘So Lucky’ is a book to be read, treasured and re-read.And bought as a present. And borrowed from libraries. And generally shouted about as purely excellent craftsmanship and story telling.

*as a bonus, Dawn reads the audiobook of ‘So Lucky’ so let’s be grateful for that also*

**also again, she has this other amazing book out , ‘The Cows’**

***and finally finally, ‘Paper Aeroplanes’ is a belter you need on your bookshelf***

About the author…

DAWN O’PORTER lives in Los Angeles with her husband Chris, her two boys Art and Valentine, and her cat Lilu and dog Potato.

Dawn started out in TV production but quickly landed in front of the camera, making numerous documentaries that included immersive investigations of Polygamy, Size Zero, Childbirth, Free Love, Breast Cancer and the movie Dirty Dancing. Further TV work included This Old Thing, a prime-time Channel 4 show celebrating the wonders of vintage clothing.

Dawn’s journalism has appeared in multiple publications and she was the monthly columnist for Glamour magazine. She is now a full-time writer of six books – although she would probably have written sixteen if it weren’t for her addiction to Instagram Stories.

Most recently, Dawn has written the script for Especially for You, a jukebox musical using the infamous Stock Aitken and Waterman back catalogue. The show will open with a national tour in early 2020.

Links-http://www.dawnoporter.co.uk/

Twitter/Instagram @hotpatooties

     @HarperCollinsUK

     @fictionpubteam