About this deal
Ciara is the Instagrammer with the most influence, and all the other mammies in the ‘hood follow her parenting, style and child-rearing advice religiously. Aptly-named, Dirty Laundry centers around three women who all live in the same small village in Ireland.
It will also help to educate partners, parents and friends, to help them move from frustration to patience, understanding - and love.Lauren Grady is a mom of three whose garden butts up against Ciara’s; she is the outcast of the neighborhood friend and internet mothers’ groups that fawn all over Ciara. I couldn't put it down and I wanted to read more of this authors writing as soon as this one finsihed.
Lauren is mostly happy, despite being outcast for her woo-woo beliefs and her kids who run naked, wild and free. For some people, old high school attitudes never grow up; once someone is labeled “an enemy” to the leader of the group, the entire group considers that person the enemy. I'm grateful for those willing to be vulnerable in sharing their stories but at the same time do not recommend this book to someone in the beginning stages of understanding their ADHD diagnosis given all the options out there that include a more balanced approach with anecdotes and science. Three mothers in a small community – Ciara, Lauren and Mishti – are frenemies with plenty of secrets they don’t want revealed.Do you always feel misunderstood by the people close to you and find that they get frustrated by your behaviour?
This book is hyper-specific, written by a couple where one of them is neurotypical and the other neurodivergent. I think it's a hard balance to the balance between keeping readers invested in the story and introducing unlikeable characters and centering the narrative around them.
It centers on a group of moms living in a small Irish town, and is told from the alternating points of view of Mishti, Ciara, and Lauren. It was quick and entertaining, but the ending wasn’t anything shocking especially since we started with the death of Ciara and went back a few weeks before that happened to what got us to her death, the ending was predictable and lack luster. As someone diagnosed with ADHD in my childhood (+10yrs ago) I found this book a bit condescending to neurodivergent people. With her disheveled partner and children who run naked in the yard, they’re mostly a happy lot, though unsurprisingly ostracized for being the singular dysfunction in Ciara’s immaculate world.