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July 9, 2008 11:03:22 AM CDT

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'Mommy Lit' Taps Motherlode of Frustration

Posted Aug 2, 07 6:00 AM CDT in World,  US,  Arts & Living    Editor's Choice

(Newser) – Slate reviewer Katie Roiphe dresses down the entire emerging "Mommy Lit" genre in her caustic feminist review of the Brit bestseller "Slummy Mummy." Roiphe says she doesn't have a problem with light summer page-turners, but she takes issue with the novel's celebration of frumpy female mediocrity. 

Fiona Neill's novel, based on her columns for the London Times, is ho-hum women's middlebrow fiction at its worse, with none of Bridget's Jones' oomf, according to Roiphe. Yes, being a stay-at-home is a tough job, Rolphe admits, but asks "is it really that hard? Aren't there some things on earth that are harder?"

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The book centers on Lucy Sweeney, a news producer turned stay-at-home mom in a wealthy London suburb.   (Index Open)
It's "Bridget Jones" meets "I Don't Know How She Does It" as Fiona Neill's stressed mom protagonist begins an unlikely affair with an American moviestar.   (Index Open)
The narcissistic, intellectual, unglamorous heroine of "Slummy Mummy" goes about her inane activities as the "Chick Lit" trend shifts to "Mommy Lit".   (Index Open)
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