This was a pleasant and easy read. It gave an honest account of motherhood and it's many pitfalls. I did think it suffered a bit of an identity crisis at points, did it want to be funny? Did it want to be poignant? Did it want to elicit a range of different emotions? I think it worked best as a light hearted view of middle aged motherhood.

Look At Me is an appropriate title here because this book is all about the selfish me me me lead character. Her inner dialogue was appalling and I found nothing remotely likeable or relatable about this character at all. Even her children were terrible. 

The most infuriating thing was that the lead character tried to convince the reader that she was doing everything for others, but really inside she was just oh so very selfish. 

The writing was messy and the layout was confusing. The reader does not need all so many extraneous details about characters that have nothing to do with the story.

Decent book, i loved the protagonist. The constant, in depth about music got annoying. Ended up skipping through those sections. Too repetitive. Overall, entertaining.

This book was provided to me by NetGalley for free in exchange for an honest review.

I really disliked this book. The main character was absolutely spineless. She was constantly putting other people first. Now don't get me wrong, with family I do that too, but some neighbours that come over to my house and won't leave? I have every right to tell them to leave. If they take it personally then that is their problem. So the daughter has ADHD. That's definitely rough, I can't imagine, but she was just so defeated and in what I assume was denial about the whole thing. Only when her 11 year old daughter asks for the medicine does she seriously consider it. She things terrible things about her daughter, like how her 11 (11!!!!) year old daughter is a fat ball of dough and how happy she is that no one will probably kidnap and rape her because shes just a fat blob. Obviously parents worry about their children and their health, but that is just horribly judgmental. I don't know if maybe the character herself had some undiagnosed mental illness and the further I read the more I thought so, though it is never addressed. She was obsessed with writing lists and would lash out almost aggressively when someone tried/did read one.

She was obviously going through a very hard time. but I still cannot understand how she could so easily just dismiss everything. She was an absolute doormat and she let everyone walk all over her which is why her daughter had no respect for her. She kept thinking of all these things of what a good parents or responsible parent would do yet she did not do any of it. Was she depressed? Does she have a mental illness? None of the story went into any of that so I am just left wondering what happened and why read this book in the first place.

The synopsis on the book description is what entice me the most to read this book. I think this is the first time I read a book that offers self contemplation and self identity of a mom. It is a good read for moms out there who also have insecurity about self identity like me. 

The author gradually introduce us to Katharina character. From how she interacts with her daughter,  how she sees her son, how she treats her neighbors, how she thinks of her best friends and her own sister, and also the relationship with her husband. Readers also will, be taken to the multi-tasking mind of a mom, something that all the moms could relate too. 

With the slow and steady pace until 3rd quarter of the book, author still surprise me with unexpected twists and turns. To be honest, I was turned off of the bratty behavior from one of the character kids, yet there’s a reason for that. A reason that revealed after reading several more chapters into the book. 

The pace near the ending of the book feel rushed. It feels like we are on a race to the finish line. But I think the change of pace is a good choice because if not, the reader might feel bored. The last sentence of the book still open many possibilities and I kinda hoping for a sequel.

Reading this book is like riding a medium-paced rollercoaster. It can make you laugh with the author’s dry humor, cry with the misery and tragedy written on this book, but also thoughtful by reading in contemplative mind of Catharina. All in all, it was an enjoyable reading for me.