Amanda
is sorely lacking good girlfriends to lean on.
Instead, she is mocked by her feminist mother who considers
her decision to stay at home backwards; used when convenient by a
completely self-absorbed friend, Susie, who seeks Amanda out only
when she needs to gloat or a shoulder to cry on; and barely
tolerated by a snooty circle of so-called friends from her
children’s playgroup who spend their days at the club discussing
plastic surgery and redecorating their already fabulous homes.
The only one who seems to offer true support is a college
friend and mother of four who encourages Amanda to “own”
motherhood and not consider it something to get through.
Meanwhile,
as Amanda’s career has halted, her husband, Bob, is given the
case of his dreams at the Justice Department, taking on the
fictional version of Microsoft in an anti-trust suit.
What first appears to be a golden opportunity for Bob, turns
into a nightmare when a gossip columnist blows out of proportion an
informal dinner with Amanda’s friend, Susie, and her date, an
information technology billionaire and lead witness in the
antitrust action. As a
result, Amanda and Bob’s marriage is rocked and Bob’s promising
career is compromised. And
as Amanda finally makes a decision to go back to work, another
earth shattering surprise hits, testing them even further and
ultimately leading Amanda to believe, “there is this moment,
there is this person, there is this love, there is this life.
That’s all there is, and it is…enough.”
Women
today have many choices, and when you become a mother, it can be
overwhelming to decide which are best.
For strong, independent women, the decision whether to work
or stay home is not usually an easy one.
It is based upon many factors - economic, social and
intellectual. Personally,
I related to much of what Amanda experienced, right down to her
choice of an old Volvo wagon instead of the conventional minivan,
and I thought this was an important book because it gave a
realistic voice to the woman who stays a home who may not be
ideally suited for a life of domesticity.
As a community of girlfriends, we should support and respect
each other’s choices and help each other work through the guilt
and frustration that inevitably accompany the wonderful, yet
trying, experience of motherhood.
And for those girlfriends who are not mothers, this book can
be an eye-opener to some of the choices that may be out there
waiting for you.
About
the author: Danielle
Crittenden is author of What
Our Mothers Didn’t Tell Us, a book that resulted in Vanity
Fair declaring her one of the most important new writers and
thinkers about women. Her
articles have appeared in the Wall
Street Journal, the New
York Times, and the Washington
Post, and she is a frequent commentator on national TV and
radio. She lives with
her husband, author David Frum, and their three children in
Amanda Bright@home by Danielle Crittenden