Claim Now A Most Uncommon Degree Of Popularity Imagined By Kathleen Gilles Seidel Displayed As Digital Format

because I have girls, and left a career to be a stay at home mom, but I was quickly drawn into the book, Read it inhours. . A mindless read for a rainy day, quick and to the point, Very predictable plot but also realistic, A new light on popularity and how it's not always a good thing, It's not a terrible book, overall it has its moments,

A group of soccer mom's and their daughters navigate growing up and the ups and downs of being part of the "popular" crowd which is unknowingly thrust upon them.
The book focusing more on the mother's than their daughters although they are the cause for most of the plot,

Like I said this book is a quick and easy read for any book lover, However the plot is predictable and even the surprise at the end isn't really a surprise, The main conflict is solved rather quickly and all is semi good in the end,

I think the main thing is that Lydia the main mother came off most of the time as too whiney, Lydia started off with potential then slowly began to lose steam through the novel, The message girls can be more than just pretty they should also be smart and should choose smarts over looks is a good idea but was not executed well as the main character sees herself as nothing more than a mom than to prove the point adds.
. . BUT I WAS ONCE A LAWYER! Smh although a strong message in general could have been better written and give this main momma a REAL backbone.
I surprised myself by picking this up at the library but I have read a real variety of books this year, I guess an odd sort of high school politics chick lit novel from the perspective of the mum should I say mom just gives me another odd genre to include in my wide selection, although I'm not sure what genre I WOULD call it, actually.


I surprised myself again by getting into this, The story of a teenage girl who gets shunted out of her popular group of friends by a newcomer is an old story, but this time seen entirely from the viewpoint of the stay at home mum who is way more invested in her childrens popularity than she should be for a slightly different take on it.
The dad is often absent and it's interesting here how the focus is really on female friendships her daughter with her three best friends and the mother with her three best friends who happen to be the mothers of her daughters friends.
Sure, it's a little TOO neat there but the author actually deals with this in a realistic way, I could see the characters motivation and she dealt lightly with some hard topics,

I liked how this book sorted itself out in the end, It felt like a solution without the feeling of 'quick, let's wrap it up' I often feel about chick lit, Is this chick lit Someone of here has described it as 'Jane Austen of the car pool' and I rather liked that, There were something interesting strands of subplots here and I surprised myself for the third time by actually enjoying it, Hadn't heard of this book therefore no expectations, just found it on the new books in at the library, Surprisingly I was so impressed with Seidel's fictional story which read as a sociological study of girls and mothers, Sure there were stereotypes, but that was so affirming in recognizing how to "cope" with similar personalities and situations as the mother of a girl.
Seidel's descriptions observations were stinging, humorous and poignant in a nonsappy way, I will recommend this book to friends, This book was written just intelligently enough for me to enjoy it, but I'm still embarrassed to tell anyone I liked it because it definitely falls into the "chick lit" category.
Also, the firstpages and around pagewere very firstworldproblems, The heroine describes her upscale home and lifestyle without a hint of gratitude or joy, That almost made me put down the book and makes me hesitate to recommend this book to anyone who isn't financially comfortable themselves,

With the exception of those sections mentioned above, it was a very fast and compelling read, I read it indays without really trying, It was hard to put down, I did find myself becoming a bit neurotic about my girls while reading this book, So, I don't know if it was the best influence,

I connected with the main character as a high achieving, financially secure woman who gave up her career to be a stayathomemom, I found the brief but insightful comments on meritocrats interesting, I connected with some of her thoughts, though I would be embarrassed to admit it publicly, I disagreed with a lot of her boundaries and parenting decisions, I also read lots of parenting books and wonder what life will be like when my girls reach their teen years,

Just to restate this, I definitely disagree with many of her parenting choices not strict about things that matter and too focused on emotions and her lack of personal boundaries.
I was angry that she lets others bully her, especially the photograph incident and letting others trash her for not doing them favors, She seems way too involved in everyone else's lives and needs,

This would be a good book club book because it prompted lots of thoughts on parenting, adult female friendships and social dynamics of private schools.


The back cover calls this "an unabashed chronicle of the rules, rituals and pitfalls of raising a daughter", In a subtle way, it was, But there was no explicit discussions of manners or social mores, We just see the main character navigate through life in an upscale community,

I spotted one typo on page, There was a comma instead of a period at the end of a sentence, Otherwise, it was cleanly and intelligently written,

The book description focuses on the daughter's social standing and how that effects the mother's relationships with her friends, That was the first part of the book, But I liked that the book continued and we get to see her marriage and life outside of the children, By the end, we see that she is more well rounded than just her children and their school, I really liked that. And I liked how the book ended with the decisions she made and the focus she had, I really wanted to like this book, but there was something stopping me and I'm not quite sure what it was, I think partly it was the main character was so awful and unlikable, While reading it I kept wanting to scream "shut up shut up SHUT UP!!!!" I also found myself thinking way too much reading this how well firstworldproblems described her.
It seemed like all she did was whine and let people walk over her and do everything BUT mind her own business, Perhaps had it been written with from another perspective it would have been better I'm not sure, Four suburban "soccer moms" and their middleschoolaged daughters struggle to figure out where they belong as their friendships fall apart over due to significant shifts in each of their status, power and popularity.


I live in the same location as the characters in this book and when I read the book I had two middleschoolaged daughters enrolled in a local Independent School.
My kids played sports against many of the schools mentioned in this book,

Relational aggression seems to invoke more emotional and academic difficulties for girls in middle school than any other age group, There are a number of popular press articles, books, and movies that have focused on the issue of relational aggression in girls:

Queen Bees and Wannabes and Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls, being the most notable.


I was really hoping the plot of this novel would realistically depict what happens to girls during these changes in middle school, as well as how things change afterwards.
Unfortunately, this books wraps everything up in the most perfect pristine bow, it all felt way too cute and way too artificial,

The only reason for writing a review on this HORRIBLE book is that I hope I can save someone from wasting their time and energy.
I hate myself for not being able to put books down before finishing them even when I HATE them, I really need to learn that is ok not to finish a book.


This book is the epitome of entitlement, selfabsorbed behaviors and shallowness, The book is aboutfriends who havedaughters that are best friends and they go to the same school and live in the perfect city, go to the perfect school and their lives are just perfect, I get it! But I don't need to read about how everyone's kitchen is decorated, painted, furnished and adorned! Paragraphs of very detailed descriptions on their houses and backyards and parties or school events and then to read that they're only middle class Yeah, nope, doubt middle class people have boxes of wine glasses for when they entertain Just spare buffet tables and chairs and all the decorations So out of touch!

Then this Lydia person who's I guess the main character spends her entire time fixing everyone's life and meddling because "it takes a village" sure it does, but man, you women can't change a light bulb without having to call yourfriends!!! She is a fulltime mother but she just to be a lawyer but now she is so bored with her life that she is everywhere and she is worse than heryear old wanting to be the most popular girl.


I'm so angry about how stupid this book is that all my thoughts are just a mess, just don't read it, just stop yourself, I'm sure you can find a WAY better book by closing your eyes and just grabbing thest thing on a shelf.
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