Book Review: When My Husband Does the Dishes by Kerri Sackville

Rating:

When my husband saw this book, he wanted to know why I was reading about him having to do the dishes. (By pure coincidence, he was actually doing the dishes at the time.) Knowing full well what happens when Ms Sackville’s husband does the dishes, I just grinned at him. And then started thinking up excuses for later that night…

Kerri Sackville is well known in the online world for her humorous and witty observations. Through her blog, social media and articles on various websites, she has gained a following of people knowing they can ‘drop in’ on her and have an intelligent conversation, usually with a bit of a laugh too.

Now, with her first book, Sackville brings her voice to the masses – and they’ll soon find out why we all love her.

Reading like a collection of blog posts, with her trademark honesty and the ability to laugh at herself (and her husband and children), When My Husband Does the Dishes… is a book mums everywhere will relate to.

And boy, do we need that.

The shelves are amassed with parenting books about how to do things correctly, and advice from the experts on how to do everything perfectly. This is the antithesis of those.

Covering marriage, friendships and children, When My Husband Does the Dishes… is being touted as “part memoir, part faux guide to marriage and motherhood”. You might – or might not – be surprised at how often you nod along with the not-so-glamorous observations. You will probably be surprised (unless you’re a reader of Sackville’s blog!) about the author’s honesty (but you’re likely to be grateful for it, nonetheless).

Sackville’s how-to guides include how to lie to your children, how to make a marital complaint (via a handy new form, if you’re wondering), how to have the perfectly imperfect Mother’s Day and how to let your standards drop. These are the guides from an expert of another type: a mother of three children, on the frontline day after day after day.

Sure, it’s funny, but there’s more to it than a few chuckles.

Putting aside the laughs and the light-hearted feel of this book, what I love most about it is summed up right at the end: “If I was writing The Architect’s and my love story, it would be deeply romantic… But this book isn’t The Architect’s and my love story. It’s about what comes after the love story. And what comes after the love story isn’t always romantic.”

That is this book’s truth. And the truth so many of us need, to know we’re not alone in our spew-stained trackie pants.