Customer Reviews
A great book for those of us girls born in the 70s (or men who want to understand women better!) - By: Snapdragon, 24 Jun 2008 
`Hopscotch & Handbags' is a great memoir & exploration about female experience from primary school through to work & motherhood. This could have made it incredibly dull & worthy, butin fact this is an amazingly funny book (although it probably has most resonance for women bornin the early to mid seventies.)
The real highlights for me were the parts about friendshipsin primary school; 24 hoursin the life of a co-habiting couple; the danger that you will one day turn into your mother; & first experiences of clothes & make-up. Magan reminisces about the time when you had to save up for a piece of clothing that your mother refused to buy you & saved every scrap of pocket money to buy cheap cosmetics that could only be removed with a sand-blaster (Oh dear, I remember it well!) I too tried to make perfume,in a jam jar, with rose petals & water only to be left with something murky & foul smelling.
Perhaps the most worrying section was the one that comes at the end of the book about indicators that you are now a `woman.' Although it did come as something of a relief to know that there is someone else out there who gets a sense of pride from a well-pegged line of washing. Sad but true!
A brilliant book. Highly recommended.
The Main Disruption - By: Mrs. Carlie Lee, 03 Feb 2008 I was at a dinner party when someone recommended this book. The hostess loved it so much she abandoned the half-served main-course & ran to fetch her (signed) copy. Within moments she was reading snippets aloud, giggling & gesticulating wildly with a serving spoon. All of the wives collapsed with laughter & the husbands gazed sadly & incomprehensively at the rapidly cooling lasagne.
A book for proper girls, who know the score. Greatly enjoyed.
yay! i'm not alone! - By: notblondenotskinny, 23 Oct 2007 I never bother writing reviews because i very rarely come across anything i like enough to write one about, but this book is FANTASTIC. its witty, its charming, its brutalin its honesty, & best of all it made me feel a little less insanein a world where so many women are trying so hard to hide the crazy
Don't bother - By: Alex Davies, 14 Oct 2007 
Lucy Mangan can undoubtedly write....the question is, why is she wasting her time on this pap? And it is pap....the whole thing smacks of something cooked her between her & her publisher to make a bit of pre-Christmas cash. Slight, very slight.
Brilliant! - By: Minefrog, 02 Oct 2007 It's witty, it's hilarious, it's embarrassing. And it's all true!
And it solves the problem of all the 30th birthday presents I need to buy! Thank you Lucy!
