(32) Confessions of A Counterfeit Farm Girl

While I did not grow up on a farm, I grew up in rural America and I spent plenty of time on the farms of various family members. I jumped hay bales & played in the fields of my Uncle's farms. I drank my fair share of fresh milk & rode the 3-Wheelers on my Grandma's dairy farm. Even as recently as last summer I spent a weekend on a farm & took a gazillion pictures of my nephews & my cousin's kids feeding the baby calves & riding a pony.

Having given you a little bit of my background, I must say that I ran hot & cold with Confessions of A Counterfeit Farm Girl.

At first glance Susan McCorkindale appears to be a spoiled brat. She is a corporate big wig with Family Circle magazine. Excuse me, a "Whining Big Wig" as stated in Part One, Chapter One of her book. She brags about her "Top Ten Ways to Pass the Day", none of which really involve work. She lives up to the stereotype that all of the corporate employees have of the "big wigs". Managing your minibar? Check. Planning a party completely unrelated to work? Check. Catching up on your reading, under the disguise of writing the budget? Check. Watch a movie? Check. It's no wonder "Corporate Big Wigs" are reviled by their subordinates.

And then Suzy Mac quits her job & moves to the sticks. Where she is so far out of her element that it is funny. Literally, laughable. You almost feel bad for her being the outsider at the social functions of rural Virginia. She is so grossly out of her element, thinking that "riding" means riding the subway, instead of riding horses. But it is really hard to be too empathetic during her home renovations because she is staying at her wealthy in-laws posh "farm". While most farmers in our country are living near poverty, using equipment older than me. Working full time jobs off the farm to pay for health insurance & pay the bills to be able to hold onto homesteads that have been in the family for generations.

Okay. So as I write this, I realize that there was more about this book that I didn't like than I did like. Maybe because I don't feel sorry for the "poor little rich girl" who moved to the country. The mocking of her husband got to the point that I was embarrassed for him. If she said "I love him, but..." once, she said it a million times. Not to mention her sons. I grew up with 5 (FIVE) brothers. FIVE. I *get* what it is like to fall in the toilet because *someone* forgot to put the seat down. I have seen my fair share of pissing contests, both literally & figuratively. I wasn't as uncomfortable reading the stories about her boys as I was reading the stories about her husband. The continued mocking of her husband was rough for me to read. But that is just me.

I got the impression that Susan McCorkindale was trying too hard. Sarcastic, biting memoirs are the "in" thing. It works for Jen Lancaster. It does not work for Susan McCorkindale.

But I am not the "big wig" I could be wrong.