I have had a string of books lately by women talking about topics I’m interested in but who I can’t relate to at all because of their lack of self and love of conformity even when it goes against their best interests . First is was This Is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch, I’m listening to How to Date Men When You Hate Men which has a similar vibe and now Momfluenced.

I wish the author got into what gaping hole in her life (and others like her) that these influencers fill. She admits to probably being influenced to have a third kid despite not enjoying parenthood because of another woman’s instagram feed. Why wasn’t that explored? She kept talking about how women were obsessed with influencers and how she bought expensive items from these people thinking it would improve her life but never explored why some people are so easily influenced. She seemed to lack a real sense of self which is unfortunate but I would have liked to have seen if this is what she had in common with other women who fixated on these curated social media profiles.

She wasn’t a great interviewer or able to really pull interviews together. A lot of the chapters read like lists and then she’d say she wished she could have include more from XYZ influencer but didn’t. Why not?

I found it very strange she never once considers the affect that being the child of an influencer has on the child. For a book about moms, children were basically absent and were not presented as people with feelings, thoughts or even consciousness. They may as well been a wicker laundry basket. Did the author not realize this? Did she have an editor? How did no one pick up on this from pitch to publication

I did like the small bit where she talked about how most “momfluencers”, even those with large following don’t actually make that much money. I would have liked to have dived into why they did it then.

The book was very surface level. This was another where I feel like it should have been either a memoir about her interest in influencers and dislike of parenting or a short piece in a magazine or newspaper. She really focused on influencers she personally was fixated on and not ones that were even more popular. She didn’t really talk about YouTubers at all and that seemed like a large omission. I’m sure she doesn’t follow them herself but they are very popular. She did make an effort to include people outside of her admitted white privileged bubble but I felt like those parts were especially flat. She’s just not a very gifted interviewer or researcher. Which is fine but another reason why it should have been a memoir.

Her deleting instagram at the end was so corny and performative. She still posts on it herself!