a MAMA friend of mine lent me blogger kelle hampton’s memoir “bloom”. i’ve been following her blog, enjoying the small things, enjoying the small things, which hit the big time after the birth story of nella hit the inter-web-world. nella was born with down syndrome, which was a surprise to kelle and her husband. her blog tells the tales of their daily life as a family. i am drawn to her blog, not for the writing, but the photographs she takes.

so, the book confuses me. first it’s a memoir, but kelle is young as are her kids, so whatever wisdom she has to share i find to be laden with uncomfortable cliches. plus, her view and experience as a mama of a child with down syndrome is so very new and clean. nella is barely two and has not had to deal with cruel peers and the giant bureaucracy of the school system, which i imagine is a difficult mountain to climb and then there’s the filler bits. there are obvious sections of the book where she was encouraged to expand and so she goes into these long dull, uninteresting tangents that are there to fill pages, rather than have any meaningful purpose. 


while writing this entry i googled her book and found this book review by a mama blogger who has a child living with down syndrome, as well. it’s worth a read as she is clearly not a kelle fan, but she is able to articulate why and i have to say it was enlightening. it is easy to get caught up in the kelle brand as she calls it.


kelle also seems to live in a narcissistic world. kelle’s life has a very perfect flavour, where parties are themed, adventures glitzy and everything is laden with a shiny, materialistic coating of plastic and american consumerism. she herself  is always looking so perfect and lovely in her photos, with her lipstick red lips, freshly cut bangs and funky high heels. i am always left wondering when does she have the time to primp herself up with two kidlets at home and no hired help.

and finally, in this book she refers to a doctor and one of nella’s therapists as hotties, which felt inappropriate and let’s face it, if brett (her husband) had written a book and described a female nurse as being hot, there would have been consequences. 


basically, it’s not that great. 
it’s a quick, easy read, but there a hundreds of other books i would recommend instead.
what did you think? have you read it? do you follow kelle’s blog?