Confessions of a Prep School Mommy Handler
A Memoir
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- 4,49 €
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- 4,49 €
Publisher Description
When Wade Rouse—a rural, public school graduate who grew up more Hee Haw than Dynasty—was hired as the director of publicity at the prestigious Tate Academy, he quickly discovered his real job was to make a few of the very pretty, very rich, very mean mommies of the elite students happy.
Enter former Tate beauty queen and sports star Katherine Isabelle Ludington—Kitsy to her friends—who went to an Ivy, married an Ivy, and made a lot of money. Now, she is Wade’s VIP volunteer and a perfectly coiffed nightmare.
In between designing Louis Vuitton–inspired reunion invitations, dressing as Ronald Reagan for Halloween, and surviving surprise Botox parties, Wade tries to tame Kitsy and her pink Lilly Pulitzer–clad posse while reclaiming his self-esteem.
Following a year in the life of the super rich and super spoiled, Confessions of a Prep School Mommy Handler is hilarious, heartbreaking, and deliciously catty.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this memoir showcasing the ugly side of the affluent mothers of the pseudonymous Tate Academy , among the country's most prestigious prep schools, Rouse, the school's director of public relations, explains that his job is that of the "Mommy Handler" keeping the families and benefactors of the institution happy. In particular, he works closely with a woman he calls Kitsy, the head of the parent and alumni committees and the ringleader of a group he dubs the M2s or the "Mean Mommies," a troublesome squad of beautiful women whose self-appointed job it is to maintain Tate's legacy of exclusionary ways. The tales of superficial demands and backhanded nastiness, as well as the quest for a standardized idea of perfection portray a scene worse than a suburban PTA meeting of Stepford wives. But Rouse, whose first memoir, America's Boy, chronicled his life growing up gay in conservative middle America, justifies silently stomaching it all with a candid explanation of his overwhelming need to be accepted by the in-crowd. Rouse's personal journey toward self-realization is highlighted by moments of compassion for students who are similarly ostracized for not being attractive, athletic or wealthy enough. Sadly, he never actually speaks up for fear of the M2s. Rouse's writing is fresh and funny, and the stories of Botox parties, catty mothers and manicured pet pups make this an amusing insider look into the opulent lifestyle of prep school families.
