Author: Sophie Kinsella
Series: Shopaholic series #1
Published: 2000
Publisher: Dell Publishing
312 pages (paperback)
After reading several ‘intense’ novels, I was in the mood for something not-serious and more relaxed, so I picked up this chick-lit book from the library. First things first — yes, I saw the movie before I saw the book. The movie was alright, for a chick flick. The book, mind you, is nothing at all like the movie and thus, should be treated as two completely separate stories (because really, nothing is the same, the plot and story isn’t even the same and the characters are only vaguely what they were in the novel). With all that being said, the book was very enjoyable and humorous. I could really sit down and just read away several hours because it was very fun and rather engrossing. And, as a bit of a ‘shopaholic’ myself, I could kind of relate (although I am nowhere near the main character’s level of obsession!)
The main character, Rebecca “Becky” Bloomwood, is really the engrossing factor in this book. She’s like a girl who never properly grew up from high school — very materialistic, loves fashion, make-up, clothes, not very aware of what’s happening in the world, no real idea of consequences of her actions. Her ideal job would be fashion editor at a fashion magazine, but she’s stuck being a boring old financial journalist at Successful Savings. Somehow she manages to spit out articles that even she doesn’t understand. Nobody seems to suspect the fact that she knows nothing about finance, all except Luke Brandon, the boss of her company’s PR company. He seems to obviously know she’s a phony financial journalist, yet he is always being nice to her.
Her job as a financial journalist is hugely ironic because Becky is a chronic shopaholic with little to no sense when it comes to money. She is thousands of pounds in debt, the bank is chasing her down, her credit card company is chasing her down and she owes several people money. In fact, chapters always begin with one or two ominous letters from the bank or something or another, politely demanding that she send in the minimum payment soon. And then the next time a new chapter starts, you read another letter from, say, the bank and it’d start with, “Sorry to hear you had glandular fever … But you still owe us money” and I just think, “Oh Becky!” Hahaha! Desperate to get out of her financial situation, Becky tries to cut back on how much she spends (with hilarious results) as well as making more money (also with hilarious results), and several more options along the way.
For a person who’s kind of an airhead, Rebecca is strangely likeable. Normally a person who is obsessed about money, fashion, make-up, has no real concept of how the world works and lies all the time is a person I wouldn’t really like, but Becky is actually a very relate-able character, at least for me. I’m sure we’ve all experienced really wanting to buy something but not having the money to do it, and I’m sure we’ve all had money woes big and small, so in that sense, I understand her problems. When it comes down to the end, she shows she can be very dedicated and hard working … when she wants to, hahaha. A bit off topic, I am always amused by how the smallest things can trigger an entire daydream sequence out of her and she’d go so out of hand with them!
All in all, a very enjoyable chick-lit novel! If you saw the movie before this and didn’t like the movie, just be aware that the novel is 90% different from the movie, so give this a chance. It’s a really great book.
My Rating: 4/5
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