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A review by fiction_aficionado
Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I really have no idea how to rate this book. It’s kind of like a mash-up of Legally Blonde and that song “There’s a hole in my bucket”, except instead of Legally Blonde, you would have to call it Financially Blonde. It should have annoyed the tar out of me, but instead, I found it strangely compelling. Or at least, I assume I did, since I only really put the book down to go to sleep for the night, and then somehow ended up spending this morning in bed finishing it without ever actually deciding that’s what I was doing. But I also kept turning to my husband after involuntarily laughing at something to say, “I’m not really sure why I’m still reading this, because I cringe every time she digs her hole another level deeper.”
But it’s one of those books that has the distinction of being at once completely unrealistic and scarily spot on. I suppose that’s the point of satire, really, except that it felt as though the story lost track of any point it was trying to make along the way. Maybe that’s because the heroine pretty much lies her way through the entire book with very few lasting consequences. Perhaps part of the reason I enjoyed the reading experience was because I was anticipating a different ending? Considering there are several more books in the series, perhaps the vague expectations I had were unrealistic. But then I feel as though I should be more disappointed if that was the case.
Plot aside, Kinsella’s writing was quite entertaining. And masterful, really, when considered from certain aspects. It’s not easy to write such completely natural sounding first person narrative, particularly when it’s often hopelessly deluded stream of consciousness. Perhaps that was part of what made it so entertaining—the fact that the reader can see how hopelessly deluded Becky is even as she’s patting herself on the back for being so clever.
Anyway, I’m not sure I can recommend it as such. I’m not even sure I could go on to read the rest of the series. But I can see how it would both appeal and repel, so all that’s left is to work out which category you fall into.
But it’s one of those books that has the distinction of being at once completely unrealistic and scarily spot on. I suppose that’s the point of satire, really, except that it felt as though the story lost track of any point it was trying to make along the way. Maybe that’s because the heroine pretty much lies her way through the entire book with very few lasting consequences. Perhaps part of the reason I enjoyed the reading experience was because I was anticipating a different ending? Considering there are several more books in the series, perhaps the vague expectations I had were unrealistic. But then I feel as though I should be more disappointed if that was the case.
Plot aside, Kinsella’s writing was quite entertaining. And masterful, really, when considered from certain aspects. It’s not easy to write such completely natural sounding first person narrative, particularly when it’s often hopelessly deluded stream of consciousness. Perhaps that was part of what made it so entertaining—the fact that the reader can see how hopelessly deluded Becky is even as she’s patting herself on the back for being so clever.
Anyway, I’m not sure I can recommend it as such. I’m not even sure I could go on to read the rest of the series. But I can see how it would both appeal and repel, so all that’s left is to work out which category you fall into.