Title: Confessions of a Shopaholic
Author: Sophie Kinsella
Paperback: 350 pages
ISBN: 0440241413
On Monday morning I wake early, feeling rather hollow inside. My gaze flits to the pile of unopened carrier bags in the corner of my room and then quickly flits away again. I know I spent too much money on Saturday. I know I shouldn’t have bought two pairs of boots. I know I shouldn’t have bought that purple dress. In all, I spent… Actually, I don’t want to think about how much I spent. Think about something else, quick, I instruct myself. Something else. Anything’ll do.
I’m well aware that at the back of my mind, thumping quietly like a drumbeat, are the twin horrors of Guilt and Panic.
Guilt Guilt Guilt Guilt.
Panic Panic Panic Panic.
If I let them, they’d swoop in and take over. I’d feel completely paralyzed with misery and fear. So the trick I’ve learned is simply not to listen. My mind is very well trained like that.
-Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella, page 154
Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella lends a comedic voice to an all-to-real problem plaguing many today. It’s a story told by the main character, Rebecca Bloomwood, as she struggles to gain control of her shopping addiction. From the private thoughts and justifications, like the item’s on sale so buying two saves more, to the terror when seeing the credit card bills in the mail. At times I heard a few of my own thought processes echoed in Bex, lol.
Miss Bloomwood tries to get her spending under control, even going so far as to work through a self help book… unfortunately, though, she ends up spending a lot more money than she did without the book, as well as stinking up the apartment with the smell of defeat and bad curry. Her father offers the advice that she has two choices: Cut back or make more money. Obviously cutting back was a bust, so she tries the MMM approach. Her short-lived career in retail ends in disaster when she learns the hard way that hiding clothing from the customer will get you fired. She also finds that she is NOT the craftiest person and the “make money at home” thing isn’t for her. Nor can she force herself to fall in love with a millionaire, no matter how much her friend might want it. It would seem that she is destined to retreat to her parents and regress from adulthood, and even there she can’t escape her incompetence.
Can this shopaholic make it?
Just then the post plops through the door, and I go to pick it up. There’s a handwritten letter for Suze and a postcard from the Maldives. And for me, there are two ominous-looking window envelopes. One from VISA, one from Endwich Bank.
For a moment, my heart stands still. Why another letter from the bank? And VISA. What do they want? Can’t they just leave me alone?
-p. 155
For the most part, I enjoyed this book. It was funny and truthful. The scene in the store with the customer wanting the pair of pants Becky had been planning to buy after her first day of work had me rolling. And the romantic tension between Luke and her is quite delicious. I did, however, find her mildly annoying after awhile. Honestly, there were points toward the end where I was yelling at the book, “For goodness sake! Just tell the truth!” For shopping is not Rebecca Bloomwood’s only vice, lying seems to be her native tongue. Sometimes, she even lies for no apparent reason.
All in all Confessions of a Shopaholic is a bit of fluff that can be a quick escape from the more serious books, and I’ve been holding off on watching the movie until I’ve finished the book. I suspect this will be one of those examples where the movie is better than the book…. then again, after watching a trailer for it, I realized NONE of the movie is what I had remembered the trailers before the book (I thought Amy Adams played Rebecca and Chris Noth Luke Brandon!), nor is it very much at all like the book. Ah, well! I give Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella 3 out of 5 stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment