20th Century Lizzie

Bridget Jones's Diary

Author:
Helen Fielding
Publisher:
Penguin Books (1996)
Number of Pages:
307
Review: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that when one part of your life starts going okay, another falls spectacularly to pieces.” Women in their thirties are expected to be well read in subjects such as history and literature, should be married and have produced at least one offspring, be well versed in poetry and play at least one instrument but most of all they should have a firm grasp of handling the housework. Fortunately we no longer live in the 18^th century but that doesn’t mean women still aren’t pressured to follow these rules of proper womanhood. And when Bridget Jones’s tries to fall for the kind of man that would render her the epitome of a Jane Austen heroine, hilarity ensues.

Bridget Jones finds herself starting the new year thirty, unmarried and with no prospects for a husband. Thus she decides to start a diary in an attempt to change her life. When her mother insists on her meeting the mysterious Mark Darcy, Bridget’s excitement slowly dwindles as she realizes that he isn’t the man of her dreams. Thus more determined than ever to change her life, she starts a fling with notorious flirt Daniel, learns (or attempts) to cook, tries to patch her parents broken marriage, embark upon a new job and finds herself in situations that only a young woman in the 20^th century could discover.

Bridget Jones is one of those novels that can pretty much sum up every working single girl living in the western world today. “I am a child of Cosmopolitan culture, have been traumatized by supermodels and too many quizzes and know that neither my personality nor my body is up to it if left to its own devices. I can't take the pressure.” Society has put such high standards upon us and sometimes it just gets overwhelming. I really liked Bridget Jones, and being a young lady who is also single I can often empathize with her. She’s snarky, and witty, slightly shallow, but deeply caring, but most of all, she’s realistic, to the point that she could have been my best friend, heck I think she is my best friend, and my mother, and me for that matter. Helen was able to invent characters so realistic that if you give this novel to any female today, they will find at least one person they know in this novel.

Her mother is fantastically clueless. Always meddling in her affairs and quite frankly treating her like a 12 year old instead of the 30 year old she really is: “Don't say 'what,' say 'pardon,' darling.” I felt every cringe she felt towards her mother. Her friends are wonderfully pathetic and supportive. From the fiercely independent feminist to the melodramatic homosexual, they embody the characteristics of a 21^st century human being. And Daniel being the first main love interest is every guy I’ve ever dated, completely shallow, oversexed, obnoxious, arrogant, and yet gets away with it all because of his pretty face. Sure Bridget may have rushed into the relationship but can you blame her, she’s thirty with no prospects, if it was me I’d jump on that roller coaster too. And her constant dieting shows the exact pressures our society on women and body image.

As for plot, I have to say there were a few times I was confused with what exactly was going on. I had to reread entries and try to decipher what she was talking about especially when she was drunk. I think this had a lot to do with the actual writing style. Fielding writes in broken sentences, almost like jot notes, but it works well because of the format, some people write diary entries with abbreviations and unformatted sentences, Bridget Jones definitely did. While the writing style takes some getting used too, once you got into the groove of things the writing flows pretty well and the read becomes quite a quick one.

The light airy tone, combined with a universal plotline of love and loss, adding a bit of parental drama and a whole lot of hilarious and embarrassing moments, makes Bridget Jones’s Diary one of the most charming and accurate tales of a women in her thirties struggling to find a perfect life in a not so perfect world. I highly recommend this read to any girl (and boy for that matter) struggling to do the same. And please stay away from the Daniels of the world ladies; I’m sure even in this century there is a Darcy out there for us somewhere.

Happy Reading!

The Publicly Loved (But Secretly Annoying) Book

Secret Daughter

           

Author: 

Shilpi Somaya Gowda

Published:

Harper Collins (2010)

Number of Pages: 

342

Review:

“Adoption only solves childlessness not infertility.” Celebrities make adoption look like a breeze. You go to a foreign poverty stricken country, point to the child you want and within a few weeks that child is yours. What the public fails to see is the struggle parents have bonding with the child. It isn’t easy to be a parent in the first place, imagine being a first time parent to a child who doesn’t look like you and worse of all who doesn’t respond to you. But what about the biological parents of this child? Are they really so heartless that they can give up their baby or is there no choice in this decision? Perhaps giving the child away is much more advantageous to the child then it is to selfishly cling to the kid and bring them up in that poverty stricken world. However, this sense of loss and abandonment can haunt the parents for the rest of their lives. These are the dilemmas that surround the story of Secret Daughter.

In rural India Kavita and her Husband are expecting their second child, a child that Kavita both loves fiercely and fears, for if this child is a girl her husband is sure to do something drastic. Across the ocean, Somer and her husband wait patiently at the gynaecologist’s office hoping to hear that after suffering through several miscarriages that she’ll be able to try reproducing again; only instead of hearing good news Somer learns that her ovaries have stopped producing eggs and that although she is only in her 30s she never going to give birth. Kavita gives birth to a beautiful baby girl, a girl she had no hope of keeping, so she gave up the child for adoption rather than have her husband kill this one as he did the other. Somer adopts Kavita’s baby and struggles to find that bond so many mothers have instantly with their children. Although separated by an ocean these two women both struggle with the same issues when it comes to raising a family and find themselves to be connected by a little girl named Asha.

The power of a mother’s love is present in every letter of this novel. The things women will do for their children are devastating, unforgiving, unconditional, and overwhelming. I have so much more appreciation for my mother after reading this novel. Where Kavita smothers her only remaining child with love because of regrets and a feeling of loss, Somer smothers her child because of her fear of a dream, a dream burning within Asha to find her biological family.  Somer fears that if Asha does find her biological family she will lose Asha forever, a fear with which many adoptive mothers probably live.

When I was reading this novel I had a lot of resentment towards Somer. She married into an Indian family (her husband Krishnan is Indian) but she never allowed herself to embrace his culture. In fact she repressed her husband from expressing his culture. I found this very American idea of assimilation to be insulting to me who was born in Canada but still maintains a very South American culture. It wasn’t until I got another prospective that I started to realize my initial hatred for Somer was unnecessary. In truth Somer never got the chance to embrace the culture because her husband never showed her what being Indian was like. He immediately changed his ways of living the minute he stepped on American soil. He gave up every part of him that was Indian and showed Somer that he was indeed American. It wasn’t until he went back to India that he did a complete 180 and changed into someone Somer couldn’t even recognize and what’s worse: he didn’t even educate Somer about his culture. It was complete culture shock that damaged Somer and made her resent her Indian husband and later her Indian daughter.

Another thing I found to be annoying was the fact that the men really didn’t have much of a voice in the novel. Jasu (Kavita’s husband) the hard working husband of Kavita was often seen as the bad father who was trying to mend his ways. Krishnan was the one suppressing who he really was, always with a bottle of hot sauce to pour over his bland food as if it’ll spice up his bland life, and Vikram, the son of Kavita and Jasu, who although growing up in such horrible conditions and then finds himself settling into a life of crime doesn’t even have a say in the novel, in fact by the end he’s pretty much a forgotten memory. 

One thing I really liked though was the symmetry of India. The reader through Kavita got to see India in a very negative disgusting light. Living in the slums of Mumbai, the lack of proper housing, corrupted legal forces, and crime knocking on every door all of these situations were replaced when Asha arrives in India with the splendour of Indian weddings, the amazing tastes of the cuisine, and the glamorous clothing and houses.  The two sides of this country were portrayed with a beautiful sadness.

Perhaps if Gowda had focused a bit more on Somer and less on Kavita I’d have warmed up to Somer more than I had; this was probably one of the more major flaws of the novel, the fact that the author spent so much of it focused on Kavita and her struggles the other characters are often left as a side story, or insignificant. I’d have also enjoyed it more had the men been given a stronger voice. Yes this is a story about strong women, but I felt the men to be neglected, supporting characters that weren’t really supporting. However the novel was emotionally poignant and beautifully so. Her writing was easy to capture your attention. The novel captures what it means to be a mother but more importantly it captures what it means to be a family.

Happy Reading!!!

The Devil Would Not Wear This Book!!!

The Devil Wears Prada


Author: Lauren Weisberger

Published:
Anchor Books (2003)

Number of Pages:
432

Review:
After falling absolutely head over heals in lust with the movie The Devil Wears Prada, I decided to give the novel a try. My friend was always on my case to read it, saying it was “the best novel ever” and I honestly never had the chance to read it besides I thought it would be superficial, shallow and stupid… and I was right.

Although the movie focuses on the actual characters, the novel focuses on clothes. The amount of times I had to read what each character wore for each day was disgusting. I would say 1/3rd of the novel was used to describe clothes. If I wanted to know what clothes looked like I would stand in front of a Holt Renfrew window.

The story is about a young fresh out of university woman, Andrea Sachs, who wants job in publishing, where she can do what she does best, write. It’s in first person narrative and I honestly believe that some words written in the novel were put in after using a thesaurus. Andrea lands a job at a fashion magazine, Runway, where she is constantly told “a million people would die for your job”

She ends up working as an assistant to one of the cruellest workaholics in the industry, Miranda Priestly, the editor-in-chief of Runway. As the story progresses we see Andrea caught in a situation where her personal life merges with her work life until work becomes her life. Aside from the two main characters we get the supporting characters, Alex, the understanding boyfriend, Lily, Andrea’s best friend, Christian, Andrea’s “work crush” and Emily, Andrea’s co-worker along with other meaningless and pitiful characters not worth mentioning. There was no major makeover, nor was there really any character development. The characters all pretty much remained the same in the end just a little more angry and self centered.

The plot line is atrocious, the main character is annoying, and the only thing that saves this novel is Miranda Priestly who is wonderfully callous and believable as the “bitch-boss” from England. Perhaps if I read the novel before I watched the movie I would not be so biased and I would appreciate the novel more, however I cannot appreciate something that is so overwhelmingly shallow as this novel was. But that’s my opinion anyway.

Happy Reading!!!

The Novel Stripped Yet Still Fully Clothed

The Bride Stripped Bare

Author:
Anonymous aka Nikki Gemmell

Published:
Harper Collins 2003

Number of Pages: 374

Review: Aside from the bright colours of the novel’s front cover and the basic synopsis found on the inside jacket, what made me even more eager to read it as I browsed the Brampton Library shelves was the fact that it was written by an author who decided to publish her manuscript anonymously. A daring choice it was for the author to publish a manuscript in the 21st century and not put her name on it especially when we live in a time where instant fame = success.
The novel starts off relatively slow.  A modern woman, Elizabeth, the age of 36 has discovered a daunting secret about her husband while on a belated honeymoon. This secret shatters her whole life and ultimately becomes the driving force and the reason on which all her decisions are based.  The story is focused on her infidelity with a young virgin actor whom she teaches the art of sex to while in addition she teaches herself about her own sexuality.  With the help of an anonymous Elizabethan “woeman’s” manuscript outlining how women are superior to men Elizabeth is able to achieve an orgasm and reach her sexual peak all without her unsuspecting husband knowing. 

This novel is cheeky. It sucks you in with it’s unusually short chapters (all labelled lessons) and its raunchy sexual plot line.  The sexuality found in this book borderlines erotica and will have you blushing in public (beware reading this book on the commute home).  It is written in a second person narration; it was almost as if I were reading a dictation, a story for all women, about all women everywhere, addressing the reader and making the reader feel as if this is their memoir of their life or makes the reader feel as if they’re sneaking a look into a secret life; the life of sexual fantasies that one only dreams of but doesn’t have the guts to live.  It is a different take on narration and deliciously so; one that I found unique and sets the novel apart from others.

Elizabeth draws you into her life. She allows you to believe that her infidelity can be justified and you forgive her for it:

“you tell yourself your husband deserves your unfaithfulness because it keeps you with him”

The author’s (Nikki Gemmell as I found out after reading the novel) narration effectively puts the reader in the driver’s seat.  Gemmell’s raw, uncanny, truthful and erotic story probably would not have been written as frank and daring as it had been had she decided to put her name to it. In fact she has said that remaining anonymous allowed her to have “exhilarating freedom.”  The novel is worth a look at, even if the language is slightly average it still borderlines poetic prose and the rawness of the language is definitely something that will enlighten a reader.
Happy Reading!!!

Confessions of a Sophiaholic

Confessions of a Shopaholic

Author: Sophie Kinsella

Published: Dail Press, 2001

Number of Pages: 336

Review: “OK. DON’T PANIC. Don’t panic. It’s only a VISA bill. It’s a piece of paper; a few numbers. I mean, just how scary can a few numbers be?“  I’ve been here before (in fact I’ve just found myself here again), I’m sure you’ve been here before, perhaps all of the western world has been in the shoes of Rebecca “Becky” Bloomwood, except maybe your shoes were not Jimmy Choo’s.  This novel was recommended to me by my friend aka “all I ever read is chick lit material” and after I gave in with The Devil Wears Prada (which was also her suggestion) I was hesitant to start this book which also looked quite shallow, but instead what I found was a great read and confidence in my friend’s suggestions once again.

The novel starts off with a series of collection notices, which introduces the main character; it’s a smart way to introduce a novel and it also introduces the main character. We know that she’s flawed and in major debt and has a serious shopping problem, without even meeting the main character.  Becky at the age of 25 has found herself in major debt with overdrafts, credit cards and store credits all building up to catastrophe. Ironically, Becky works full time as a financial journalist.  She lives in a swanky flat in London with her socialite best-friend, Suze, and she’s often late with the rent.  Her spending habits are outrageous; this is a girl who spends £1000 in shoes alone.  The main characters are all flawed in some way except for the perfect, dashing, (predictable) Luke Brandon, owner of Brandon Communications, whom Becky meets while trying to buy a scarf for £125 and embarrassing herself when she finds out that all of her credit cards are maxed and she has only £100 in cash thus borrowing money from Luke.  Throughout the novel we see her spiral into deeper debt and battle with her addiction to shopping.

This novel strikes a cord in my heart for I feel at times I am Becky Bloomwood myself. Spending dollars I don’t have on pens and pretty notepaper, books and hats and especially CLOTHES.  The main character is easy to relate to and you almost feel guilty for enjoying her debt and the fact that she’s not as perfect as she seems.  Her logic is lacking but her closet definitely isn’t; I often found myself envious of this fictional character and her ability to hold her head up high while she asks for more money on her overdraft while battling with Luke Brandon on TV, not to mention her massive closet. 

The novel is what it is and doesn’t shy away from that or try to discourage you from the fact that this is a novel about shopping.  You know what the plot line is about from the title alone. It’s realistic, witty and charming and just good fun.  The narration is okay, the tone light-hearted, the language: adequate, but Kinsella never wished to win a Booker Prize for this novel, it’s supposed to be a fun read and fun it was indeed.  So go ahead and pick up a copy of this book and don’t be afraid to “Charge it” after all that’s what Becky would do!

Happy Reading!!!