Back to Green: Life Swap

Yes, as I mentioned in my last post, I found myself devouring Jane Green's Life Swap. Why, why, why? Partly out of necessity. Confessions of a Shopaholic hadn't arrived in time and I decided to revisit her a few years on and see if she had changed at all. It's the other part of the partly that I'm struggling with. I mean, I didn't just read it, I kept reading it, eager and excited to know what happened next.

It's the story of Vicky, a journalist, who (just like Straight Talking's Tasha) has a successful career but hasn't got her man. In a crazy idea for an article she swaps lifestyles with American Amber, a glamorous housewife in a town full of the glamorous housewives of Wall Street Dealers. It's that classic grass is greener story - who is happier? Does happiness come from a husband and kids or a great job and freedom?

I do think some of it was because of the idea I touted in the last post was true - it was more contemporary, therefore its references were a bit more relevant to me. Vicky had a job I'd actually covert: features editor on a glossary magazine. There was also the exotic element - another lady, with a fabulous American lifestyle and her ridiculous acquaintances that were far enough removed from my reality for me to allow myself they could exist.

I also think Jane Green may have become softer in her old age. Maybe it's because Straight Talking was written in the height of ladette culture and she's moved away from that, as society has shifted too. The other main difference is that Life Swap is completely overpopulated with kids. Vicky no longer only wants the husband and the happy-ever-after - she wants the kids too. The kids are cute, yes, but also troublesome and demanding. It's the happy-ever-after thing that infuriates me about the idea of chick lit, so the small children who run around the novel are a nice challenge to this.

Of course the book does have a happy ending, though it's not necessarily the happy ending you'd expect. Amber has to leave behind her immense wealth (though settles for something equally picturesque) while Vicky lines herself up a few (naturally extremely attractive) dates and learns to celebrate the advantages of her single life.

Maybe the appeal of the book is that both characters end up content without gaining money or magically finding Mr Right. Instead the book's main 'message' is the different paths to personal happiness. Compared to her last book, that's much closer to my own preoccupations and I'd guess it would apply to most of my friends too.

Am I converted? Not yet, I think. But I was definitely diverted.