Confessions of a Shopaholic

Okay, so time for a key book in the world of chick lit: Confessions of a Shopaholic (or The Secret Dream World of a Shopaholic as it was known in the UK before being repackaged for the film).

Now, much more than my initial problem with Jane Green and my subsequent problems in discovering I enjoyed some Jane Green, I found Shopaholic very confusing.

On one hand this was a very funny book. It made me laugh out loud and the character was the one I could most strongly imagine out of the (admittedly limited) chick lit novels I'd read.

On the other, the whole story line and ending sucked.

So, first, the funny bits. Becky Bloomwood is a scatty London financial journalist who dreams of working on a glossy. She shops like she works for a glossy too, spending massively beyond her means. In the aim to cut costs, she visits a museum and, of course, gets waylaid in the museum shop. In the aim to save on takeaways, she ends up buying out John Lewis restocking the kitchen. It's all really obvious stuff but Sophie Kinsella writes it well, capturing Becky's knack for self justification and twisting the truth. In fact, her voice is so distinctive, I alarmingly found myself taking on her voice in my own internal monologue too: 'Should I eat another piece of chocolate? Well, I am going to run home today. Actually my foot hurts, maybe I should go to the gym instead and better eat some more chocolate to cure it. Oh I'm too full of chocolate to go to the gym.' etc, etc. Now, I say that is funny but typing it out just makes me sound like I'm having one of those overly neurotic conversations you sometimes hear on the tube between girls who list, in painful detail, how they've cut all diary and meat out of their diet and are running six miles every morning before yoga. That's because Becky Bloomwood is that kind of girl, Kinsella is just a lot better at making that sound funny than me.

And then the annoying bit. Becky is obviously quite dim and rubbish at her job. Yet somehow, the boss of a major financial PR company falls in love with her and she gets a job advising on finances on the telly. Meaning her debts are magically repaid. Yep, she gets the dream job and the dream guy. I really resent this Bridget Jones (though I love the book)/Legally Blonde school of thought that out of the mouths of idiots comes wisdom. Out of the mouths of these babes surely only comes quotes from Cosmopolitan or the Metro and it seems very wrong to suggest playing dumb is a way to get your fairytale ending. The over consumption she indulges in doesn't seem glamorous, it just seems sickening.  

There are four more books in this franchise (and one more to follow in September). I'm not sure how this plot can or will develop - although there are obvious clues in the titles Shopaholic Ties the Knot and Shopaholic and Baby.  Perhaps I'll revisit, time first for some Marian Keyes.