Chick-lit book reviews

2003-05-17 at 9:04 p.m.

I've just finished reading a "chick lit" book that came free with More Magazine (I'd give their website, but they don't seem to have one), and I thought I'd give a bit of a review of it.

For those of you who don't know what "chick lit" is, its a much-derided genre of novels. They're intended for women in their 20's and 30's, and they're generally about love-lives and work. Lots of critics hate them, but they're really just the same as Jilly Cooper or Catherine Cookson novels, just intended for a different age group.

Anyway, they're throw-away type of novels, the type you take on holiday or when travelling. Nothing wrong with that. Some of them are really good, with a good plot that you actually reread, many are mediocre - you read them once, then chuck them out, and some are actually bad, in that you get bored even while you're still reading the things!

So I'm going to review four authors - Dawn Cairns, Marian Keyes, Freya North, and Victoria Routledge.

WARNING: Spoilers!

Dawn Cairns

I've only read one of her books, Tulips, Chips & Mayonnaise, Poolbeg Press, 2000, £5.99.

The main character is a girl called Sorrel, and goes through her life, and her friend Chloe's life and wedding plans. The book is set in Edinburgh, Scotland. Sorrel is single, and after a boyfriend, but the guy she wants (Jake), doesn't seem to want her, and goes off to work in America.

Fairly standard stuff so far. But the interesting thing about this novel is the introduction of a stalker ex-boyfriend called Mark. He gives her the creeps for a bit, then goes completely off it and becomes violent, and the police get involved. Its this aspect of the book which makes it interesting.

Sorrel is an interesting character, someone you like, and designed to have a similar life to the readership. Now, I'm a student, so its not exactly the same, but she's young enough and has the same preoccupations that she's still a character I can identify with. There are a lot of moments of comedy in it, which is always a good thing, as well as some change of scene - Sorrel goes off to visit a friend in Cannes at one point (many descriptions of shopping and nice food!) and a number of them go to Venice at one point as well.

Its a gentle read in the main, with lots of descriptions of eating and drinking, and someone's normal life. Which, if you like biography books, is a plus. But it does have a plot - the mad stalker Mark adds a bit of tension and interest, and makes it more than just a happy-feeling book, and transforms it into one you can actually re-read and like.

This is my favourite of the books I've read, and well worth buying.

The blurb says:

Sorrel and best friend Chloe's lives revolve around clubbing, pulling guys and laughing at other people's engagements.

Now Chloe has gone all dreamy about her imminent wedding leaving Sorrel feeling a little desperate about her single status.

Life couldn't get much worse, could it? High on self-pity and low on self-esteem, Sorrel throws herself into a new career, another new diet and late-night heart-to-hearts with her beloved terrier, Hector.

However, a phone call from the unquestionably gorgeous Jake has Sorrel thinking wedding proposal, but if their first date is anything to go by, her luck is not about to change.

And what she doesn't need is a weird ex-boyfriend who's starting to act like a stalker...

Accidents start to happen and the consequences for Sorrel are looking dangerous."

Read Dawn Cairns' biography at Poolbeg books

Marian Keyes

I've read five of her books:

Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married
Rachel's Holiday
Watermelon
Last Chance Saloon
Sushi for Beginners

They're all set in London except for the last one, which is set in Dublin, and all feature Irish people, as the author is Irish herself.

Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married
Lucy Sullivan has a fairly boring job, but fairly interesting workmates, and two flatmates, Karen and Charlotte. She also has a drunken father, a mother she doesn't like, and a good friend Daniel, who women lust over but who she doesn't.

She goes to visit a psychic, Mrs Nolan, who predicts she'll be married within a year, and goes off on a search for a man. She meets the very attractive and entertaining Gus, and thinks her search is over.

This novel is funny (as Marian Keyes' novels are) as well as having an interesting plot. This revolves around her slow realisation that her father is an alcoholic, after her mother leaves him, and Lucy goes back home to care for him. She then realises Gus also has a problem with alcohol, and that she is attracted to men with problems. In the meantime, she also discovers she is attracted to Daniel, and starts having rows with her flatmate Karen over that.

Definitely a good book.

Rachel's Holiday. Rachel lives and works in New York, with her friend Brigit, and her boyfriend. The story is told in flashbacks, after she is admitted to the Priory, a rehab centre for people with addictions, for drug addiction after an accidental drug overdose. Rachel comes from the same family as Claire in Watermelon so the characters are much the same - her sister Helen, irritating but attractive, and Anna, who's a bit of a drug addict herself, and away with the fairies most of the time, as well as her censorious mother and slightly mad father, turn up a few times.

The storyline of the book is Rachel's time in the Priory, her life in New York where she is constantly worried she doesn't meet up to the expectations of the glamourous people around her, her increasing use of cocaine and Valium while there, and her unwilling love of her not-cool boyfriend.

This one is slightly darker than most "chick lit" books, though it does share some aspects in common with them. But it is interesting, entertaining, and includes the obligatory happy ending. Worth a read.

Watermelon Rachel's sister Claire's story. Claire has just had a baby, Kate, and while she's still in the hospital her husband James turns up to announce he's leaving her for another woman.

Frightened and upset, she comes home to Ireland to live with her parents. While there she behaves like the anti-christ with grief, and slowly comes to terms with parting from James. In this she is helped by the gorgeous Adam, who Helen brings home one day.

This book is both funny and sad, and goes through her attempts to get back together with James (who is a really nasty piece of work), and her family's life.

Last Chance Saloon Again, this features Irish people, Tara, Katharine, and Fintan. Katharine has no love life to speak of, Fintan is happily ensconsed with the "itallian pony", Sandro, while Tara is living with her "brown man", Thomas.

Everyone thinks they're happy, until Fintan is diagnosed with cancer. He demands that Tara leave the horrible Thomas, who mistreats her, Katharine goes out with Joe from work (who she accused of sexual harassment when he tried to ask her out). Neither of them want to do it, but eventually they do so, helped by Fintan's scary family who come over from Ireland to be with him.

The subplot involves out-of-work actor Lorcan Larkin, who thinks he's God's gift to women, and who turns up at the end as a surprise to one of the characters.

I don't like this one as much as Watermelon and Rachel's Holiday, but that might be because all the descriptions of Fintan's illness are a bit depressing. As is Tara, though she's not too bad, certainly not enough to make this a bad book. I've reread it, so it still counts as a good book!

Sushi for Beginners This is the only one set in Ireland, and involves a magazine company. Lisa Edwards is the high-powered ballbreaker of an editor from London, relegated to Ireland to start up a new magazine. Her assistant is Ashling, obsessed with Buddhas and the like, who comes from an old-women's magazine, and the antics in their office. Lisa turns the magazine into a huge success, not without punishing her staff a good deal, while Ashling starts to go out with a comedian she met on the circuit while out with her neighbour Ted, who's a comedian to get the girls.

Meanwhile, Ashling's friend Clodagh is getting increasingly frustrated with her perfect life. She has two children, a gorgeous husband, lots of money, and doesn't work. But she ends up having an affair which destroys her marriage and leaves her without a great deal to rely on.

This one has a lot of interest in it, but again, its not one of my favourites. I like it, but I don't really like Lisa, who is a right cow, getting a happy ending of her own. It sort of belies the good-guys-get-good-things, bad-guys-get-punished mindset of these sort of novels.

Freya North

This is the novel I got free with the magazine, its called Fen.

I did not like this one. Its about a girl called Fen, with her slightly strange sisters (Pip, a clown, and Cat, a journalist), her obsession with an artist, Julius Featherstone, and her work at an art trust. She ends up torn between two men - Matthew Holden, son of a famous art patron who patronised her favourite artist, and James, a gardener from Derbyshire, who has a few original pieces of art from Julius Featherstone.

I suppose the main failing of this book is that its a bit mediocre. The subplot of the Featherstone artworks isn't strong enough, the characters aren't fleshed out enough (we know of Fen's obsession, but even though it looks like a major thing in her life, it isn't enlarged upon, as with her obsessive habit of checking her hands for information). The main failing is that Fen isn't an interesting character. She would be more interesting even if she talked about Julius Featherstone more, but she doesn't. Her work life is badly developed, her sex life is talked about all of the time (often explicitly) but simply isn't interesting as the author hasn't bothered to tell us very much about the two men Fen is with.

Its a very mediocre book, the sort I wouldn't buy, and got bored reading during it. Definitely cannot recommend that one.

Victoria Routledge

I've read one of her books, Kiss Him Goodbye (Warner Books, 2000, £5.99)

Its about Kate Craig, unwillingly forced to live in London by her boyfriend Giles, who decamps to America on a training program. She has to get a flat (with two flatmates, the posh Harry and 'damaged' Dant) and a job as an editorial assistant at a publishing company.

I liked this book quite a lot, it has an attractive main character, the building up of the flat and its inhabitants and their exploits was good, even the unattractive character of Dant (sometimes spelt as "Dante" during the novel) becomes someone you can get interested in, and even like by the end of the book. The people in her office have good characters, even though quite a lot of them aren't mentioned that often, and, being interested in writing, I found the descriptions of the work she does there really interesting.

Of course, there is a good plot, which is why this is an excellent book. A new book comes to Kate to read, and it bears a spooky resemblance to her flat, but attacks Harry unmercifully. Now that makes for an interesting part of the story.

The only character you can't like is Kate's boyfriend Giles, who seems like a self-obsessed pig, and thats the only flaw in the novel - why she would stay with him in the first place. But aside from that, this is a "must-buy".

So, those are my reviews, hope you like them.

-Blaed

<< - >>
Notes | G-book