Book Reviews: Chicklit
Catherine Woulfe - Sunday Star-Times
Feb 25, 2008
P.S. I Love You By Cecelia Ahern HarperCollins, $25
Three Bridesmaids in Nelson recently sighed a huge "thank you" to Cecilia Ahern. Our wonderful good friend Charlotte read this book on the plane, the week before her wedding, and it did all the girl-talk for us. By the time she arrived she was super loved-up and sure of herself, and had decided that yes, if her fiance died (as in P.S. I Love You) she would be just as devastated as the heroine, Holly. There is surely no higher accolade for chick-lit. Briefly: Holly's high school sweetheart Gerry dies shortly after their marriage. Bedridden and in great pain, he snatches his last few moments alone to write Holly a series of notes to help her through the months after his death. Infinitely more cheerful than it sounds.
Making Lemonade By Kate Langdon HarperCollins, $25
Hurrah for the Kiwi girl Kate Langdon, cheers. This is the best chick-lit book I have read and I have read many. Making Lemonade was the one of two books in my bag over Christmas. Marian Keyes wrote the other one and it's telling that I can't remember what it was called, or even what colour the cover was, so charmed was I by Langdon's bright green beauty of a book. It's not a new format; three thirty-something women muddle through a "life-changing year" and somehow, come out on top but it was new, for me, to see my work- a-day Auckland life so perfectly on paper. Of course, the plot is far and beyond what I deal with each week, but the beauty is in the detail and the spot-on dialogue.
Hollywood Girls' Club Maggie Marr Random House, $27
If I'd just been dumped and I had nothing else on the shelf, this would get me through that first night of self-loathing. In the morning I wouldn't remember what I'd read - even in the light of a happily-coupled off-day, it was difficult to recall who was who between the pages - and last week I quite happily left my copy with my friend's mum. The heroines are women with names such as Mimi, Celeste and Mitsy, who are all hot in Hollywood, but very angry with the men who are called things like Zymar, Holden and Bradford. The ladies team up and make a movie. Do shoe companies sponsor books? If so, Marr's made a packet off this one she's forever tossing around brand names, in-between detailing the least sexy sex I've read. Case in point, second page, fourth paragraph: "For five years, Celeste f***ed him and blew him."
Going Dutch By Katie Fforde Random House, $37
Meet Dora, our heroine: "Dora didn't fancy home-made wine. She knew it was likely to be strong and she didn't want to get drunk in unfamiliar and faintly threatening surroundings." Dora leaves her small-town sweetheart John at the altar and goes to live on a barge with Jo, her best friend's newly- divorced mother. Meet Jo: "It is not remotely a date. You'll go halves.' Then a smile appeared. 'Going Dutch is the expression; how appropriate that it should happen while we're actually in Holland!"' This riveting pair drink many cups of tea and chat about lasagna, and antiques, and how scared they are about sailing to Holland to get the barge fixed. They both end up with nice, safe blokes and nice, safe jobs. Apparently, this bright pink bore outsold everything on the Booker Prize shortlist - how, I have no idea.
Pillow Talk By Freya North HarperCollins, $35
The ninth of North's bestsellers, and the ninth in which a girl-meets-boy - but in chick- lit circles there is nothing wrong with sticking to that particular formula. Petra Flint is our girl this time; a sprightly young jeweller with a massive chunk of rare gemstone stashed under her mattress. The boy is Arlo Savidge, who dropped a promising song- writing career to teach music at a rural boarding school. Petra and Arlo had a very chaste romance at high school and meet again 17 years later, both with baggage and problems sleeping - Petra sleepwalks; Arlo has insomnia. North's sketching of their high- school crush made me cringe, it was so on the mark, and their reunion in a sweetshop - which usually would have cynical old me hurling the book at the wall - somehow avoided being too cloying. I also appreciated the lesson in gemology and found it refreshing to meet a chick-lit heroine who does something more interesting than PR or publishing. A book to make the bitter feel better about the world.
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