Sophie Kinsella
The last time I blogged about books, which was last November, my book count for the year was at a whopping SIX! I was almost over the moon. Then I saw someone on Twitter saying he reads 8 - 10 books a month. Thanks, @yashar, for ruining my high.
But I've read seven more books since. *firework emoji, firework emoji*
Blogging the Sophie Kinsella ones here.
My Not So Perfect Life — 🤦🏻♀️ I'm back at the place that I'd promised to stop going: reading Sophie Kinsella books. I need a therapy. I need to learn how to cut ties. I need the imagination, the courage and the zest for life to pick up other authors' books. Ok, I'm learning, universe, I'm learning. Which may or may not mean I'll just be stuck in another genre, but baby steps?
So, the book is about Katie, who's struggling to find footing in her supposed-to-be-London-dream life. She paints a different picture on Instagram, but in reality, her new job at a branding agency isn't as glamorous or pays as much as she wishes it would be. She lives in a tiny flat shared with two others. Her boss Demeter, who seems to be living the perfect life and is a huge name in the industry, is selfish and isn't really their office's most favourite person. If that's not eating her soul enough, she gets fired by Demeter one day, forcing her to return to her hometown. She tells her family that she's "on sabbatical" and helps them set up their new glamping business.
Demeter books a stay at the camp one weekend for her and her family, not recognizing Katie at first. So, Katie takes the opportunity and sets her former boss up for some payback time. What she didn't expect to learn, however, as it turns out, Demeter's perfect life is not so perfect after all -- her seemingly high-powered job bogs her down, affects her relationship with her family and has become mostly just the means to pay for her expensive lifestyle. In fact, she's on the verge of being fired herself for some mistakes made at work. The SPOILER is, Katie eventually warms up to Demeter and helps her prove that those mistakes at work were not hers but a setup by disgruntled employees.
There's a love interest too -- Alex -- Katie's other boss at the agency, which is... meh. All the efforts to make him endearing(?) just fall flat to me. These type of characters or the Christian Greys are just gag-inducing. Is a man or a character powered solely by money or position, or whose go-to MO is showering love interest with expensive gifts, really attractive? Does that kind of bait really work for many?
So yeah, I don't find Demeter easily relatable either -- both my-life-is-perfect and my-life-is-rough-too Demeters. I'm not saying successful people's struggles are not valid. I just cannot sympathize with this poor, poor state of successful career and having tons of money.
One character that manages to make me laugh a liiitle... is strangely Steve, the guy Katie briefly dated back in school, who's now engaged to someone else but apparently is still pining for Katie. He only makes brief appearances in the book, but the cringeworthiness is a welcome comic relief in pages and pages of waiting for one.
Ok, now that you know how I feel about the characters and how fun I am, I still love Kinsella's usual simple, precise and descriptive writing style, though. That part is still magic.
Surprise Me — In Surprise Me, Sylvie and Dan have been married for seven years and are so in sync with each other that they can finish each other's sentences any time. One day, they learn that they could possibly live to 100, which means they could be married for another 68 years. This throws them into a panic mode. Can they really live together for another 68 years? What do they do with money? How do they avoid being bored and keep the sparks alive since they practically already know every single thing there is to know about each other?
So they decide to surprise each other with new things every day and end up learning new things about each other alright, to a point that it backfires and strains their relationship. But (SPOILER) things work out in the end because this is that kind of book.
So, besides the book's repeating Kinsella's go-to plot move -- plant doubt on one character, drag it out for half a book, then write a huge boardroom-like explanation about it, which will turn out to be nothing significant after all -- do people really think a chance to live a long life is a suuper real problem? And how is this story appealing if its idea of surprises only involves a lot of money? What about creativity and gestures? And while I think it's almost nobody's place to judge other people's relationships with their parents, I feel like it's almost our right to judge Sylvie's.
This is a confusing book. Is it supposed to be fun, or teach you something, or be heartwarming? Because except for a tiny blip of chuckle for Toby, and warmth for Russell and Owen, I mostly don't feel any of those. Seriously, I'm a grumpier person because of these books. Also, have I told you that I don't like surprises?
😅 Ok, I'm going to remind myself that no one is forcing me to read these -- then you don't have to hear any more of my whining about this in the future. (I mean, only this whining, the rest are business as usual.)
..... Unless Goodreads reviews make me.
Images: sophiekinsella.com
But I've read seven more books since. *firework emoji, firework emoji*
Blogging the Sophie Kinsella ones here.
_____
My Not So Perfect Life — 🤦🏻♀️ I'm back at the place that I'd promised to stop going: reading Sophie Kinsella books. I need a therapy. I need to learn how to cut ties. I need the imagination, the courage and the zest for life to pick up other authors' books. Ok, I'm learning, universe, I'm learning. Which may or may not mean I'll just be stuck in another genre, but baby steps?
So, the book is about Katie, who's struggling to find footing in her supposed-to-be-London-dream life. She paints a different picture on Instagram, but in reality, her new job at a branding agency isn't as glamorous or pays as much as she wishes it would be. She lives in a tiny flat shared with two others. Her boss Demeter, who seems to be living the perfect life and is a huge name in the industry, is selfish and isn't really their office's most favourite person. If that's not eating her soul enough, she gets fired by Demeter one day, forcing her to return to her hometown. She tells her family that she's "on sabbatical" and helps them set up their new glamping business.
Demeter books a stay at the camp one weekend for her and her family, not recognizing Katie at first. So, Katie takes the opportunity and sets her former boss up for some payback time. What she didn't expect to learn, however, as it turns out, Demeter's perfect life is not so perfect after all -- her seemingly high-powered job bogs her down, affects her relationship with her family and has become mostly just the means to pay for her expensive lifestyle. In fact, she's on the verge of being fired herself for some mistakes made at work. The SPOILER is, Katie eventually warms up to Demeter and helps her prove that those mistakes at work were not hers but a setup by disgruntled employees.
There's a love interest too -- Alex -- Katie's other boss at the agency, which is... meh. All the efforts to make him endearing(?) just fall flat to me. These type of characters or the Christian Greys are just gag-inducing. Is a man or a character powered solely by money or position, or whose go-to MO is showering love interest with expensive gifts, really attractive? Does that kind of bait really work for many?
So yeah, I don't find Demeter easily relatable either -- both my-life-is-perfect and my-life-is-rough-too Demeters. I'm not saying successful people's struggles are not valid. I just cannot sympathize with this poor, poor state of successful career and having tons of money.
One character that manages to make me laugh a liiitle... is strangely Steve, the guy Katie briefly dated back in school, who's now engaged to someone else but apparently is still pining for Katie. He only makes brief appearances in the book, but the cringeworthiness is a welcome comic relief in pages and pages of waiting for one.
Ok, now that you know how I feel about the characters and how fun I am, I still love Kinsella's usual simple, precise and descriptive writing style, though. That part is still magic.
Surprise Me — In Surprise Me, Sylvie and Dan have been married for seven years and are so in sync with each other that they can finish each other's sentences any time. One day, they learn that they could possibly live to 100, which means they could be married for another 68 years. This throws them into a panic mode. Can they really live together for another 68 years? What do they do with money? How do they avoid being bored and keep the sparks alive since they practically already know every single thing there is to know about each other?
So they decide to surprise each other with new things every day and end up learning new things about each other alright, to a point that it backfires and strains their relationship. But (SPOILER) things work out in the end because this is that kind of book.
So, besides the book's repeating Kinsella's go-to plot move -- plant doubt on one character, drag it out for half a book, then write a huge boardroom-like explanation about it, which will turn out to be nothing significant after all -- do people really think a chance to live a long life is a suuper real problem? And how is this story appealing if its idea of surprises only involves a lot of money? What about creativity and gestures? And while I think it's almost nobody's place to judge other people's relationships with their parents, I feel like it's almost our right to judge Sylvie's.
This is a confusing book. Is it supposed to be fun, or teach you something, or be heartwarming? Because except for a tiny blip of chuckle for Toby, and warmth for Russell and Owen, I mostly don't feel any of those. Seriously, I'm a grumpier person because of these books. Also, have I told you that I don't like surprises?
😅 Ok, I'm going to remind myself that no one is forcing me to read these -- then you don't have to hear any more of my whining about this in the future. (I mean, only this whining, the rest are business as usual.)
..... Unless Goodreads reviews make me.
Images: sophiekinsella.com
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