I got this book free on a magazine, thinking I may as well read it before I slate it, imagining it would be another in the Helen Fielding, Amy Jenkins et al style. NOT SO! I started reading very cynically, waiting for the cliches and the "humorous" observations that you've heard a million times before......There were none! Instead, this was warm, natural; not in the slightest bit laboured! Lisa Jewell manages to inject FRESH observations of modern living (and that alone sets this book aside from the current painful stream of hackneyed "chick-lit"). Let's not forget, we're not going for realism here - it's a STORY! These are not social studies, they are CHARACTERS! And they are good ones. Some are shallow, but not by accident (unlike Bridget and Honeymoon - characters who THINK they have something to say, and tragically don't). The others are funny, human, I was interested in them (Oh, and yes, I did fall a little bit in love with Ralph!). I liked the plot, too. Perhaps all of these things happening at the same time within such a small group of people IS unlikely - but that's where fiction comes in, is it not? And considering the number of situations and relationships she is dealing with at one time, Jewell never confuses the reader or muddles her storyline through laziness. I thought this was so well written, so enjoyable, I can't wait for "Thirty-Nothing", and am keeping my fingers crossed that Lisa doesn't have just one book in her!
Amazon Home
