If you've ever paid off one credit card with another, thrown out a bill before opening it, or convinced yourself that buying at a two-for-one sale is like making money, then this silly, appealing novel is for you. In the opening pages of Confessions of a Shopaholic, recent college graduate Rebecca Bloomwood is offered a hefty line of credit by a London bank. Within a few months, Sophie Kinsella's heroine has exceeded the limits of this generous offer, and begins furtively to scan her credit-card bills at work, certain that she couldn't have spent the reported sums.
In theory anyway, the world of finance shouldn't be a mystery to Rebecca, since she writes for a magazine called Successful Saving. Struggling with her spendthrift impulses, she tries to heed the advice of an expert and appreciate life's cheaper pleasures: parks, museums, and so forth. Yet her first Saturday at the Victoria and Albert Museum strikes her as a waste. Why? There's not a price tag in sight.
It kind of takes the fun out of it, doesn't it? You wander round, just looking at things, and it all gets a bit boring after a while. Whereas if they put price tags on, you'd be far more interested. In fact, I think all museums should put prices on their exhibits. You'd look at a silver chalice or a marble statue or the Mona Lisa or whatever, and admire it for its beauty and historical importance and everything--and then you'd reach for the price tag and gasp, "Hey, look how much this one is!" It would really liven things up.
Eventually, Rebecca's uncontrollable shopping and her "imaginative" solutions to her debt attract the attention not only of her bank manager but of handsome Luke Brandon--a multimillionaire PR representative for a finance group frequently covered in Successful Saving. Unlike her opposite number in Bridget Jones's Diary, however, Rebecca actually seems too scattered and spacey to reel in such a successful man. Maybe it's her Denny and George scarf. In any case, Kinsella's debut makes excellent fantasy reading for the long stretches between white sales and appliance specials. --Regina Marler
Here's my confessions:
1.I love shopping.
2.Most of my contacts in Multiply consist of online store, and the fact I'm enjoying looking at their stores start to scare me.
3.I cannot resist SALE.
So, do I relate myself a lot to Becky Bloomwood? You bet I do. When Becky just kept on having her reasons to buy things, when she can't resist the temptation of good food...oh GOD, I started to laugh aloud. She is sooo meee! Like in Undomestic Goddess, I immediately fall in love with the character. ...more Here's my confessions:
1.I love shopping.
2.Most of my contacts in Multiply consist of online store, and the fact I'm enjoying looking at their stores start to scare me.
3.I cannot resist SALE.
So, do I relate myself a lot to Becky Bloomwood? You bet I do. When Becky just kept on having her reasons to buy things, when she can't resist the temptation of good food...oh GOD, I started to laugh aloud. She is sooo meee! Like in Undomestic Goddess, I immediately fall in love with the characters.
Sophie Kinsella really knows how to describe her characters very well that I feel I'm also in the book.
However, some of the scenes in this book are familiar to me..because I've read Indiana by Clara Ng. She also had the same plot in her books. Maybe Clara is inspiread by Sophie??
:D Rob G (USA: DC) (2008/12/31): This book is totally awesome! heidi (USA: AZ) (2009/06/23): I first read her book the Undomestic Goddess and it was so funny I laughed out loud at parts! This was the same way and I thoroughly enjoyed every deliciously funny bit of it.
