Reviewed by Chun Yin Wah
In Shopaholic Takes Manhattan (2002, Dell Publishing, a division of Random House Inc, New York, 390 pages), Sophie Kinsella delivers the second in her five-novel Shopaholic series.
After the successful Confessions of a Shopaholic, the author follows protagonist Rebecca Bloomwood, a hapless financial journalist with a new job dispensing financial wisdom on the Morning Coffee television show. Initially, Rebecca’s a reformed person after starting afresh by paying all her debts. She even has a deal for a self-help book to be titled Becky Bloomwood’s Guide to Money or Managing Money the Becky Bloomwood Way.
As Rebecca’s boyfriend Luke plans to expand his PR firm to New York, he asks her to help him. As a first-time visitor in “the Big Apple”, Rebecca realizes that countless alluring shops exist beyond London and then goes ballistic.
“God, I adore shopping abroad. I mean, shopping anywhere is always great – but the advantages of doing it abroad are:
1. You can buy things you can’t get in Britain.
2. You can name-drop when you get back home (‘Actually, I picked this up in New York.’)
3. Foreign money doesn’t count, so you can spend as much as you like.”
Although dispensing advice to TV viewers, Rebecca admits to herself that she knows little about money matters. Mainly, she enjoys learning about other people’s business, not all of it financial.
Rebecca hopes that moving to New York will pave the way for her own TV show on a road to success. But a tabloid newspaper exposes her financial failings, ending her TV prospects in the U.S. and her job at Morning Coffee. Even Luke’s business plans suffer. With credit-card firms and banks closing in, Rebecca struggles to salvage what she can.
Shopaholic Takes Manhattan falls short of Kinsella’s previous book. The dialogue earns fewer chuckles. But if you need light reading for a long-haul flight, this story can make the journey more enjoyable.
Approval rating: 70 per cent.
For more information: www.readsophiekinsella.com or www.bantamdell.com
(November 8, 2007)
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