SRB: Comatosed Chick Lit for Post Shopaholics

Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella
Bantam (Random House), $40. Reviewed by Andrea Jutson for the The Pacific Journalism Review
Another stand-alone novel from the author of the wildly successful and somewhat annoying Shopaholic series, Remember Me? is an easy read to be chewed through in hours. Lexi Smart wakes from a coma to discover that she has forgotten the past three years, in which she has somehow managed to become beautiful, land a rich and gorgeous husband and soar from lowly slave to top executive at her flooring company.

In the process, she has also become a bitch the old Lexi doesn’t recognise. What on earth has happened?

Lexi is not as much of a bimbo as the hugely irritating Becky from the Shopaholic books, and it’s easy to feel sorry for her as she discovers her old friends hate her, her sweet little sister has become a shoplifting, deceitful nightmare and her dream life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. However, you would think that she would very soon realise her utterly vapid, control-freak husband isn’t the man of her dreams. For some reason, chick lit often seems to translate to completely brain-dead heroines.

But this one is a little more complex than most, putting it ahead of the pack. It’s not a laugh a minute like the best of Marian Keyes, although Lexi’s Ken-doll husband’s attempts at seduction are disturbingly hilarious, but the reader is drawn into the puzzle of just how carefree, friendly Lexi became the uber-bitch from hell. And although there’s the temptation of a hunky stranger who tells Lexi he’s her long-time lover, she never quite lets her feelings get in the way of discovering who she truly is.

Ignore the two-dimensional supporting characters and the rather leaden dialogue, and at heart this is a comforting book about staying true to yourself and the power of love over money. The ending has more than one twist in the tail, and will keep you guessing almost to the final page.

Not the best and not the worst out there, there’s plenty to be enjoyed about Remember Me?

LINKS

Sophie Kinsella's website

Andrea Jutson is a South Auckland crime writer, reviewer and journalist. Her most recent book was Senseless, Random House.

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