Confessions of a Shopaholic - Sophie Kinsella If you know anyone that is impulsive, spendy, and irresponsible, do not let him/her read this book.

Seriously.

Because for any normal woman (or man--I must avoid gender stereotyping) with above average impulsive shopping tendencies, this book will make him/her feel better about his/herself.

Take me, for example. When I am confronted by a cute pair of shoes or some colorful household item, I get kind of...well...impulsive, spendy, and irresponsible. Sometimes, my willpower can overrule that temptation, though passing through the Times Square and the Fifth Ave area multiple times during the week for work really weakens my resolve.

But the girl in this book? Imagine the above scenario on crack plus the mentality of a hyped up mallrat who's won a $100,000 dollars. Enough money for it to become a sizable investment, but little enough that it could probably be spent in a half a day if all that person did was shop couture.

Are you kind of disgusted yet? Or are you secretly hoping that person will indulge?

THIS IS THE DILEMMA THAT I FACED THIS ENTIRE BOOK.

Becky, the protagonist, literally just keeps spending and spending and spending and spending, despite the bills that are piling up in her desk drawer. In order to escape her debts, Becky dreams up the most ridiculous "spend less, make more" schemes, all which crash and burn before they even begin. After each failure, we watch her spend more money on things she doesn't need that leads her down a dark spiral of debt and self loathing.

In a weird, twisted way, it's kind of entertaining and a little harrowing. Who hasn't felt that guilt before, buying something on a whim that is inessential to survival? It's a very touchy issue, but the author explores the mentality of a woman trapped by the glitter and glam of a highly materialistic society very well. It's a bit exaggerated, but I bet the core issues resound in the minds of millions of people.

What I really disliked about this book, though, was that Becky's rehabilitation was just too darn easy. I'm willing to forgive a lot in this book, but not the assumption that the only criteria of getting one's life back together after repeated financial purging of one's bank account and credit score is to be a good person. You get the guy, the job, the money...only after bothering to care about someone else for once? Puh-leeze. I'd been hoping that life would smack some more sense into this silly airhead, not reinforce her bad habits.

image

She's still a silly airhead after the book... Perhaps just a little more bearable.

Overall, I'm hovering between 2.5 stars to 3 stars. The writing wasn't fantastic but it wasn't terrible either, and there is a certain addicting quality about this book that doesn't let you go. Recommended for some people with a lot of patience, and definitely not recommended for people who hate shopping or hate to take their girlfriends/boyfriends/wives/husbands/kids shopping.