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Confessions of a Shopaholic

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Confessions of a Shopaholic

Wound with attention to detail, Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella is a lighthearted and welcome break from the monsoon of classics I have been reading lately.

Summary:

     Rebecca Bloomwood loves a lot of things. She loves her fabulous, trendy, English flat in a fabulous, trendy, English neighborhood. She loves her social life and even more socialite friends. Becky loves one thing more than anything else. Shopping. She loves that brand-new piece of clothing in her over stuffed wardrobe of clothes that she is starting not to be able to afford. She hates some things too. She likes writing, but hates writing financial articles for her not-as-trendy-as-her-flat job at Successful Savings, a financial and investing magazine.

     The letters from Rebecca Bloomwood’s bank are piling up on her dresser. They all say the same thing. In short, she is over her credit card limit, and she needs to take a meeting with the “manager of her assets”. Why are the letters piling up on her dresser? That’s where Becky throws the letters when she gets them. Instead of paying the small overage at the beginning of receiving the letters, she keeps buying fabulous scarves and tiny tubes of eye cream, letting the debt pile up. She develops a paralyzing fear of the overage letters.

     While she distances herself from the overage letters, she wants to get as close as she can to Luke Brandon, a wealthy business man in the financial world. Every time Becky gets close to Luke, he acts as if she is the pile of bank letters. Rebecca’s social, professional, and shopping (deserves its own category in Becky’s life) decisions, are not making matters any better with her financial situation.
Just before Rebecca gets pushed over her breaking point, she comes up with an article idea that could send her to talk shows and could set her up for success. But, what about Luke???

Author Praise/Critique:

     Sophie Kinsella sets up a shopaholic’s dream life through her character of Rebecca Bloomwood’s love of perfectly organized shelves and polite store workers behind counters; however, she sets up a nightmare in Rebecca’s financial troubles. It is a fascinating contrast. Becky’s romantic relationship with Luke Brandon is the opposite of normal. The rapport that Kinsella writes of is a complicated one. The connection starts out strictly professional, complex from the beginning. She ties the relationship wonderfully with a bow of sensational satisfaction. While the relationship and the setting are very well set up and described, it is hard to read about Becky’s financial problems and how she deals (and really does not deal) with them.

Rating and Reasoning:

     I give Confessions of a Shopaholic 4 stars because of the lightheartedness of the story line, and the overall interesting plot.

Audience: 7th and 8th graders
Publisher: Dell Publishing Company
Date Published: November 4, 2003
ISBN: 9780440241416
Format: Paperback
Genre: Realistic Fiction/Romance

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