Sunday November 29, 2009

She sees (funny) dead people

Review by WILLIAM K.C. KEE

TWENTIES GIRL
By Sophie Kinsella
Publisher: Bantam Press, 432 pages
ISBN: 978-0593059784

HER earlier book, Confessions of a Shopaholic, was turned into a movie with the title character played by Isla Fisher. So I can see Twenties Girl – the latest title by red-hot author Sophie Kinsella – being realised in the form of a fun summer movie.

Filled with cliffhangers, flawed yet likeable characters, comedy, romance and the obligatory plot twist, Twenties Girl is just begging to be transferred to the big screen; in fact, I won’t be surprised if a screen adaptation is being negotiated in Hollywood even as you read this.

Though not as laugh-out funny as the Shopaholic series, I do prefer Twenties Girl over Kinsella’s previous works, Can You Keep A Secret? and The Undomestic Goddess.

What sets Twenties Girl apart is its supernatural-tinged element, though that doesn’t make it scary at all. The fun factor is definitely higher, and the storyline – although far-fetched – zips along breezily.

Lara Lington, Kinsella’s latest heroine, has all the signature characteristics of her usual protagonists: young, female, single, and living in London. Lara’s self-absorbed but sincere with friends and family, resourceful yet a bit naive and almost clueless when it comes to her work and love life.

Lara, 27, is also blessed (or is it cursed?) with an overactive imagination. She thinks she is being haunted by the spirit of her great-aunt Sadie.

Though a ghost, Sadie becomes a more resonant character compared to the humans around her, even over-shadowing Lara.

The feisty, Charleston-dancing flapper can’t go on to her final resting place until she finds her talisman, a glass-bead necklace. So, Sadie requests, nay, forces Lara to track down the missing jewellery.

As it turns out, Lara has enough problems of her own. Her start-up company is floundering, her best friend and business partner has run off to Goa and she has just been dumped by the love of her life.

But as Lara spends more time with Sadie, life becomes more exciting and even glamorous. Could Sadie’s ghost – who can only be seen by Lara – be the answer to Lara’s problems? Can two people from different worlds – literally different, since one of them is dead! – end up learning something special from each other? The answer is, of course, yes and yes.

As usual, Kinsella writes with an irrepressible British wit and charm, but in order to stretch the mystery of Sadie’s missing necklace over 432 pages, she forces her main character Lara to be bumbling, hysterical, and, at times, annoyingly dumb.

The development of the unlikely friendship between a 20-something modern miss and a 1920s-era phantom fares much better, in the end, than the clumsily-executed plot machinations.

On the page, Lara and Sadie share great chemistry, as they relate as women from two different time periods. (If this is ever made into a movie, I can visualise the catty Leighton Meester of TV’s Gossip Girl as Sadie.)

The better parts of the novel are during Lara and Sadie’s disagreements. Although they bicker back and forth, Lara and Sadie also perform unselfish acts of love and generosity towards one another.

While the odd couple set-up is a perfect setting for humour, it allows the story to demonstrate the important values of friendship and family.

Being in fashion journalism, I like the bits when Kinsella – ever the couture-loving writer – describes the 1920s apparel that Sadie is wearing. (In this book, being a ghost doesn’t limit you to one outfit change.)

As Lara describes Sadie in one scene: With a sigh I close the jewellery website and swivel around to survey Sadie. Today she’s wearing a silver dress ... She’s sitting on the sill of the open window, her feet dangling above the street below. The dress is backless except for two thin silver straps over her slender shoulders, and a rosette at the small of her back. Of all the ghost dresses she’s worn, this is my favourite.

The funniest scene in the book occurs when Sadie makes Lara go on a date with a man she fancies so that she can experience it vicariously. (Alas, the man is boring and wooden, like most of Kinsella’s previous male characters.) Sadie dresses Lara in full 1920s garb, including a feathered headband, flapper dress and long, beaded necklaces. Lara is forced to do whatever Sadie says, which includes greeting her date with an enthusiastic “Hello, Daddy-O!” and getting him to dance in the middle of a posh bar!

Overall, I like (though not love) the book as it alternates between comedy and poignancy. If you’re a Sophie Kinsella fan, this is already a must-read, no matter what I say.