Confessions of a Shopaholic - Book Review

This is a book written just so it can be made into a movie and surely, the little blurb on the paperback I am reading says “Now a major motion picture”; which also means that I am reading it probably a few years after it showed up in bookstores and became a bestseller. Written by Sophie Kinsella in the typical breezy chick-lit genre, it another Bridget Jones, in the guise of Becky Bloomwood, a twenty-something with a job she can barely tolerate but needs desperately to pay for her addiction.
Retail-therapy is what works for our heroine, as the title suggests. As you flip through the pages, you find her acquiring objects with a frenzy that is mind-boggling. From her penchant for cappuccino and chocolate to her obsession with branded clothes and shoes, she comes across as an air-head with a credit card but no concept of living within her means. As all addicts, she lies and cheats to feed her weakness but instead of dark drama , the narrative is light-hearted and downright funny.

Situated in the happening city of London, we come across names of all major retailers including Harrods and some that may not be as familiar to readers from other countries. But it is hard to not be reminded of the predicament of damsels in distress across centuries from the time of Jane Austen, who need to be rescued by knights in shining armor. In times of fiscal crisis as Becky finds herself in with her credit cards confiscated and accounts that are penniless, she comes across not one but two prospective knights of the new millennium who have the potential to save her.

The book is an easy read, funny and light, good to take while awaiting that delayed flight or to take along on a holiday.