I never quite understood this odd thing about the Shopaholic Series that I totally hate Rebecca Bloomwood and want to kill her if I could and yet always end up reading through her crap. Why does this happen?

On analyzing this further and after making myself go through the torture once again, I concluded that Becky may be annoying and despicable, but it’s the writing of Sophie Kinsella that keeps the reader entertained and makes them finish her story almost every time.

I recently read “Shopaholic and Sister” by Sophie Kinsella and experienced similar struggle there. I don’t remember when I read “Confessions of a Shopaholic” but I’m assuming I was a fresh hatched teenager who thought dumb girls were the cutest and probably that’s why as far as I can remember I adored the novel. This time, however, I couldn’t feel more different. It was hard to not find countless issues with the story, more importantly with its main character, Becky Bloomwood slash Brandon.

Shopaholic Series Summary

Shopaholic Series follows a young and quirky, Rebecca Bloomwood, who is hardworking and smart, but has a problem of shopping more than she can afford. The series consists of 9 books, each with a different adventure and fun filled ride into the life of Becky and how she overcomes her problems with a bit of intellect, lots of luck and tons of shopping.

Becky is dumb, delusional and sorry to say but she’s selfish and a liar too (never thought I would use so many adjectives for a single person). She is presumptuous to the point that I want to kill myself and yet the story flows in a way that I don’t end up throwing it into the “couldn’t finish” pile, even though I so want to at some points. Other characters are no help either. Becky’s family and friends put up with her and ignore all the stupidity she brings with herself which is a major why for me and a bit difficult to digest.

Shopaholic and Sister was funny, full of witty humor and the narrative was cool too. But, it took our awfully dumb main character more than 200 pages to come out of her fairyland. It was after this point that I started enjoying the story a bit or may be just became accustomed to Becky’s bullshit.

To add to that annoyance, other characters took no interest in telling Becky that she was not just obsessed with shopping, she was suffering and needed a doctor. Everybody in the story just walked past her, neglecting the epitome of debt she earned every minute. It was like they couldn’t see it as a crisis at all. The only character who decided to speak up was so egotistical that she would rather eat potatoes than spend time discussing an issue. It was only after later in the book that Jess spoke up and put her opinion of Becky forward.

Evidently this was done to lengthen the story and create hype for situations that were predictable right from the beginning.

My experience with the book may have been bad, but I adore Sophie Kinsella and do believe that some of her other works are quite remarkable, say “Can You Keep A Secret” and “I’ve Got Your Number”, blurbs below if you’re interested.

Can you Keep A Secret is the story of Emma, who like everyone has some embarrassing secrets. Everything in her life is normal except when she decides to spill all her secrets to a stranger on the plane only to find out that stranger is going to be the CEO of the company she is about to join.

I’ve Got Your Number is the story of newly engaged Poppy, who loses her engagement ring in a hotel fire drill and ends up losing her phone in the chaos too. In an attempt to find them, Poppy discovers a lost phone in the trash can and decides to keep it to give hotel staff a number they can contact her on in case they find her ring. But, the owner of the phone, Sam Roxton wants his phone back and doesn’t appreciate Poppy invading his privacy by going through all the texts. Promising to return it as soon as she hears from the hotel staff about her lost ring, Poppy juggles through hiding her left hand from her fiance, wedding preps and taking deep interest in the life of Sam Roxton which is about to change everything she has planned for herself.

Click this link for my quick take on: I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella.

Coming back to the Shopaholic Series and speaking in general, I admire the talent of the author for creating annoying, hateful characters and still managing to make the readers like them. It’s indeed a real achievement in my opinion and I’d read her work again in the future like a stupid but devoted reader.

Until next time, this is Zee signing off –