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The Undomestic Goddess
*****
Sophie Kinsella
fiction
401 pages
The first book I ever read by Sophie Kinsella was Shopaholic Takes Over Manhattan. While I thought the main character was a complete boob, the book was written well. It read easily, and there were times where I cringed for the character and other times that I laughed pretty hard.
The second book I read by her was Can You Keep a Secret. Another very well-written book. I could just feel with the main character, her embarrassment, her anger, her happiness.
Remember Me? is another very good book by Sophie Kinsella. I've been meaning to buy Undomestic Goddess for a long time, but this and that kept me from it. I finally bought it a while ago with b-day gift-card. Wonderful book.
The main character, Samantha Sweeting, is an overacheiving workaholic who keeps a rather messy desk. She also has near photographic memory. She's up for partnership in a law firm, and one day her messy desk gets her in trouble - big trouble.
She panics - absolutely panics and just leaves London - ending up in a very small town, and accidently gets hired as a housekeeper. The only problem is that she's never ever done any type of housecleaning. She doesn't even know how to do a load of laundry.
So here is this highly intelligent lawyer, trying to fake housecleaning knowledge and she makes the stupidest mistakes. This very handsom gardener on her first day of work just watches her make mistake after mistake....
Don't worry, he comes through for her later.
This was a fun read. Sophie Kinsella has a gift for making the reader feel embarrassed for Samantha and want to root for her, no matter how clueless she is to normal life in the beginning of the story. Samantha is basically a strong character that has had such a rude awakening to mistake making that she doesn't know how to handle and loses her way and self-confidence almost completely. The novel chronicles her journey from making a new life, to deciding to fight back for her old life and the choices she makes, the consequences to be had.
There are some great characters in the book. One of the reasons she's able to fake her housekeeper skills is because her new employers are new to being rich and having staff. Their attitudes are amazing. Quite a funny couple in a twisted way.
The Undomestic Goddess was a great summer read. I got through it in a 24 hour period, and was left with a happy feeling for Samantha. It's like a contemporary fairytale, complete with a happy ending.
It's good to read a happy ending once in a while. :)
Reading Challenges
2010 Countdown Challenge for 2005
Typically British Reading Challenge