Book Review – “Olivia Joules”
Don’t be fooled by the low rating of ocean and diving content in this novel, I mean, just look at the cover! And she’s in a cocktail for goodness sake. I’m sold.
Helen Fielding’s quick-witted yet over excitable protagonist is reminiscent of perhaps the author’s most famous character, Bridget Jones. But I personally like Olivia Joules better. Coz she dives. But also, she just has more…. attitude?
First of all, she does things like this, ‘Sixty feet below the surface, it was like being in a dream or on another planet. Olivia, dressed in a red swimsuit and diving gear, was on the edge of a precipice, a sheer cliff falling away a thousand feet into the abyss.’ And then describes backpackers like this, ‘The standard dress was faded, threadbare clothes which might have fitted when they left Stockholm or Helsinki but which, after six months of diving, rice and peas and dysentry, were now two sizes too big.’
Oh, and then there’s this -
Yes! There are a few well placed illustrations throughout the book, that bring frivolity to her seemingly ridiculous situations. Not since childhood have I been this excited about book illustrations.
So the plot is pretty much her racing around the world following a journalistic lead but thinking she is caught up in a terrorist conspiracy… Good Summer holiday read including ‘The white heat of Miami, the implants of LA, the glittering waters of the Caribbean’ and ‘the deserts of Arabia.’ (taken from the blurb). Definite chick lit, meaning guys may not relate to her as much, although she does talk about shagging a lot.
Click here to buy!