response to a book

What I thought about it

Confessions of a Shopaholic, by Sophie Kinsella, is a novel that uses comedy of manners with the character’s witticisms, and comedy of ideas with the satirical mocking of financial debt. The protagonist, Becky Bloomwood, is a shopaholic and an extreme spender who has severe problems with managing her money. Ironically, she is also a financial journalist but claims that her occupation does not require knowledge to appear impressive at conferences. She also replies with witty excuses to postpone her bank account meetings. These examples are comedy of manners because they portray Becky’s clever use of words to elicit humour.  The satirical aspect of the novel includes mockery of regular people unable to deal with debt, and regular people going about a pretense to impress others. In the novel, Becky deals with many situations in which she is unable to control her expenditure on excessive items and clothes. Using the technique of reversal, Becky is very determined to cut back, which fails miserably because she ends up spending more ridiculously. In addition, Becky’s preparations to impress others, such as ensuring she has a copy of the Financial Times but not reading it, are often hilarious. This is effective comedy of ideas because it focuses on the lighter, comical aspects of normal problems and habits of people. 

I recommend this book to anyone who would read a book for pure enjoyment. The protagonist’s frequent mishaps draw laughter from all readers. However, anyone who may be going through a severe financial crisis would not find it helpful to their situations. In the end, Becky suddenly becomes a regular on a TV show, which immediately allows her to pay off her debts. In reality, that chance is meager, so the reader should not take this this as advice. Furthermore, the book essentially pokes fun about people with expenditure habits have difficulties breaking the habit. Since Becky’s many attempts to stop buying things failed, this could come across as demotivation to the potential shopaholic who is reading the book. Otherwise, I appreciated the many funny retorts of the protagonist. It is definitely a good recommendation for an enjoyable read.