 |
| Was there ever an inner bitch? |
Blurb: Dionne is 36, and still
hooked on the imaginary twin she invented to get her through her
desolate childhood. With such an odd companion, long-term relationships
are impossible and she is doomed to live her life as a serial
monogamist, until the Go Along Guy shows up. Greg has denial on
intravenous, so Dionne’s quirks simply pass him by and, pretty soon,
shallow love blossoms. Unfortunately, however, what are also blossoming
are Greg’s teenage daughters. They don’t like Dionne and their
hormones are raging
For starters, I love the main message of
this work. We love Chick-lit that touches issues we can relate to. We’ve all
had imaginary friends/girlfriends/boyfriends/a fuck buddy with a French name
(that was me), if they don’t exist now (as happens with Dionne’s Lionne) they
constituted most of our childhood/pre-teen years. We walked home from school
with them, played with them, talked to them about issues we will never bring up
with our parents… but let them dictate the way we live even to our
mid-thirties? Surely, Dionne has issues.
Dionne was brought up in a home that could
be described as broken with her dad running off and her mum displaying lack of
attention to her than she does her three siblings who happen to be triplets
(with annoying rhyming names). She’s bullied at school, smashed her nose from
door slams by her sisters at home and—as though that isn’t enough torture—she
has ‘bad black teeth’. It’s no surprise Rionne, her first (imaginary) friend pops
up, serving as a solid rock and a great companion when she’s been maltreated.
The question that puzzled me most reading
about Dionne’s childhood is, if Rionne
was a great friend, why then did Lionne pop up?
LIonne is the girl you’d love to hate.
She’s just in it for the thrills of being plain trouble. She hates being pushed
around and wouldn’t hesitate to take you down if you get on her bad side (most
at times, you don’t have to even get on her bad side). Lionne kills Rionne
noting she’s a ‘bad’ influence to Dionne. At this point, we make the
interpretation that Dionne is so tired of being the good girl. It’s her chance
of screaming to the world she’s a “Good
Girl Gone Bad”. This new phase eventually leads to a series of standing up for
herself, a character you might just end up liking until things get too serious
and she’s kicked out of home.
Dionne is now in her mid-thirties. And so is Lionne.
The most intriguing effect is how real Lionne is portrayed. She's fighting fiercely with Dionne and in a flash she vanishes when someone walks in on them. All this switching between imaginary and realistic worlds creates a fascinating imagery where Dionne is all of a sudden so sane, then in a second not so sane as you thought.
Lionne has taken on almost every aspect of
Dionne’s social life, including her job (manipulating her boss and her
colleagues) and her first-dates (which don’t even make it to a second, but end
up in dilemma with Lionne picking on the bad attributes of every guy she plans
to date). Soon enough her dating life is in shambles.
Now her sisters have grown up to be mothers who could do with Super-Nanny’s help. And are not together like they used to be, realizing they were only similar in reference to their features but nil points are scored with similarity in relation to their personality and interests.
Greg, a forty-year old divorcé, comes into
the picture (with his hormonal-raging teenage daughters). This guy is what you
ladies would call adorable. He gives Dionne a key in the early stages of their
relationship. He doesn’t employ the Call A Week Strategy After First Meeting
and Pretend You’ve Always Got Plans (like most of us guys like doing). And he
takes her shopping(?!) The two are very into each other (so into each other it
gives you the impression they’ve been together for over a decade and have
already begun plucking out each other’s grey hair). Below is evidence:
They
cook together, eat together, and Greg is totally impressed when he discovers
Dionne has their next two weeks dinner menus and corresponding recipes in an
Excel file on her laptop.
The children are Alanah-the American
Cheerleader kind(-only wiser) and there’s Georgia-the Goth who is quite the
artist.
So Greg is suffering from CP (Commitment
Phobia). Georgia has developed love for ciggies. Alanah isn’t being nice to
Dionne except if Greg’s around. And Mike, Dionne’s boss, is worrying about
ageing. Dionne can’t help wanting to fix things. And most importantly, we see
Dionne’s role is changing from cozy girlfriend to Super-Nanny, handling all the
issues with the kids (because their mum is busily screwing other losers and
doesn’t even have the time to tend to her underarms), and hence dwindling the
chemistry between Greg and herself.
The problems keep coming. Dionne can’t not
want to fix them. The more she tasks herself with solving problems which are
very similar to the ones she had to endure as a child, the less Lionne is seen.
Perhaps the only solution to killing your
inner bitch is to deal with the traumas of your childhood (that brought her
up in the first place)
In this fast-paced title, the most
thrilling feature is the unifying end-how the resolutions came about and how Miv
perfectly explains the reasons behind every character’s motive which in the
start would get you cocking eyebrows thinking if this person was insane. After
all, it’s just a psychological comedy (as Miv puts it), and good sense is made
out of it.
In this book, there’s so much humour, so
much mental problems and cute-adorable love.
If I have to do it all over again-reading
it to what a fulfilling end it brought-I wouldn’t hesitate.
I highly recommend this wonderful chick-lit
for anyone, who’s been through rough childhood or not, having kids who pee in
their shampoo or not, having psychological problems or not, feeling too
romantic or not, wanting to have a good laugh or not.
My rating is a whooping: 
4/5 stars.
4/5 stars.
This is definitely going on my list as
books that made my summer this year.
And in case you feel like some skimpy skirts and stilettos. I attached the link so you could get to them. Maybe Miv should do free giveaways, don't you think? It's only fair. She awoke the urge!
No comments:
Post a Comment