I always enjoy reading a book by Sophie Kinsella. Her writing style is great, she writes unbelievably funny, yet always manages to make you care about her characters and their stories. My Not So Perfect Life is no difference.
What I love so much about this book, and most of her books in general, is, that her main character is a strong woman, who loves her job. Sure, often the central conflict comes from the job, but the main character usually still loves the kind of work she does for a living. I always find that refreshing.
In My Not So Perfect Life Katie Brenner, sometimes Cat, works in branding. And she is quite talented too, no one at her firm has discovered that though, especially not her boss Demeter. She is still very determined to change that and at the same time learn as much as she can. Of course, as the book title suggests, Katie’s life is far from perfect. Only on Social Media it is. It is so funny reading about the kind of things Katie does to get that perfect shot for Instagram. On occasion it reminded me about myself, especially lately, when I often think to myself, that moment would be perfect for Instagram. It’s weird how Social Media changed me, it’s not as bad as Katie, but still.
Anyways, my favourite part of the book is the relationship between Katie and Demeter. At first a employee-admires-boss-kinda-relationship, then after Demeter fires Katie it turns more into hate. Close to the end these two women actually develop a real friendship. And that is what I love so much about My Not So Perfect Life. It shows that no one is perfect and each and every one of us is sometimes so preoccupied by our own problems that we simply cannot see that others are just like us. What a wonderful massage.
It wouldn’t be a Sophie Kinsella novel, if there was no romance. Katie’s love interest is Alex. He is her boss at the branding company and they have instant chemistry together. As much as I love romance – and I do, very much – I found it really great that the romance took a backseat mostly. The book really was all about Katie, her life, her job, her dad and step-mum and their new glamping business. For those not knowing what glamping is (like myself before reading My Not So Perfect Life), glamping is glamorous camping. And yes, that is apparently a thing now.
But back to Alex. I liked him for most parts, except those times when he wanted to fire Demeter. Speaking of Demeter, I am applauding Sophie Kinsella for being able to transform a really horrible character into a really lovely one. I love books where that happens and where one of my favourite character used to be an unlikable one. Especially if it is done in a very organic way. It never felt forced or even out of character for Demeter. Plus, it was interesting to see what insecurities can make people do. That goes for both Katie and Demeter.
Another great aspect of the book is Katie’s relationship with her dad. He had to raise her on his own, as Katie’s mother passed away. Katie and her dad have problems communicating with each other. Especially Katie feels like she is always disappointing her dad with her life choices. That is also the reason why she did not tell her dad and Biddy, her step-mum, that she was fired. At the end they find out about it and are finally able to talk about everything honestly. As someone who is very close to their parents I can understand Katie about not wanting to disappoint her dad.
For me My Not So Perfect Life is actually Oh So Perfect. There was nothing in the book that I didn’t like and I adore Katie as a protagonist. Have you read the book? And if you have, did you like it as much as I did? What do you think of Katie and Demeter’s relationship? Let me know in the comments.
Information:
Title: My Not So Perfect Life/Frag nicht nach Sonnenschein
Author: Sophie Kinsella
Publisher: Black Swan/Goldmann
Publication Date: 09-02-2017/15.05.2017
Eyes of Owls 