Yeah, yeah, eye of the beholder, whatever
Cecelia Ahern, daughter of Ireland's prime minister, has been nominated for Ireland's version of the Pulitzer Prize for her novel PS I Love You.
Did anybody on the committee actually read this book?
Because I did, and let me tell you, that book shouldn't be nominated for anything this side of Glamour magazine's annual list of Best Mindless Beach Reads. It's chick lit, and not even very good chick lit at that.
The premise? A woman's husband dies of cancer, and leaves behind 12 sealed envelopes with instructions for her to do one nice thing for herself each month. In one, he's purchased plane tickets for her and her friends. In another, there's a gift certificate to buy a new dress. Anyway, the bereaved widow learns to Take A New Chance At Life, aided by her generic and interchangeable cadre of girlfriends, and eventually appears to be Taking A New Chance At Love.
Now, the premise, I'll admit, is on the ambitious side for chick lit, but it never really hits home. I don't feel the heroine's bereavement, I don't root for her, I don't laugh at the (intentionally) funny scenes or feel relief when catharsis allegedly occurs. The widowhood part feels tacked on in places, as though the premise is an excuse to navigate a character through a few zany antics.
For Christ's sake, people. This book should not be on this allegedly distinguished list alongside Tom Wolfe or Isabel Allende or Ha Jin. (And I'll be the first to admit that the only other book I've read on the list of nominees was My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult, which isn't very far above chick lit, but it was still MILES better than PS I Love You.)
Then again, Cecelia Ahern has managed to do something I myself have not yet managed to do - finish a novel - so maybe I'd better shut up now.
Did anybody on the committee actually read this book?
Because I did, and let me tell you, that book shouldn't be nominated for anything this side of Glamour magazine's annual list of Best Mindless Beach Reads. It's chick lit, and not even very good chick lit at that.
The premise? A woman's husband dies of cancer, and leaves behind 12 sealed envelopes with instructions for her to do one nice thing for herself each month. In one, he's purchased plane tickets for her and her friends. In another, there's a gift certificate to buy a new dress. Anyway, the bereaved widow learns to Take A New Chance At Life, aided by her generic and interchangeable cadre of girlfriends, and eventually appears to be Taking A New Chance At Love.
Now, the premise, I'll admit, is on the ambitious side for chick lit, but it never really hits home. I don't feel the heroine's bereavement, I don't root for her, I don't laugh at the (intentionally) funny scenes or feel relief when catharsis allegedly occurs. The widowhood part feels tacked on in places, as though the premise is an excuse to navigate a character through a few zany antics.
For Christ's sake, people. This book should not be on this allegedly distinguished list alongside Tom Wolfe or Isabel Allende or Ha Jin. (And I'll be the first to admit that the only other book I've read on the list of nominees was My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult, which isn't very far above chick lit, but it was still MILES better than PS I Love You.)
Then again, Cecelia Ahern has managed to do something I myself have not yet managed to do - finish a novel - so maybe I'd better shut up now.
7 Comments:
How could you not like that book? The author is so adorable!
The plot sounds a little old to me. There is also an older PS I love you, written 1982, by Michael Sellers.
I met her once. She said she wrote between 2 and 4 am. She seems pretty serious about it. But I admit I didn't read the book.
To be fair, I've also read The Rule of Four, I Am Charlotte Simmons (Wolfe), The Queen of the South, The Jane Austen Book Club, Jonathan Strange..., and a few others on there. None of them are really all that great. Entertaining, yes, but revered works of literature? heck no.
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There's a fair amount of begrudgers here in Ireland who are pretty annoyed she made it onto the IMPAC Literary Award long-list.
Reviewers have had it in for her from the start because of who her father is which is ridiculous really. Would anyone really buy her books because her Dad is the Taoiseach of Ireland? I don't think so.
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