Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella
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Book Reviews of Remember Me?
Book Review: THE 1ST THING I THOUGHT WAS - THIS COULD BE ME!!
Summary: 5 Stars
The idea behind this book is thought provoking - Ladies, what would you do if you suddenly woke up in the hospital to find out that not only have you no memory of the last three years of your life, but that everything that you do remember has completely changed? This would include your appearance (for the Better!), your career (you've been Promoted!), your love life (You're Married!! & to a really good-looking guy), your lifestyle (Fantastic! Your husband is rich and you make three times as much as you used to) and that your social life has changed too. Well, maybe not everything new is better - you seem to have all new friends but your old friends; the one's that matter the most to you act like you don't even exist. This is the case of Lexi Smart - a young woman who has the misfortune (or would that be fortune?) to suffer a brain injury after falling down a set of steps.
Sophie Kinsella is a masterful story teller; she mixes real life with just enough drama to carry you along and helps you invest in her characters. She takes Lexi from an average "any woman" to an ambitious, super styler who now has the sleek body of an athlete and makes us all wish that we could be her; then Sophie switches it up and we discover that there are cracks in the perfect exterior and that not everything is picture perfect.
The story gets even more involved when we find out that Lexi's last memory is indeed from three years earlier, but that the reason she's in the hospital is because of a very recent car accident. Somehow her brain injury jumps her memory back three years and it was during those three years that she consciously made all the changes in her life. She just doesn't remember how or why. She decides to jump right in, thinking that if she plays along, hopefully her memory will return. So she moves in with her gorgeous husband, makes plans to visit her job and see her friends. She just can't understand why she's no longer tight with the girls at work that she used to always hang out with. She even meets a man that seems to know her more than he should and before long, the sparks begin to fly!
Readers are treated to a mystery as Lexi takes on the task of discovering who she is and what is really important to her - she learns just what events sparked the tremendous changes in her life and as she gets to know herself, she discovers who she really wants to be. We ride along with Lexi as she takes on challenges and wonder if she'll ever regain her memory and if or when she does, how will it change her life?
As a personal aside, after reading this book description, I actually gasped! This is ME! Well No, not really but this book really meant something to me personally, as I too, woke up in the hospital after a bump to the head after falling down the stairs and I had no recollection of it either - my life hadn't changed much - except I did lose almost 10 pounds (feeding tubes are great - there's practically no fat pumped in there!) Fortunately, all my important memories are still intact, but it was so intriguing to me when I saw the description of this book that I just had to read it and I'm so glad that I did! Everyone can enjoy this tale; even if you haven't found yourself in Lexi's shoes (or mine!) because the story speaks to everyone about the perils of wanting "the good life" and what can happen as you discover that maybe, just maybe what you really want isn't "the good life" at all!
Book Review: Reclaiming what you used to be
Summary: 5 Stars
"I was a normal girl with frizzy hair and snaggle teeth and a crap boyfriend. And a fairly crap job, and friends who I had a laugh with, and a cozy little flat." - Lexi Smart
"I gaze into the mirror and my twenty-eight-year-old face stares back. How on earth did I get from me ... to her?" - Lexi Smart
Sophie Kinsella is author of the enormously humorous - and frivolous with a capital "F" - SHOPAHOLIC series starring Becky Bloomwood, spendthrift shopper extraordinaire. I know; I've read them all. In REMEMBER ME?, Kinsella takes a more sobering, but just as enjoyable, tack. I devoured it over the July 4th weekend, stopping only for unavoidable chores that I couldn't unload onto the wife.
Here, the heroine is Lexi Smart, who awakens in a hospital bed several days after suffering a severe crack on the head. To her dismay, the past three years of her life are totally forgotten. During that period, she had apparently morphed from a fun-loving but unremarkable, low-paid drone in Deller Carpets, where she worked with her chums Fi, Carolyn and Debs while dating Loser Dave, into a gorgeous, poised and driven senior executive of the same company and married to Eric, a handsome and charming multi-millionaire property developer. Her new existence contains everything beyond her wildest dreams, if only she could remember how she got them. But, as she gets acquainted with her "new" self, her apparently ideal lifestyle begins to show frays around the edges that threaten to unravel towards the center. Perhaps it's not so perfect? Indeed, Fi, Carolyn and Debs now snub her horridly. And what is Eric's reference to "Mont Blanc" all about?
For the reader who may wonder where life went wrong and wishes one could go back again, REMEMBER ME? demonstrates that, at least in fiction, it can be done. Like Becky Bloomwood, Sophie conjures Lexi with a fierce affection for the persona while putting her in situations that threaten to spiral deliciously out of control. Like Becky, Lexi has the core intelligence, goodness, and strength of character to muddle through.
Kinsella writes chic-lit par excellence. But even this male continues to be charmed.
Book Review: Fantastic, escapism chick lit!
Summary: 5 Stars
The world's reigning queen of frothy chick lit (translation: literature for women, girls, grandmothers, mothers, non-male creatures in general), Sophie Kinsella (author of the Confessions of a Shopaholic series and more) is back at it again with her seventh novel, a stand-alone titled "Remember Me" about a twenty-something London executive's bout with amnesia. The plot centers around 28 year-old Deller Carpets employee Lexi Smart, previously a snaggly-toothed, frizzy haired, slightly overweight low-level employee who wakes up after a three-year car-crash-induced coma only to realize she's now a slim, sleek, polished spitfire who is dubbed "The Cobra" by her subordinates. Not only that, she also has a gorgeous millionaire husband, a posh mansion in one of London's ritziest neighborhoods, and a whole plethora of glamorous, nouveau riche socialite friends! What more could a girl ask for? Only nothing is that easy for Lexi, as she realizes that her new life is not exactly what it's cut out to be, and that being rich, slim, gorgeous, and popular isn't everything (especially when all your friends turn their back on you and your nasty elitist new attitude).
The premise is interesting (albeit rather cliche, which is to be expected) with a hilarious execution; however at times the plot tends toward meandering, and the ending is a bit abrupt. In general, it's a highly amusing, entertaining and quick read. Perfect escapism for a lazy Sunday afternoon or a long plane ride. Kinsella is the master of this sugary genre, and no one else in the field (including Marian Keyes, Bridget Fielding, Jennifer Weiner) can touch her when it comes to pure, unbridled, romantic comedy style hilarity. Don't expect a "War and Peace" style experience with this book. If you enjoyed any of Kinsella's Shopaholic series, you're not going to walk away disappointed with Lexi's adventures. Beware of the "Mont Blanc" chapter of the novel, as it will most likely have you gasping for breath after laughing like a hyena for half an hour. Do not hesitate to pick up this latest slice of Chick Flick delight!
Book Review: Out of an overused made for Tv movie plot comes Kinsella's best novel yet
Summary: 5 Stars
It's a tried and true made for TV movie theme.
Someone, usually someone down on their luck like the ugly girl in high school or the miserable kid, makes a wish that they were all grown up. And then presto-they are! It's X amount of years in the future and suddenly they are an adult and have become beautiful, popular and have a wonderful life.
But that doesn't mean they're prepared to deal with it.
Sophie Kinsella has taken this common and (frankly) overused plot line and remade it into a wonderful, hilarious, romantic and hugely touching novel that is really her best work yet.
Lexi Smart has an entry level job and no yearly bonus, a boyfriend who everyone calls loser Dave, snaggly teeth and her father's funeral to attend in the morning. She doesn't make a wish for a better life, but she does fall on her head. And wakes up in the hospital with a great body, perfect teeth, a fantastic job, the perfect husband and no memory of the last three years.
It seems perfect at first. Her life is great on the surface. She's rich, good looking and married to a millionaire Greek god. But as she gets to know her new life she realizes that she is missing from it. The new Lexi is dramatically different from the old and not only in appearance. Nowhere is there any trace of the girl she once was-and, thanks to a bump on the head, is again.
Until she learns that this self has secrets-huge secrets which may be her only hope of getting the world to remember the girl Lexi Smart used to be.
"Remember Me?" is by far the best novel Sophie Kinsella has written to date. It is just amazing! I laughed out loud, felt Lexi's initial joy and later frustration and anger and swooned at the romance. This book has propelled Kinsella out of the chick lit genera and into the category of just plain old great novels. I recommend this to everyone. My only complaint is that the book can be read in several hours-and I wanted more!
Five stars.
Book Review: Remember Me?
Summary: 5 Stars
The day was crappy and the evening worse. As far as Lexi Smart was concerned, life couldn't get any worse. She was out with her friends celebrating their bonuses, her loser boyfriend stood her up, and she had to attend her father's funeral the following day. Caught in the rain in search of a nonexistent taxi, Lexi was fed up and frustrated. She had a low level job with limited prospects, a loser for a boyfriend and little hope of doing better. She was a the snaggly-toothed, stood up, no bonus girl whose dad just died. Spotting a taxi Lexi ran after it, but her stupid, cheap, shiny-soled boots slipped out from under her, and the pavement came up to meet her.
Lexi woke up in a hospital, not really sure what happened or how she got there. She remembers the crappy day and horrible night, but that was three years ago. She didn't recognize the woman in the mirror. When did she get her teeth straightened, her hair dyed, and what happened to the extra weight she used to carry around? She was supposedly married to a drop-dead gorgeous millionaire, and the boss of her own department at work. There was only one possible explanation. She must have died and gone to heaven. This couldn't be her life.
It didn't take Lexi long to realize that all was not right in her fairy-tale world. Her friends were no longer her friends, she had a reputation for being the bitch-boss from hell, her husband acted like a pre-programmed robot that didn't know how to respond outside of the set parameters, and her husband's architect claimed to be her secret lover.
Lexi's struggle to mesh the past and the present into a life she would live with is both heart-wrenching and laugh-out-loud funny. The story-line is a well used one, but Sophie Kinsella added so many unexpected twists and turns that it didn't feel worn or clichéd. Remember Me is a fast, easy read that will keep you snickering right up to the end.