Book Review: Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella

Review: Twenties Girl

Author: Sophie Kinsella

No. Of Pages: 432

Release Date: 21^st July 2009

LARA HAS ALWAYS HAD AN OVERACTIVE IMAGINATION.

Now she wonders if she is losing her mind. Perfectly normal twenty-something girls just don’t get visited by ghosts! But inexplicably, the spirit of Lara’s Great Aunt Sadie – in the form of a bold, demanding, Charleston-dancing girl – has appeared to make one last request: Lara must track down a missing necklace Sadie simply can’t rest without.

Lara’s got enough problems of her own. Her start-up company is floundering, her best friend and business partner has run off to Goa, and she’s just been dumped by the love of her life.

But as Lara spends time with Sadie, life becomes more glamorous, and their treasure hunt turns into something intriguing and romantic. Could Sadie’s ghost be the answer to Lara’s problems – and can two girls from different times end up learning something special from each other?

My thoughts:

I love this book. This has to be my all time favourite stand alone book.

Lara is going through a rough time, her boyfriend’s dumped her job is crappy and she is constantly looked down upon from the rich side of the family.

I can relate to Lara in so many ways, she is constantly trying, a lot of the time she is going about it the completely wrong way, but you can’t blame someone for trying right? Lara is a lovable character in her strength, her resourcefulness, her naivety, her bad luck and her reactions.

Sadie on the other hand is outrageously funny. She reminds me of my Nanna in the way she acts, because that is how I can almost picture my Nanna when she was twenty-something. For Sadie it is all about fun, dancing, dresses and dishy men.

The dishy man in this story comes in the form of Ed. Ed is American, formal, uptight and handsome and Sadie instantly wants to dance with him. This fiasco of a romance makes up one of the sub plots and to be honest, it was my favourite.

Ed and Lara really don’t see each other as their “type” but because of Sadies constant meddling in her quest to dance with him she sets them up, against their own will. The awkwardness on the dates is absolutely hilarious, especially when Lara is all but forced to wear a 1920’s flapper dress...from 1920. When she turns up to the high class executive bar for their drink with a feather in her hair what ensues is rolling on the floor material.

I love Lara and Ed’s awkward romance but what I love even more is the connection that grows between Sadie and Lara, and when Lara fixes it so that Sadie can dance with her dream man I couldn’t help but sigh with a huge grin on my face.

The other scenarios that occurred because of Sadie were equally as funny, Sadie is selfish in her ways but not to the point where you don’t like her, it’s just a little cringe worthy at times. And she is always outrageous in her actions, everything has to be done now, and the way in which she goes about getting what she wants is hilarious.

This book is a great pick me up for when you aren’t feeling the best and the way that Kinsella writes it is superb. Yes there is the crazy factor, but it is believable, it gives you a real woman with real problems, a real man who doesn’t need to be otherworldly or rich or even English to be lovable and an outrageous character that could easily pass for a friend.

The other thing  I absolutely adored about this book was that it made me sit back and appreciate the people around me, Sadie wasn’t appreciated in her later years and Lara was trying to make up for that in her own way. This book also teaches us the most valuable lesson of all: There is wisdom with age. And although we need to tack on to the end of it “no matter how outrageously crazy it presents itself” because the two women do learn from each other and in Sadies own out there way, she definitely makes sense.

If you are feeling down, pick this up. If you are feeling happy, pick this up. If you want to laugh, pick this up. If you aren’t doing anything right now other than reading these words, pick this book up!

It is definitely a must read and I am glad that this was my first trip into the realm of Kinsella, because after this novel, it definitely won’t be the last.

Twenties Girl has stayed with me now for five months, and I can still remember all the details. I still want an Ed and I still admire Lara, and I still want to be like Sadie.