Many chick-lit novels try too hard to be clever, quippy, and ironic, whereas Jane Green plays it cool and refined in Jemima J. A Brit who admittedly weighs about 100 pounds more than she should, Jemima is quiet, reserved, and has generally accepted that her body will stick with her forever. With a hopeless crush on her male colleague, and a general longing to become her female coworker, Jemima constantly finds herself turning to the only thing that's ever really committed to a relationship with her - food. Then - low and behold - Jemima discovers the answer to everything: the internet.
You never really consider the time in which a book was written until something as monumental and pivotal as the internet creeps into the story. Perhaps Ms. Green saw it coming, but the majority of laughs in the beginning came from Jemima, Ben, and Geraldine's first experience with the world wide web. Interestingly enough, it hadn't been around for very long and naked pictures could still be found. The only difference today is that most of the naked pictures are of our current politicians. But I digress....Written in 1999, I vaguely remember being in high school, learning of the internet, and finding internet chat rooms to be the only real interest, and apparently Jemima - or JJ, as she would now be called - felt the same way.
Deciding not to pass up the opportunity, JJ begins corresponding with Brad, the epitome of American-made, bleach-blond, buff California hunk. Of course his name would be Brad. She passes herself off as London's answer to the glamour girl without missing a beat since he does live across the pond, after all. Naturally, he wants to meet, so JJ heads for LaLa Land, (SPOILER!) only after becoming the gym-addicted, food-conservative American the rest of the world envisions us to be.
Besides grossly entertaining, funny, and charming, Jemima J teaches us how to be humble, accepting of ourselves, and accepting of others. And we realize that if we forget our own troubles for just a minute, we'd see everyone is busy battling their own desires, emotions, and conflicts. The back cover boasts an ending you won't see coming, and boy it's wasn't kidding; I was hooked until the absolute final page.
The only difficulty I found while reading this homage to the ugly ducklings of the world (which is everyone in some way or another) was the author's tendency to interject as a sort-of narrator instructing us how to feel about Jemima's situation. We find ourselves hopeful only to have our balloon busted by the author who feels the need to tell us fate is not working in JJ's favor. In fact, fate doesn't work in JJ's favor until the final page, and even then we learn fate only interjects when we're ready and have become the people we're supposed to be. It's a roller-coaster of a ride that teaches us life will always be a roller-coaster, no matter if you fix everything you've decided is "broken". As a quote from a classmate in my yearbook reads, "Even if the grass is greener on the other side, it is, essentially, just grass."
I borrowed Jemima J from my friend who pulled it from her book shelf, thrust it at me and said, "You HAVE to read this book." I love most books, but she was definitely right. You'll scarf this down in a weekend (it took me a week thanks to no lunch breaks at work and spending all of my time with a toddler), so make sure it is on your to-read list/in your tote/available at your local library as the one chick-lit you must read (Jennifer Weiner's Good In Bed is the other).
You never really consider the time in which a book was written until something as monumental and pivotal as the internet creeps into the story. Perhaps Ms. Green saw it coming, but the majority of laughs in the beginning came from Jemima, Ben, and Geraldine's first experience with the world wide web. Interestingly enough, it hadn't been around for very long and naked pictures could still be found. The only difference today is that most of the naked pictures are of our current politicians. But I digress....Written in 1999, I vaguely remember being in high school, learning of the internet, and finding internet chat rooms to be the only real interest, and apparently Jemima - or JJ, as she would now be called - felt the same way.
Deciding not to pass up the opportunity, JJ begins corresponding with Brad, the epitome of American-made, bleach-blond, buff California hunk. Of course his name would be Brad. She passes herself off as London's answer to the glamour girl without missing a beat since he does live across the pond, after all. Naturally, he wants to meet, so JJ heads for LaLa Land, (SPOILER!) only after becoming the gym-addicted, food-conservative American the rest of the world envisions us to be.
Besides grossly entertaining, funny, and charming, Jemima J teaches us how to be humble, accepting of ourselves, and accepting of others. And we realize that if we forget our own troubles for just a minute, we'd see everyone is busy battling their own desires, emotions, and conflicts. The back cover boasts an ending you won't see coming, and boy it's wasn't kidding; I was hooked until the absolute final page.
The only difficulty I found while reading this homage to the ugly ducklings of the world (which is everyone in some way or another) was the author's tendency to interject as a sort-of narrator instructing us how to feel about Jemima's situation. We find ourselves hopeful only to have our balloon busted by the author who feels the need to tell us fate is not working in JJ's favor. In fact, fate doesn't work in JJ's favor until the final page, and even then we learn fate only interjects when we're ready and have become the people we're supposed to be. It's a roller-coaster of a ride that teaches us life will always be a roller-coaster, no matter if you fix everything you've decided is "broken". As a quote from a classmate in my yearbook reads, "Even if the grass is greener on the other side, it is, essentially, just grass."
I borrowed Jemima J from my friend who pulled it from her book shelf, thrust it at me and said, "You HAVE to read this book." I love most books, but she was definitely right. You'll scarf this down in a weekend (it took me a week thanks to no lunch breaks at work and spending all of my time with a toddler), so make sure it is on your to-read list/in your tote/available at your local library as the one chick-lit you must read (Jennifer Weiner's Good In Bed is the other).
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