I want to live in a world in which Kinsella creates, which is quite silly, really, because her world is the natural one, she just fills it with charming, real characters who, while still having the usual human flaws, offer sympathy and humanity. Book after book, Kinsella's cast of characters continue to restore our faith in humanity; we can have a big fuck up and people who love us. We can have both things. Kinsella deftly navigates the negatives of life with wit, charisma, and a sly bit of sarcasm, and makes us believe that things really will be all right in the end, even when it all goes wrong.
In Kinsella's latest novel, I Owe You One, Fixie Farr - Ms. Fix-It to her family - has one self-described flaw: she needs to fix everything. What is spun as a personality defect by her self-absorbed siblings is actually her warm, open heart, willing to help anyone for virtually no reason at all. Caught up in her subtle family dramas that they leave her to deal with, Fixie is casually asked by a stranger in a coffee shop if she'll keep an eye on his laptop while he steps outside to take a call. Saving the laptop from certain disaster for stranger Sebastian leads to a roller coaster of IOUs, from the silly to the life-changing. As a result of this happenstance meeting, Fixie learns more about herself, what she's worth compared to what she think she's worth, that if people truly respect her, they will also respect her boundaries, and that having boundaries is not a referendum on how much she loves and cares for others.
With her finger firmly on the cultural pulse, Kinsella pokes fun at the pitfalls of always finding the positive in every situation, and the slippery slope between self care and being downright selfish. And, of course, in a warm, light prose, Kinsella makes us laugh with the lunacy of family we all find way too familiar. Her writing is genuine, funny, and really engages with the reader; I can't decide if I want to be one of Kinsella's characters, or if I want to be best friends with them.
I Owe You One is a definite delight. What is on the surface a light, fun page-turner full of quip, is also a poignant reflection of our relationships with friends, family, and spouses; and that those little lies we tell ourselves in order to give people the benefit of the doubt is actually hurting us more than simply facing the truth - that some people are worth our love and "fixing," and some people are not. Fixie is a delightful character we can carry in our hearts as we continue to navigate the difference between the two.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 on goodreads because I can't imagine ever giving one of her books anything less than four stars.
I usually read at least one Sophie Kinsella book every year, which isn't by design, it just happens to always work out that way (this year I will read two, however, because Becky Brandon nee Bloomwood is BACK!), and each book of her's that I read manages to be the exact book I need to read at that particular point in my life. Yes, I realize how dramatic that sounds and I don't mean it to be, but my fellow bibliophiles will understand that one of the reasons we love and gravitate towards books so much is because we can relate them, or parts of them, to our own lives. Reading the stories of others oftentimes helps us see issues in our own lives from a different perspective, helps us draw certain conclusions, or give us confidence in our emotions. And, of course, that we're not alone.
I Owe You One is a definite delight. What is on the surface a light, fun page-turner full of quip, is also a poignant reflection of our relationships with friends, family, and spouses; and that those little lies we tell ourselves in order to give people the benefit of the doubt is actually hurting us more than simply facing the truth - that some people are worth our love and "fixing," and some people are not. Fixie is a delightful character we can carry in our hearts as we continue to navigate the difference between the two.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 on goodreads because I can't imagine ever giving one of her books anything less than four stars.
I usually read at least one Sophie Kinsella book every year, which isn't by design, it just happens to always work out that way (this year I will read two, however, because Becky Brandon nee Bloomwood is BACK!), and each book of her's that I read manages to be the exact book I need to read at that particular point in my life. Yes, I realize how dramatic that sounds and I don't mean it to be, but my fellow bibliophiles will understand that one of the reasons we love and gravitate towards books so much is because we can relate them, or parts of them, to our own lives. Reading the stories of others oftentimes helps us see issues in our own lives from a different perspective, helps us draw certain conclusions, or give us confidence in our emotions. And, of course, that we're not alone.
