Author: Sophie Kinsella
Title: My Not So Perfect Life
Genre: Women’s Lives and Relationships
Publication Date: February 7, 2017
Number of Pages: 438
Geographical Setting: London
Time Period: Modern
Plot Summary:
Katie
Brenner wants the perfect life: perfect job, perfect place, perfect family,
etc. Katie, born and raised a Somerset farm girl, works to create a new persona now that she lives in London by changing her appearance and her name to Cat. She takes pictures and shares
her ideas of this perfect life on Instagram, pretending to others as well as
herself that she is well on her way to this perfect life. Katie works for a demanding boss, Demeter, who has that perfect life that Katie so
desires. But really, Katie’s life is a struggle, from her long commute, to her very small flat, to living on a very strict budget.
Then, one
day Katie’s world comes crashing down as she is suddenly fired. She is forced to move back home with her
father and step-mother, where she helps them start a glamping vacation business
on the family farm, while keeping her termination from her job a secret. Katie’s
former boss Demeter arrives with her family for a glamping holiday and Katie cannot
help but have some revenge on Demeter. Katie finds out that she was wrong about
Demeter and that revenge isn’t as sweet as she thought it would be. Instead,
Katie finds that she has been looking at life all wrong; she learns a lot about
herself and everyone around her.
Subject Headings:
Man-Woman Relationships-Fiction
Humorous-Fiction
Romance-Contemporary
Contemporary Women-Fiction
Love Stories
Appeal:
- My Not So Perfect Life offers a glimpse into the life of Katie, the protagonist, and provides an optimistic outlook with a sometimes humorous and romantic pull.
- Protagonist and author are both females. Katie’s support system is her dad and step-mom.
- Story line reflects the issues in Katie’s life: difficulty at work; conflict with her father and misguided perceptions that other people's lives are perfect.
- How Katie reacts to losing her job is the focus of the plot-which was resolved satisfactorily including a happy ending.
- Setting is contemporary with an interesting job in marketing and advertising to add background to the novel.
- It has an unhurried pacing with the reader being emotionally pulled into Katie’s story.
3 terms that best describe this book: delightful, realistic, humorous
3 Relevant Fiction Works and Authors
Absolutely True Lies by Rachel Stuhler
Jobless Holly Gracin is hired to write the life story of Daisy Mae Dixon, a teenage pop star who gives the illusion of a clean pop star but is nothing like this in real life. Holly must decide if she wants to save both her job and Daisy's career.
-Relates to Katie losing her job, her relationship to others and discovering that nobody has a perfect life.
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
Lucy Hutton is forced to share an office with Joshua Templeman, her nemesis, at the publishing company where they work. They create a game of one-upmanship while working towards the same promotion, but incur an unexpected complication when they become attracted to each other.
-Similar to Katie and the relationships that occurred in the office including the relationship with Alex, co-owner of the company.
The Someday Jar by Allison Morgan
Real-estate broker Linda Howard has the perfect life, family and job. But after discovering her someday jar from her childhood and all the wishes that are unfulfilled in it, she embarks on living a life without regrets, even if it means leaving a perfect life behind.
-Linda wants to transform her life, much like Katie does.
3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors
Absolutely True Lies by Rachel Stuhler
Jobless Holly Gracin is hired to write the life story of Daisy Mae Dixon, a teenage pop star who gives the illusion of a clean pop star but is nothing like this in real life. Holly must decide if she wants to save both her job and Daisy's career.
-Relates to Katie losing her job, her relationship to others and discovering that nobody has a perfect life.
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
Lucy Hutton is forced to share an office with Joshua Templeman, her nemesis, at the publishing company where they work. They create a game of one-upmanship while working towards the same promotion, but incur an unexpected complication when they become attracted to each other.
-Similar to Katie and the relationships that occurred in the office including the relationship with Alex, co-owner of the company.
The Someday Jar by Allison Morgan
Real-estate broker Linda Howard has the perfect life, family and job. But after discovering her someday jar from her childhood and all the wishes that are unfulfilled in it, she embarks on living a life without regrets, even if it means leaving a perfect life behind.
-Linda wants to transform her life, much like Katie does.
3 Relevant Non-Fiction Works and Authors
The
Bully at Work: What You Can Do to Stop the Hurt and Reclaim your Dignity on the
Job by Gary Namie
This resource deals with bullies in
the workplace and strategies to assist in dealing with them, including when to pick your
battles.
-Relates to how Katie battles bullying in
the workplace among her co-workers.
The
Up Side of Down by
Megan McArdle
An honest look at learning how to
succeed in life, and being able to learn how to fail. It then instructs
the reader on how to reinvent themselves to become successful again.
-Relates to Katie learning how to
become successful again by reinventing herself.
Glamping
with Mary-Jane by
Mary Jane Butters
A look at putting glamour back into
camping. This guide is built with tips and ideas of ways to connect with the great
outdoors. Mary Jane has thought of how to enjoy the comforts of home while
camping.
-After Katie loses her job, she helps
her dad and step-mom in redesigning her childhood home into a
"glamping" adventure resort.
*Note
Even
though this book has subject headings about romance, I don’t feel that the
romance is the primary focus of the book, but rather the many relationships that
Katie has with others. These primary relationships are with her boss, co-workers,
her father and step-mother and her crush, Alex.
Anne,
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds like a good read not only for women’s lives and relationships, but also for anyone who is going through hard time in their lives. I know that I have blamed other people for my problems when in the end some of these problems could have easily been solved by having a better attitude, trying harder, and having a better and more realistic outlook of life.
I have heard from friends in the past that they could do someone’s job better or be a better supervisor then their current boss. Maybe they could be however, unless they are standing in their boss’s shoes they do not know the whole situation. This is what it sounds like Katie is going through.
I like your *Note about the romance part of the story. I catalog books at my library and sometimes I disagree with the official LOC subject headings. I will add on a local subject field to make it easier for subject and keyword searching. In your example, romance may be mentioned in the book, but is it a strong enough aspect to have a subject heading? If not, then is assigning a subject heading of romance deceiving the reader? I have mixed feelings about this, because even a little romance could attract a reader, however if the reader is looking for a lot of romance then this book is not what they are looking for. I guess that it comes down to using subject headings only as a part of readers’ advisory and not to rely on it as the only answer.
Thanks for posting.
Robert
This sounds like a fun and funny misadventure tale! It's also nice to read about a take on the women's lives and relationships genre that is so current--incorporating instagram, "glamping" (ha), and a career in advertising. I feel like a lot of readers would enjoy the British setting, even if that doesn't play into the story itself a whole lot. I also appreciated your note about the romance aspect of the story.
ReplyDeleteI've read some reviews on this and it looked promising. Your annotation really does a great job filling in the gaps on the short reviews I've read. I'll have to check it out! Great job with the appeals and note at the end. Full points!
ReplyDeleteHi Anne! I'm amazed you were able to snatch up this brand new book so quickly. It sounds like an enjoyable read that patrons would want. Women will connect and empathize with Kate's dreams and aspirations as well as her realistic struggles. I like your fiction and non-fiction relevant works and authors suggestions, along with the descriptions.
ReplyDeleteWith your note about how the romance in the story is not the main focus, it's interesting that one of the book's subject headings, albeit the last one, is "Love stories." From what you said, this would probably give people the wrong idea about this book. Anyways, great job on your annotation!
Hi Anne,
ReplyDeleteLove the annotation! This book is a read alike for the book I annotated, Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. As always, I am looking for new books to add to my reading list, and this is one of them! I like the note at the end of your annotation, how you highlight that to you, this book isn't all about romance. Very cool!
A couple of things stood out to me about your annotation. First was that you called the pacing "unhurried". Some might have said slower or something similar which might sound like it drags, but your term made me feel like the book is relaxing and calming. That, itself, made me feel drawn to reading this book. I also really appreciate that you included a quick statement on each of your read-a-likes, explaining what it was that relates to your book. Many people just put a list, which isn't as helpful. BTW, at my library we all absolutely love Mary Jane's glamping book. Have you looked at her blog, www.maryjanesfarm.org? Love it...
ReplyDelete