Not so much attraction in Foetal Attraction (Foetal Attraction - Kathy Lette)

Member Name: aylawarner

Product:	Foetal Attraction - Kathy Lette
Date:	01/06/09 (44 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A witty and funny read

Disadvantages: Nowhere near as many laughs as in Lette's other books

When Maddy falls head over heels for an English guy, she ups and leaves everything she knows in the sunny surfing paradise of her home in Australia. Alexander Drake, famous for his TV programmes which show him travelling the world saving one endangered species after another, is the epitome of a true English gentleman. He jets her back to London where he splurges her in a world of luxury and wines and dines her with his glamorous, yet slightly obnoxious, high profile acquaintances. Plus it helps that the animal tamer becomes animal hunter in the bedroom.

But, by the time she realises that Alex isn't all he's made out to be and she starts missing her real home, she fails the only things she's ever failed at in her life ... a pregnancy test. Stuck in the cold grey country of England, with no family or friends and now with the disaster of the century as father-to-be, Maddy has to make it through the pregnancy, with or without Alex.

The book starts off with Maddy in labour and it then jumps back to when she first met Alex. We return to the present day where she is in labour only a couple of times during the book which I did find a little odd as it seemed to jump about a bit. This did make me intrigued though to find out more about what had happened before.

The character of Maddy is one you can't help liking but I didn't feel a pull to her like I usually do to the main character when reading a book. Because of this I found myself becoming irritated with her when, even though she knew how much of an arse Alex was, she still loved him and wanted to be with him. The character of Alex I found myself disliking from the start, even before we found out he was bad news. I think there was just something about his character, a little snooty and far too charming, that made me think he wasn't into the relationship as much as Maddy and he keeps jetting off to work and leaving her alone in a country she doesn't know.

The storyline was OK but I found that some bits in the book were a little questionable to me. For example, the horrid way that some of Alex's English friends picked up that Maddy was Australian and took the mickey out of Australians and other cultures in general. I found that some of the characters said some rather shocking things and, only being six years old when this was written I don't really know if this was the case then, but it seemed unnecessary to me, especially as Australians are some of the nicest people in the world.

Having read a couple of other books by Kathy Lette (How to Kill your Husband and other handy household hints, and Dead Sexy (which I've also done reviews on)), I was expecting Foetal Attraction to be similar - a complete laugh-a-minute page turner that I just couldn't put down. However, I was rather disappointed with it to be honest and it was nowhere near as funny, witty or clever as the other books of hers that I've read. This may be due to the fact that it was published in 1993 and so lacks the modern talk and spark which made her newer books that much funnier.

Saying that, it did still provide me with quite a few chuckles and some great witty lines which is what makes her other books so enjoyable. Lette is the queen of wittiness and never fails to produce some brilliant lines and phrases.

Summary: Not as good as the other later books of Kathy Lette's but still a fun read