Answers on a postcard if you can explain about the rabbit!! (Good at Games - Jill Mansell)

Member Name: fizzle

Product:	Good at Games - Jill Mansell
Date:	02/11/01 (98 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice, enjoyably easy read.

Disadvantages: Quite obvious plot. Nothing very original.

I’m going to start this opinion by talking about the book cover, because believe me that’s the first thing you’ll notice about this book. In my opinion, it’s absolutely horrible. It just seems to scream “I’m a trashy romance novel!”. I have to admit I was very embarrassed at getting this book out on the tube on the way to work.

I was going to describe the cover but you can probably see the full horror for yourself at the top of the page. Tacky writing, some legs dangling over a sofa (doesn’t take a wild guess to imagine what they’re getting up to) and a white rabbit sitting on a pair of boxer shorts. Not quite sure what the rabbit is doing there because as far as I can remember there is no rabbit in the whole book. Very strange! Oh yes and the cover is yellow, very yellow. Just so that everyone will notice it. Oh good!

Well as the old adage goes “never judge a book by its cover”, so let’s persevere. Somehow though I get the feeling this book isn’t going to exactly be Proust. And indeed it’s not (not that I’ve read Proust, I just imagine it’s pretty serious and heavyweight). I would say this firmly falls within the genre of “chick lit”. Mansell sits merrily alongside authors such as Marian Keyes, Jane Green and Jenny Colgan. Nothing wrong with that though.

This book isn’t quite as tacky and mindless as the cover suggests but this isn’t going to be book which is going to exactly change your life. However that’s not what I was reading it for. I was reading it for some light entertainment on the way to work. I wanted an enjoyably easy read, something which zips along at a fair old place and which requires minimal concentration. And that’s exactly what I got. I have to say I enjoyed this novel.

Okay, so let’s get down to a bit of plot detail. Well the novel centres around the main character Suzy C
urtis. Suzy is an estate agent, she’s also “flamboyant, extrovert, super-confident” and oh yes, a bit of a shameless flirt when it comes to men. And, as expected with this kind of novel, she has man problems. Caught between two brothers, the terribly good looking but dull and idiotic Harry (who she reluctantly gets engaged to) and the cynically sneering but dashing older brother Leo. Is this plot sounding familiar? Probably, because it is rather formulaic.

However, there are a number of additional characters to spice things up. Suzy’s recently discovered half sister, Lucille, Suzy’s ex-husband, recovering alcoholic and rock star Jaz, and his bimbo girlfriend Celeste to name but a few. As you can expect there’s quite a few tangled love interests and swapping about before the end of the novel. Usually without a backward glance or a moment’s contemplation.

This is a novel which is quite low on realism. We have a famous rock star, living next door to not one, but two ex-wives (Jaz’s ex-wife Fran lives in the flat below Suzy’s). The whole engagement of Harry and Suzy comes about after he miraculously saves two children from drowning after they have been kidnapped in a stolen car. The whole novel seems to hang together on chance meetings and happy coincidences. However, this was never going to be a novel of gritty social realism and so as sheer entertainment it does work.

This is an enjoyable read. The dialogue is snappy and entertaining. The characters are vividly brought to life, and although most of them are not particularly likeable (some of them bring new meaning to the word “shallow”) they are interesting. The plot, although highly predictable at times, moves along at a refreshing pace. At five hundred pages however I found the book to drag a bit towards the end, especially when you just know what’s going to happen and who’s going to end up together.

I&
#8217;d already read another one of Mansell’s novels, Perfect Timing and this one is pretty similar. If you’ve read any of Mansell’s books already then I think you’ll find this one pretty much par for the course. If you enjoy this type of novel then I don’t think you’ll be disappointed, however I don’t think you’ll think this book is particularly amazing. I don’t like to be sexist but I have to say this book is pretty much one for the girls. Let’s face it, what bloke would be seen dead with a book cover like that for starters!

Summary: