| Product: |
Mr. Maybe - Jane Green |
| Date: |
11/03/06 (216 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Good chicklit yarn
Disadvantages: Predictable
Mr Maybe was the third book by the author, Jane Green. She has since gone on to write more, but this is the first of them that I have read, and follows Jemima J, and Straight Talking.
Mr Maybe was first published in 1999, and so reading it in 2006 I have noticed that the book has actually dated, as it mentions fashion and politicians. This can be off putting as I want to imagine that this is a contemporary book, and instead I have been caught off guard by thinking about news events from six years ago.
Mr Maybe is in the genre of Chicklit, following close on the heels (or should that be bandwagon?) of Bridget Jones, however, where the first Bridget Jones diary was clever enough to have been based on the classic Pride and Prejudice, unfortunately Jane Green does not appear to have based this novel on any more than an updated Mills and Boon.
It is an achievement to get to the end of this novel as it runs for 425 pages, and follows the fortunes of a very shallow, mid twenties woman looking for Mr Right. As you can tell from the title, there are plenty of Mr Maybe’s but no Mr Right. It follows her from her romance to a skint but sexy Nick, and his commitment phobia, through to the deadly boring, sexually naïve Ed, who is far from a commitment phobic, and appears to have the ideals of the Victorian era.
Our heroine, Libby, seems to have been brought up in a suburbia which hasn’t existed since the 1930’s and her parents are more akin to my Grandparents than a mother, such as myself, of a twenty-something woman. I would suggest that Jane Green borrowed Bridget Jones’ mother for her basis of Libby’s and I can’t help think of Gemma Jones as Libby’s mum, from the film of BJ.
I know I really shouldn’t read Chicklit if I am going to complain about it, but I was ordered to read this book by my teenage daughter, who read it in a weekend, and said it was great. It probably was to her, she is obviously at the right age for it. I started to read it with an open mind, as I have bought her a few Jane Green books, amongst others, as she has an insatiable appetite for reading anything and everything. Supermarkets are full of books to appeal to young women, and so her bookshelf is full.
My greatest hang-up with reading this was the English. I am not the greatest one for writing in a grammatically correct way, however, this book has been written with the most appalling English that it kept distracting me. Basic rules of English language lessons from primary school are not being kept, and so I can’t help but complain whilst reading it. My daughter, doing A level English thinks I worry too much, but I really find it difficult to find the flow with bad English.
I had better add some good points. It is a good yarn about life for shallow young women in London. It follows some relationship disasters and showed compassion for both sides of the broken relationships. It is funny in parts and did make me chuckle at times. There were times when I could relate to it.
The style was in the first person, and ‘Libby’ was sharing all her secrets and feelings with the reader, some of which she couldn’t share with her closest friends, so there was a feeling of conspiracy.
It was also a cautionary tale of ‘being careful what you wish for, it may just come true’ so that was interesting.
Do I recommend it? Well, yes if you like this type of book. It is fun, and would be good to read on a train journey, or on the beach. As a serious read, then carry on looking for something a bit heavier.
(c) 2006 Wendyloo/Orlando
Summary: A shallow look at life for a twenty-something singleton
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