Fabulously funny columnist turned novelist (My Life on a Plate - India Knight)

Member Name: Charliewhippet

Product:	My Life on a Plate - India Knight
Date:	17/02/09 (124 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hilarious, glamourous and MOSTLY relatable. (If you too have Claridges on your speed dial.)

Disadvantages: Very hard to put down... shouldn't you be reading some Dickens?

I have read this book countless times, somehow if I pick it up to flick through it in an idle moment, it sucks me in and I have to read it all over again!

Clara is a thirty something with a nice husband, two lovely sons, a large, dysfunctional and entertaining extended family. Of course, a life that looks pretty good on paper can be unsatisfying to the person leading it, and as the book unfolds, Clara realises that she is actually rather unhappy with her lot.

Not that this is a down beat book in any way - on the contrary, it may well make you snort with laughter. India Knight is extremely witty and always readable. Her characters manage to inhabit a middle class existence while simultaneously poking fun at it. I think many women could identify with Clara, who misses the days of dressing up in little sexy dresses, long forgotten after two children and a slightly chaotic life.

Somehow this former party girl as ended up with friends who read Good housekeeping, a kitchen full of greying knickers hanging up to dry, and a husband who may be a best friend, but has somewhat ceased to be a lover.
This book includes the inevitable make-over scenes, a smouldering stranger (in classic style, of course, Clara is rude to him and refuses to admit she might like him a little bit) and some very funny observations about marriage, singles, child rearing and people in general. Which makes a refreshing change from the usual chick lit which involves an impossibly glamorous lifestyle. Clara works for a magazine, yes, but she also tells interviewees that she used their press cuttings as bedding for her hamsters.
Having said that, the book is resolutely set in the world of media parties, weekend trips to Paris and gay best friends, so it's not without its own brand of glamour, if that's your bag.

I often see this book in charity shops and I always wonder "Who would give this book away?!" If you see it, snap it up!

Summary: Not your average pink-covered chick lit.