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Amy is not having a
good time. On the verge of the big three-o and restless, she breaks off
with her boyfriend Jack even though she loves him, and moves back in
with her parents. Then her younger and considerably more beautiful
sister, Suzi shows up with a gorgeous Australian fiancé in tow. Then
Amy’s best friend, Beth also gets engaged. The final straw comes in the
form of another good friend Jodie, who sleeps with her ex, Jack. Hurt,
betrayed, mightily depressed as well as jealous, Amy is not at all
overjoyed at the prospect of being bridesmaid in two consecutive
weddings.
She tries to
conceal this, but fails miserably. Thus her sarcastic behavior makes the
people around her even more uncomfortable than usual, but their sympathy
and pity only makes Amy feel and act worse. Caught in this vicious
cycle, Amy has one more worry to add to her already considerable burden.
Although she loves working at a children’s bookshop, she isn’t getting
the fulfillment she expected out of it. Yet she doesn’t have the
strength to take a decisive action and change all this. At such a time,
when surrounded by wedding preparations, hen nights, and a thousand
essential details and miserable to boot, Amy meets a very nice author.
Will he turn out to be the man of her dreams or will Amy ultimately
prove to be her own worse enemy?
Sarah Webb’s story
doesn’t deal with any great controversial topic, nor is it a litany of
the ups and downs of the singles scene. Rather, it’s a story centered
around one single character, Amy, and everything that happens, is in
conjunction with her. As a result, the focus of the tale becomes very
narrow. While the novel starts out humorously enough, Amy and her
depressive life soon throw a pall over the story and compel the readers
to question her appalling apathy. But when it becomes clear that this is
the tale of a woman who suffers from periodic bouts of clinical
depression and is caught in circumstances which are rapidly spiraling
out of her control, the readers come to understand her plight and
struggle. The change is gradual and all the more realistic for it. The
characters, while not always likeable, feel very real. But overall, this
tale is neither very enjoyable nor very in-depth.
Reviewed By
Rashmi Srinivas for The Road to Romance
January 26, 2004 |
