Confessions of a Shopaholic

SPOILERS






I had a blast reading this book. Partly because the MC's unstoppable train of thought was absolutely hilarious, it's exactly what I think of those people who get suckered in by advertisements. For example she loves the word "SALE" and goes absolutely crazy whenever she sees it at a store she likes, but hates it when they plaster the word all over the shiny bags that you get when you buy clothes there (the entire story she's obsessed with clothes) because it makes you look cheap. Personally I love looking cheap, I was beaming when I said "I'll take the cheaper one." to the guy at the music store while buying my violin chin-rest. This was after he had told me that kun is made in belgium or somewhere and the chinrest I bought was made in China (my violin is also chinese made, so they go together...). So the entire book has this insane obsession with clothes and money the entire way through.
Strangely enough that makes the MC so endearing! She's trapped in this spiral of consumerism. The style of writing is quite good for this effect too. It's all short sentences with a lot of action that moves the story along and although you're reading it you're thinking that she's got her mind in action at 100miles a minute, well so is yours. It draws you through and puts you into her mindset excellently.
Then there's the real world element of the story. She's a financial journalist, I know, lol. And she's pretty good at her job. Her personal finances aren't in order, however. The contrast of these two and especially the amount of acting that she has to do in order to cover this oversight on the part of her peers is phenomenal. Everything is so tense! And it's all focused on the facade (which is no mere coincidence). There's some real world conflict too, a type of scam within the financial realm that's very similar looking to much of the crap companies try to pull irl. So along the way the MC matures even though she never really solves her problem of running from every shred of conscience she has left. It's incredible how roundabout her mind is, and ENJOYABLE!
I really do have to recommend that you read it for yourself, I can't possibly give enough info here. I can't wait to read vol. 2.