The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella is a good book and would be the perfect summer read. It is not a "thinker", it is written much like Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic series. I read the whole series and I actually liked this book better because the decisions of the main character did not frustrate me. Kinsella actually published this book under her real name, Madeline Wickham in the early 90s but the book was not met with much praise, I think this is because her name was yet not well-known.
The book's main character, Samantha Sweeting, feels completely overwhelmed in her job as a lawyer and is semi-forced into a major career move. This part of the book is far-fetched, so just go with it because it was written to lead to the main plot of the story. Overall, Kinsella’s message is that having a prestigious, high-paying job does not mean you will be happy.
Samantha begins to understand more about herself because of the people she meets and the new situations she experiences. Samantha’s job involves her moving to a small, rural area where she meets new people, one of them is a handsome gardener. I found the characters to be fairly stereotypical but this is what I expected from this author.
Although the book was predictable, Samantha is a young, funny character. I wanted to see her be successful in her search for happiness and rooted for her until the end. Overall, the book met my expectations.I doubt the book will be praised as a classic of the generation of years from now, but it is a good book to pick up for a laugh and a positive message.
