Elegance

I found this book at the library, but all the pages were black and dirty looking and I didn't want something that icky in my house, so I went and bought a copy because I thought that I would really like it. I did and I didn't.

Apparently there's really a book out there called Elegance that the author found and apparently loved because she wrote a novel about a plain boring woman who finds the book and lets it change her life. It's like a beauty dictionary where each chapter is a letter from A to Z. Some of the advice given makes sense, like wear clothes that fit and make sure that your underoos aren't gross and old looking (brought up the debate on if guys really care what a girl's underwear really looks like. Apparently they do).

What I didn't like about the book is that the character was the same flaky helpless girl and seem to exist in all chick lit novels. And that her British husband treated her like crap and that the British in general seem like assholes. Except for her gay roommate and the cute guy see meets in the end.

What I did like is that she finally stood up to her asshole husband and left him (later he ended up being gay), and that she finally took control of her life. Lost some weight, got some fashion sense (maybe a bit to much fashion sense. There's nothing wrong with jeans or hanging out at home in sweats) and that after she fucked things up with the cute guy at the end, she realized it and went back and made it better.

I kind of felt like the author didn't really know how to make the character. How convenient that in the F chapter for Fur she happened to own a fur coat when she was younger. How many of us actually have owned a fur coat. Why would you want to? Ick.

It's up to you if you want to read this book, but I'm going to donate my copy to the library.