Bridget
Jones’ Diary brought in a whole new “type” of
chick-lit. A type where the heroine (who is also most often the narrator) is an
oval in a round peg or a rectangle in a square peg – just a wee bit off size and
very slightly off shape, but essentially a very definite part of the 68.5% that
are supposed to be average. These girls are most often between 28 to 32 years. They
are either cynical or self-pitying (you may even stumble upon some who are
both). They are all spunky. Usually they hate their job (which is most likely
something associated with writing) but seem to be doing better than they
imagine. They talk almost incessantly to themselves – seriously, many folks may
address a random statement to themselves, but the way these girls carry on,
they need no one else in their lives; definitely not for conversation. All
books in this genre solidly head towards romance no matter how cynical or
self-pitying the protagonist is. This genre has interestingly expanded to
embrace fiction, semi-autobiographies and autobiographies.
Judy Balan’s Sophie Says is firmly entrenched in this chick-lit genre – not that
this makes it any less entertaining.
In the true spirit of the genre, Balan’s
Sophie is thirty, single, footloose and believing herself to be fancy-free. She
is a self-styled Breakup Coach; that
is, she blogs about how to break-up. An online test had identified her brain to
be 71% male and she is very happy with that, thank you very much. She doesn’t
want to “catch feelings”, something that she sees akin to “catching” a disease.
She is a Breaker (as opposed to a Breakee) in her relationships and feels
mostly disdain for Breakees and their drama. She is a good and dependable,
though not the most empathetic or sympathetic, friend to her two BFFs, Dee and Bonnie
Along comes spider…a guy in her life; who
weaves a web around her life and things start changing. Not only “things” but
Sophie starts changing. She changes kicking and fighting against every little
bit of change, but changes she does. It creeps up without her quite realising
there has been a change, till it hits her smack in her face.
Balan manages to create likable characters
and also hilariously encapsulate some very, very typical characters and events
from the big, fat Indian family scene. Sophie’s story keeps you engaged; and
just when it verges on becoming tedious, she introduces a twist that brings
back your attention again. To her credit, Balan’s book doesn’t end as you
expect it to – which in this genre is a very, very difficult thing to achieve.
If it is something light and fluffy that
you are in a mood of, definitely pick this one up. It will entertain and even
make you grin wide in many places while not taxing any brain cell.