Jennifer L. Tilden 2008-10-24

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

I am a great fan of Helen Fielding's work, to a point. I simply adore the Bridget Jones books, as do many people. When I came across this book at the dollar store, I thought I had hit paydirt... a Fielding novel for a dollar?

I could not have been more disappointed. The character development is weak, and Fielding shows none of her insight or understanding of the human psyche and shortcomings that shines so clearly in the Jones books. If you loved Bridget, do yourself a favour, skip this one, and try the Shopaholic books by Sophie Kinsella instead.

G.A.W. 2008-06-21

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

I loved both of the Bridget Jones books, so I decided to read this one also written by Helen Fielding. I had a hard time getting through it because it was very boring with not much action. Probably the last 40 pages were the best because there was an actual, clear plot to them which made them page-turning. I was very disappointed by this book because it did not have the Bridget Jones' humor I expected and it also did not have a good, focused plot and therefore wasted a couple hundred pages.

Ms. Pocketbook 2008-05-04

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

As a major fan of the Bridget Jones books, I didn't think it possible for Helen Fielding to write a bad book. She proved me wrong. So wrong, I could not finish it. Ugh.

Amanda Lennick 2007-07-04

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

I really enjoyed reading this book. Some politics were inserted in the book, but Fielding managed to keep it lighthearted. I recommend all of Fielding's books. Her writing style has drawn me to British humor and I can't seem to get enough.

Magic Man 2007-04-15

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Two years before Helen Fielding published Bridget Jones's Diary, she put out Cause Celeb, the story of how literary publicist Rosie Richardson ends up running a refugee camp in northern Africa and getting pushed into the funny, often hypocritical world of celebrity charity. The book essentially has three parts: (a) Rosie's love life in London, (b) Rosie in the refugee camp, and (c) Rosie organizes a celebrity charity event.

Part A is like Bridget Jones's Diary except not quite as funny. It's still entertaining, though. Part B is what makes the book most worthwhile. I read the book after encountering comments from Dorothea Hilhorst that Fielding's novel captures the nuances of non-governmental organization work much more accurately than official reports tend to: "The novel...brings out how this NGO is shaped by actors in the organization and their surrounding networks. These people carry out activities according to their understanding of the situation and follow the whims of their personalities, motivated by various combinations of sacrifice, self-interest, vanity and compassion... The novel delightfully turns the refugees into real people--good and bad, loveable and pitiful--who actively endeavor to enrol NGO staff members and visitors to provide the necessary assistance" [1]. I agree that Fielding does this well.

Part C is the weakest, but it pokes some lively, enjoyable fun at celebrities getting involved in charity, both their motives and their lack of real knowledge about the issues.

Overall, I found the book engaging and entertaining and read it in just a week.

Note, for those who are concerned about this sort of thing, that the book has a couple of sexual situations and quite a bit of strong language, as I imagine you would encounter if you actually organized a celebrity charity event.

[1] Dorothea Hilhorst, The Real World of NGOs: Discourses, Diversity, and Development (London: Zed Books), 2003, quoted in Lewis, Rodgers, and Woolcock, "The Fiction of Development: Literary Representation as a Source of Authoritative Knowledge."