Review: The Undomestic Goddess

 

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Workaholic attorney Samantha Sweeting has just done the unthinkable. She’s made a mistake so huge, it’ll wreck any chance of a partnership.

Going into utter meltdown, she walks out of her London office, gets on a train, and ends up in the middle of nowhere. Asking for directions at a big, beautiful house, she’s mistaken for an interviewee and finds herself being offered a job as housekeeper. Her employers have no idea they’ve hired a lawyer–and Samantha has no idea how to work the oven. She can’t sew on a button, bake a potato, or get the #@%# ironing board to open. How she takes a deep breath and begins to cope–and finds love–is a story as delicious as the bread she learns to bake.

But will her old life ever catch up with her? And if it does…will she want it back?

Genre: contemporary romance

Publishing date: July 2005

Offensive content: Nothing to report. Just a lot of domestic disasters...

Review: 

This is obviously an older book, but it's one of my favorites by Sophie Kinsella. Recently I've exchanged my old paperback for the electronic version of the  book and I took advantage of that to re-read it and it's still amazing, so I decided to post a review here. While Sophie Kinsella is mostly known by her Shopaholic series, I find most of her other books a lot funnier than Shopaholic.

Some books slowly fade from our memories after a couple of years, but I still cal clearly remember the first time I read The Undomestic Goddess. I was on a plane from London to Lisbon and I could not stop laughing. Some of the other passengers (including my boss at the time; we were returning from some meetings with clients) were looking at me probably wondering if I was in full possession of all my faculties. To this day, the chickpeas scene is my all time favorite. 

But while The Undomestic Goddess is supposed to be a funny story, it also allows for a reflection on how we today often lose the sense of what is important in life. By fleeing the office Samantha actually embarks on a journey that ultimately shows her that work and a career are not all you should aim for, and that there is much more happiness and fulfillment to be found elsewhere. She also discovers that she can do a lot more than she thought she could: "I can go anywhere. Do anything. Be anyone I like." A true life lesson. 

There is also a sweet romance in the story between Samantha and Nathaniel, the local pub owner, that hates lawyers and wants to be an organic farmer. But while the unavoidable happy ending is there, the romance is secondary to the rest of the story. Or maybe secondary is not the right word, because the romance is also part of Samantha's journey in rediscovering herself. 

I'm not usually a big fan of books written in the first person but for this one (and a few more from Sophie Kinsella, I open an exception). And I obviously totally recommend it!

Happy readings,