Slave to Fashion: A Novel: Amazon.ca: Rebecca Campbell: Books

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Smarter and darker than your average Bridget Jones knockoff, Campbell's first novel is also more mean-spirited, though it adheres closely to the conventions of the Bright English Working Girl Looking for Love formula. Antiheroine Katie Castle suffers a cataclysmic fall from grace followed by scrappy attempts to get back on her feet, and miraculously redeems her professional and romantic life by novel's end. She works for successful designer Penny Moss, whose son, Ludo, she is set to marry. But when word of her fling with a handsome driver reaches Penny, Katie loses everything her job, her flat and her fiance. Katie's snobbishly mordant wit is what distinguishes this book from its many, many sisters, even though her wisecracks are often gratuitously cruel: "the news would spread faster than Ebola in a Congo village." She is, in fact, so utterly awful to everyone that it's difficult to enjoy her eventual victories. There are clever touches Katie taking a job in a sweatshop, a gangster who quotes Nietzsche and Campbell, who runs a clothing design firm with her mother, is most incisive about the bitchy evanescence of the fashion world. This is positioned as a lighthearted romp, but it may be too bitter and nasty to work with the Bridget crowd; still, fashionistas and trendy Anglophiles will love it. (Mar.)Forecast: Working under the assumption that this genre isn't exhausted yet, Villard plans a 75,000 first printing and a five-city author tour.

From Library Journal

Originally scheduled as a hardcover, this Bridget Jones readalike switched formats because the folks at Random are really plumping for it and see trade paperback as its best bet. Beamingly self-confident Katie blows it by cheating on her fianc who happens to be her boss's son. What's a jobless material girl to do?
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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First Sentence
At five past six, every day, the same question: "Katie, what have you done?" Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt

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Customer Reviews

32 Reviews

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

Average Customer Review

3.1 out of 5 stars (32 customer reviews)

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2.0 out of 5 stars Painful to read, Jun 9 2005

By A Customer

This review is from: Slave to Fashion: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

I was really excited when I bought this book thinking I had just found a real treasure----how wrong was I!!
I did read the entire book but that was only because I refused to pay that much for a book and not read it! If you feel you must read it, go to the library and save your money!
The first 100 pages were just "painful" to read. The only reason I feel this way is that the author seemed to "jump" from one topic to another-trying to "cram" in too much information/background/characters---that really weren't important to the overall story.
You could read a paragraph of absolute empty words and think to yourself "the author could have said that in one sentence". The first part of the book just makes your head "swim" with confusion--it was frustrating and left you wondering "what the heck was that supposed to mean?"
After the first 100 or so pages it was like a different author stepped into write as I actually enjoyed the last half of the book. It was a story with an enjoyable storyline, all of the jumble the author first displayed was now gone and I could actually figure out who and what were the integral parts of her book.
Good book if it wasn't for the first half ;o)
So if you can get past the first 100 pages, you'll actually find a story which is worth the read and is lighthearted and fun!

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3.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down, April 13 2004

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Ms Diva "cycworker" (Nanaimo, B.C. Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Slave to Fashion: A Novel (Paperback)

This is a really good satire, both of the fashion world and of the whole 'Brit chick lit' genre. It's a simple story of the rise and fall of Katie Castle. I loved the interaction between Katie and Peggy Moss in the first section of the book. I admit that I found the first chapter or two slow, but by the time Katie and Peggy were in Paris, I was hooked. I thought Katie was actually a well rounded character. She wasn't a nice person, by any means, but I liked that about her - she appealed to my dark side. Katie could say and do things that I'd never dream of, so the book provided a good escape in that sense. I also liked that she did have something of a conscience (albeit not a well developed one), she did learn from her mistakes, and she had a degree of self awareness. I found myself wanting to see her succeed. The first part of the book developed the relationships well enough that I genuinely felt bad for her mistake, and I wanted to see her win back the boyfriend. Campbell manages to take a woman who is very different from most of the people who read the book, and yet make her someone we could relate to. Who hasn't messed up royally in their lives? She is able to find the insights and morals in the story. There are no profoundly original truths written here - it's all stuff we already know, on some level, but the reminders work. It's got just enough depth to be interesting, but it's not so serious that it comes across as pretentious.

The book wasn't absolutely perfect, of course. I thought some things happened too quickly and too easily, like the exposure of what Katie did, and even her ability to get back what she lost. I didn't like the ending - it was all just too easy. Some of the characters - particularly the men - were poorly developed. But those things are just minor complaints that keep the book from gaining full-fledged classic status. It's still better, funnier, and smarter than a lot of books available today.

So why only 3 stars? The main reason is that while it is good, it isn't a book I could see myself re-reading, or even keeping in my collection if I needed to clear something off my shelves. It is still worth a read though.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad...not great, Sep 28 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Slave to Fashion: A Novel (Paperback)

I was hoping this book would follow along the lines of Sophie Kinsella's style of writing...while it wasn't exactly that...it wasn't a bad novel. Katie makes you want to pity her when she falls victim to Penny Moss...who was totally a witch and then some! I struggled at certain parts but did finish in less than a week.

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Most recent customer reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars um...
ugh. not to sound so harsh. but her previous book kinda was boring too. it was long and draggy. i've decided to give this book a chance after seeing a comment made by Sophia... Read more

Published on Sep 13 2003 by Rachel Full of Dissident

5.0 out of 5 stars I was a slave to this book!
This book was so much fun to read. I couldn't put it down! The main character, Katie Castle, was a very REAL character. Read more

Published on Sep 8 2003 by Lisa M. Wohnoutka