Review: The Undomestic Goddess

Title: The Undomestic Goddess
Author: Sophie Kinsella
CLICK HERE FOR SYNOPSIS
Genre: Chick Lit
First published: July 19, 2005
Format: Paperback, 416 pages
Source: Bought (Borders, AUS)
Other Details: featured in The Time Will Come meme. Click here for that post. 
My Rating: 4.5 stars


The story is about Samantha, a 29 year old lawyer in London, whose life solely revolves around her career. She's on the verge of scoring a partnership with the top law firm in the country, but a little bump in the road sends her life soaring out of control. Suddenly Samantha finds herself outside a huge house somewhere in the countryside - tired, drunk, jobless and with a massive headache. The next day she wakes up realising she's taken a job as a house-cleaner. With no domestic experience whatsoever, Samantha has to figure out how to bluff her way through the cooking, the cleaning, the ironing and all the other household chores she needs to complete on a daily basis. 


Do not be fooled by the storyline you expect - there is almost always something deeper going on beneath the surface narrative of a Sophie Kinsella novel. I was pleasantly surprised by the sheer genius that goes into each of her stories, especially this one. I was laughing and crying, jumping up and down in my chair with bright eyes and a goofy grin on my face while reading The Undomestic Goddess. 



At first, Samantha didn't come across as a very relatable character to me, and I found myself struggling to empathise with her at all in the beginning. I couldn't get my head around Samantha's unabashed disregard of the domestic workplace. But it was still an interesting enough narrative to keep me going, and I trust this author wholeheartedly to entertain me, so soon enough I was in the fantastic and familiar realm of a Sophie Kinsella novel. By that I mean the fun and funny happenings of the protagonist, the bizarre characters, the weird and wonderful twists and turns of events - all the things I love about S.K.


There's something so compellingly lovable about these characters - not just Samantha, but the Geigers, Nathaniel and Iris too. I would even say that the other characters are more lovable than Samantha. She was trying so hard to keep her old career in law a secret from her new domestic work life that she was making up extravagant tales and lying to people she cared about. I was screaming "TELL HIM, ALREADY, YOU FOOL, SAMANTHA!!!" at the page. Out loud. Sort of. 


The Undomestic Goddess has a way of tugging at your heart strings, making you laugh out loud where you're sitting, and having you try your best not to cry like a baby at the best bits. 

Here are some quotes from the book that I loved: 


"Tasting gravy with your eyes closed is a fairly intimate thing to do, it turns out. 
I'm not sure I want anyone watching me."


"Great. Just great. One glimpse of his body and I have a full-blown crush. 
I honestly thought I was a bit deeper than that."