First off, I had no idea this was originally a German book that was translated over to American English. The translation is excellent with very few things that I wasn't completely sure of. I just grabbed it because of the title and went from there. The title is excellent and really is a good way to begin the chuckles that travel throughout the novel.
Summary:
Gerri is failing at everything. She is unable to find a boyfriend, unable to have a child because of the no sex thing, and has just been fired from her job as a writer of trashy romance novels. To add to her own down in the dumps attitude, her family consistently reminds her that she is failing at everything. In order to rectify this situation, she downs a bottle of sleeping pills and a bottle of vodka after writing farewell letters that really let her feelings be known to all of the people in her life. Unfortunately for Gerri, she also fails to kill herself. Now she has to live with the fact that she has been brutally honest about her opinions to all of the people that are in her life.
My thoughts: This reminded me of Sophie Kinsella's Can You Keep a Secret where she spills everything while thinking she's going to die in a plane crash and then dealing with the uncomfortable consequences afterwards. I loved that novel and this one was equally as funny. While the German words were more difficult than the British slang, I still enjoyed how the culture was mixed in with the story. I suppose there were some things that we would get away with in the US that they just wouldn't do in other countries. The letters that Gerri writes are so funny that I was crying. That made me feel like maybe I was a bit of a mean person, but some of the things were definitely what we'd like to point out to people but just don't because we are polite. Of course Gerri learns a lesson throughout all of this, and generally, I found there was a happy ending. It's not a book that I'll probably read again, but definitely one that I had a good time with and would pass on to my other chick lit reading friends.
Summary:
Gerri is failing at everything. She is unable to find a boyfriend, unable to have a child because of the no sex thing, and has just been fired from her job as a writer of trashy romance novels. To add to her own down in the dumps attitude, her family consistently reminds her that she is failing at everything. In order to rectify this situation, she downs a bottle of sleeping pills and a bottle of vodka after writing farewell letters that really let her feelings be known to all of the people in her life. Unfortunately for Gerri, she also fails to kill herself. Now she has to live with the fact that she has been brutally honest about her opinions to all of the people that are in her life.
My thoughts: This reminded me of Sophie Kinsella's Can You Keep a Secret where she spills everything while thinking she's going to die in a plane crash and then dealing with the uncomfortable consequences afterwards. I loved that novel and this one was equally as funny. While the German words were more difficult than the British slang, I still enjoyed how the culture was mixed in with the story. I suppose there were some things that we would get away with in the US that they just wouldn't do in other countries. The letters that Gerri writes are so funny that I was crying. That made me feel like maybe I was a bit of a mean person, but some of the things were definitely what we'd like to point out to people but just don't because we are polite. Of course Gerri learns a lesson throughout all of this, and generally, I found there was a happy ending. It's not a book that I'll probably read again, but definitely one that I had a good time with and would pass on to my other chick lit reading friends.
