Confessions of a Shopaholic is a realistic fiction novel written by Sophie Kinsella. In this book, the main character, Rebecca Bloomwood, is a financial journalist at a not-so-exciting paper called Successful Saving. This proves to be quite ironic, as Rebecca is dealing with financial debts of her own that she can’t seem to solve. All Rebecca wants-other than unlimited money to shop with-is to get rid of the anxiety that comes with the pesky overdue fee letters that keep arriving at her doorstep. The only way she can solve this is by coming across some money, which is not likely to happen soon. Through various hilarious attempts at saving money and trying to get a new job, Rebecca finds herself unsuccessful at every turn. But as Rebecca begins to lose hope, an opportunity may open up that will rid her of her debts once and for all, or will it?
One really interesting aspect of this book was how realistic it seemed. Rebecca was written in a way that was very lovable, despite the many obvious flaws she had. She was a real person who learned how to deal with her problems head-on rather than to avoid them, which is definitely a lesson I took from reading Confessions of a Shopaholic. I didn’t find any part of this book disappointing as I was hooked for the duration I was reading it. I think my main takeaway was that sometimes, when there is a will, there is a way. Rebecca was about to give up hope and continue to find excuses for her late debt payments, but when she tried her best for the sake of other people, she was finally successful. Honestly, I would recommend this book to anyone. I don’t think that it has a specific audience that it is geared towards since many of the problems highlighted in the story are prevalent in society today. Even if you don’t have a shopaholic tendency, it is easy to relate to the character and understand how she feels, since many of us may have an obsessive tendency of our own. I thought that this book was better than most, so I gave it a rating of four stars. In summation, I think that Confessions of a Shopaholic could be a very fun read for anyone who decides to pick it up with its refreshing new look on character development and handling debt.