I have read about 70 pages of Jane Green's Straight Talking and it's really not very good. This is the first of hers I have read, although I have picked them up off the shelf and read the back covers many times, on the edge of thinking they could be really good or really bad, and have been too wary, too burned by Bridget-alikes, to try another.
But I did finally try one. Even the characters are Bridget-like, so much so that I have just tried to figure out which was published first (Bridget was, by a few weeks), becuase the similarities are too much (including a commitment-phobic boyfriend who won't go on mini-break).
The interesting thing is, if I had found out Bridget was published later, it would never have occurred to me to think Helen Fielding was a shoddy knock-off - BECAUSE SHE IS A GENIUS WRITER. Green's characters are not endearing, or compelling, or, actually, even interesting. The book is humorless. These people are flat. I would never, ever want to be friends with any of the people in this book. Bridget regrets having been romantically involved with her boss, but the protagonist in this one makes repeated jokes to her boss about offering sexual favors. Women of the world, we do not need this. I'm sure it's meant to be funny, in jest, but it comes off as just sad.
So far, it's like a mirror image of Bridget - so very, very familiar but totally off. But I think I'm going to finish it anyway, because I really want to know what the fuss is about with this author.
