[.ca] Gucci Gucci Coo (ISBN 0385338996)

Gucci, Gucci, Dull.:
'Gucci Gucci Coo' is one step up from a cheap romance novel. That's not to say it's a horrible book, it's just that the writing is simplistic, and the story line is hackneyed. The attempt at creative plot development is weak, and the characters are too familiar. It seems like mostly a reformulated version of any number of other chick-lit novels. The book starts out with the protagonist, Ruby, at the gynecologist's office. There are some very funny moments in those first few pages, and you're thinking, "This is going to be fun!" but the book digresses from there. Sue Margolis is unnecessarily wordy, and the extra words don't add anything to the story; however, her writing style is easy enough to follow, and even with the British colloquialisms and humor, it's not difficult to get. It's just that most of the time you're thinking- "Cut to the chase already!" The main character, Ruby, owns a chic children's clothing store and has some quirky friends and "Boho" parents. She meets a handsome American doctor, and, well, you know...they hook up. Her mother gets pregnant at 50, which you think will be amusing, but it's just sort of in the story, not the story. There are some comical moments (although they're not as funny as the time in the gyno's office), and there's a bit of a plot twist that keeps things going towards the end, but that's only near the end. The last 100 pages are the most interesting, and Sue Margolis could have condensed the first 250 pages into about 100 pages- 352 pages is too long to tell this story. This book is not in the same league as other "chick-lit" novels by writers like Jennifer Weiner or Emily Giffin. It seems amateurish and dated, not fresh and inventive. If you like chick lit, check out `Something Borrowed' or `Something Blue' by Emily Giffin, or `Good In Bed' by Jennifer Weiner. Those books will have you reading from start to finish in one sitting.