We meet Rebecca Bloomwood in Shopaholic Abroad when her life is fabulous. She has her own segment on a London television show, she is dating a successful businessman, and she has recently paid back most of her outstanding debts. Her new found success means she can indulge in a little more shopping, right?
Wrong! Rebecca’s frequent shopping sprees mean she is once again being consumed by her mounting financial debt. Letters from debt collectors, banks, and department stores are quickly pouring in, dismissing her excuses (broken bones and illnesses) and demanding their money back.
Ignoring her financial woes, Rebecca follows boyfriend Luke Brandon to New York, where she is promised a spot on several American networks. However, everything goes pear-shaped when a London tabloid reveals the hypocrisy of Rebecca’s life – a financial adviser drowning in tidal waves of debt!
While Shopaholic Abroad certainly will not win any literature prizes, it is a bit of lightweight fun. I particularly enjoyed reading Rebecca’s excuses as she tried to justify a ridiculous purchase. For example, a fencing set was purchased because it was only forty quid from a charity shop, and she may have a chance at being Catherine Zeta Jones’ stunt double! The book does, however, have some underlying meaning for all the shopaholics out there. It highlights the dangers of ‘maxing out’ your credit cards, and makes you think twice about impulse purchases. It also allows you to take a step back and look at today’s consumer-driven society. Do we really need the latest IPhone when our old mobile phone can also send texts? To what extent do we need to ‘keep up with the Jones’’ to simply validate self-worth?
This book is the second in a six-part series and is preceded by Confessions of a Shopaholic, which has also been made into a movie and stars Australian actress Isla Fisher. However, it is now obvious that the movie is actually based on the first two books, with ideas taken from all over the place and rolled into one. While the movie is based on a shopaholic in denial, the details are very different!
While I found Shopaholic Abroad very amusing, I think this shopaholic idea may be wearing a little thin by the time I read the sixth book!
3 out of 5 stars.
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