I have a confession: I’m in love with the Confessions of a Shopaholic books. My love affair with the series has carried on for several years now and I have a feeling that it’s closely tied to my own personal shopping habit. (Hey, don’t judge me, you know you love shiny new things too!)
For years now, countless readers like myself have followed Becky Bloomwood’s shopping escapades, laughing along the way at her antics and fun-loving personality. Then there was that amazing movie, “Confessions of a Shopaholic,” where Isla Fisher so perfectly brought Becky’s love for shopping alive on the big screen. Fans of the series have watched Becky fall in love (with more than just shoes, yes!), get married, and follow her dreams. But what happens when everyone’s favorite shopaholic has a daughter? Will the apple fall far from the tree? And how does a shopaholic deal with a global recession?
That’s what Mini Shopaholic, Sophie Kinsella‘s latest release in the Shopaholic series, explores. The book, released in the U.S. yesterday, follows everyone’s favorite shopaholic as she juggles disciplining her precocious toddler daughter Minnie (who seems to love shopping even more than she does! ); planning a fabulous (and surprise) birthday party for her husband Luke; and dealing with the recession by going on a…hold your breath… shopping diet.
Typical of its predecessors, Mini Shopaholic is hilarious, touching, and entertaining to the last page. Sophie has a true talent for writing and this book has quickly become my new favorite. I had the pleasure of chatting with Sophie about her latest release, shopping, and what’s in store for Becky Bloomwood (Great news everyone, Becky’s story will continue after Sophie takes a break to write another stand alone novel!) Here’s what she had to say.
Her Campus: This is the sixth book in the Shopaholic series and so many people seem to have such a deep connection with Becky. What is it about her character that you think people relate to so much?
Sophie Kinsella: “It’s hard for me to say. I never realized that [Becky] would strike such a chord when I first wrote her and I think [she’s so appealing because] she has foibles; she’s not perfect. She’s down-to-earth but she’s fun-loving and she’s an optimist. And I think maybe that’s the thing that people love the most: that [Becky] is an optimist. And however bad things get—which they always do for her—she manages to look on the bright side and find a way out.
Plus [readers] recognize themselves in her; everybody thinks like Becky. And not everyone’s as bad as Becky but we all have our Becky moments, whether it’s [when we’re] out shopping and we justify what we’re buying, or we get ourselves into a bit of a mess, everyone has a bit of Becky in them.
HC: Mini Shopaholic really takes Becky’s character to a whole new level and she finds herself face to face with a “mini me” of sorts. In what ways has motherhood changed Becky?
SK: I think like any mother, suddenly [Becky’s] focus is not all about herself. I think that’s what changes the minute you have a child: You care about yourself but you care so much about your child. Becky wants to do motherhood so well…but she doesn’t always get it right. Her instincts are to provide for her child and sometimes those instincts go more toward shopping for her child, but she cares about Minnie.
This book is really about mothers and daughters in many ways. When you have a child, you suddenly reevaluate your relationship with your own mother and you start to value everything your mother gave you and now you’re trying to give to your child… I think that [a huge part of the book addresses how motherhood] has affected Becky in her relationships with her extended family. Plus it gives her a great excuse to shop.
HC: It seems like having a child has added a whole new dimension to Becky’s love affair with shopping.
SK: Absolutely. And every time she goes shopping for Minnie, she doesn’t think to herself “Hmm, I’ll now go shopping for my child…hooray.” She has a good intention behind it.
In the very first scene, she starts off by trying to be a good mother [and is] trying to [tell Minnie she can’t buy a toy pony.] And then of course [Becky] falls in love with the pony herself and she decides, “Actually, I should be teaching Minnie the ways of the world and budgeting.” This is a good idea, but being Becky, it doesn’t go the way that it should. And that’s the thing with so many of her plans: They start off in a good place and they end up going a bit off course.
HC: Humor plays a huge role in your books and you really have found the perfect balance of jest and serious matter.
SK: I like to have some things serious and truthful in all the books; I like them to be true [so people see that they’re] based on a reality. But at the same time they’re entertainment; they’re not real. They’re escapist fiction and so the characters can be slightly larger than life and Becky can do things that, in truth, none of us would do in real life. But that’s the joy of her!
HC: It’s fascinating to watch Becky go on a “shopping diet” because this is something that’s so realistic of our tough economic times. How important was it to you that this book be realistic and show Becky dealing head-on with the economic realities of the recession?
SK: It was absolutely vital for me that this book reflect the times that we’re in because money and shopping have never been higher profile than since [the recession hit]. I wanted Becky’s life to reflect the life of me and my readers and everyone out there because we’ve all had to reevaluate the way we’re shopping, we’ve had to tighten our belts, we’ve had to [ask ourselves] “Do I need this?”
And hats off to Becky [because] she really does do it. She makes the promise that she’ll [wear all of her clothes once before buying new ones], and she sticks to it. That’s something we can all do, but of course, being Becky, she has to think of other ways to get around it.
I [couldn’t] help having fun with [the topic of the recession] because I think there’s nothing worse than being totally gloomy; you can still find fun in [tough economic times] like Becky does even though she’s on a shopping diet.
HC: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
SK: It’s been such a treat to write Becky and I guess if I had anything else to say, it would be to thank everybody for reading Becky, supporting Becky, taking her into their hearts. I’ve been blown away by the reaction of readers to Becky and how [much] they love her and if it weren’t for readers wanting to read her, we wouldn’t be here at book number six. So I’m just really grateful that I have that readership out there and that we have so much fun together; it feels like we have a mutual friend in common!
Photo Credits
http://www.entertainmentwallpaper.com/images/desktops/movie/confessions_of_a_shopaholic01.jpg
http://www.sophiekinsella.co.uk/sophies-world/message-from-sophie/
http://www.project-blu.com/images/misc/shopaholic2.jpg