Rating: 
Summary: What has happened to Helen Fielding?
Review: As I started reading this novel, I was stunned at the poor writing, lack of character development, and amateurish metaphors. But above all, I found it unbelievably offensive. Describing a man as charming and then remarking on his resemblance to Osama Bin Laden, as if that were a good thing, is a slap in the face to the millions of people whose lives have been affected by that monster. Having a character blithely wonder if she would have followed instructions and stayed in the WTC had she been there during the attacks, or if she would have used her wits and gotten out alive is insulting beyond belief. And writing a "spoof," the plot of which revolves around an Al-queda bombing, is in the poorest of taste. I absolutely adored Helen Fielding's other novels, but couldn't finish this one, and will definitely not be picking up any of her future books!
Rating: 
Summary: College Student
Review: At first, I found it hard to keep reading this book. Fielding's flowery writing style got on my nerves. I decided to keep on reading, however, and I'm very glad that I did.
Oliva Joules is a brand new kind of heroine. The book had me laughing out loud so often that my sister had me keep her updated with the happenings in the book as I read it so that she could be in on the fun. If you're looking for a solid piece of "chick lit" that will keep you entertained then this book will hold your attention. The plot is extremely far-fetched, but then again, that's the point! Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: An absolute delight!
Review: Fun, fun, fun! Spies, international travel, scuba, and facials!
;-) Fielding really gets it when her character says, "I want a life no one can take away from me." Is that something only a woman could get, or what? This book is good for the soul while entertaining at the same time.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Helen Fielding showed a knack for humor and fully-fleshed characters with the "Bridget Jones" books, then displayed these talents, a conscience and a gift for poignancy in "Cause Celeb"--before casting all that rubbish aside to write "Oliva Joules and the Overactive Imagination."
"Joules" begins precariously by expecting the reader to understand travel-writer Olivia's attraction to Pierre Feramo, a man she initially suspects to be one of the world's most infamous terrorists. (Yes, that one). Olivia's physical attraction to the man is difficult to get past from either an emotional--or aesthetic--level, and creates a reader/heroine disconnect immediately. Later, it's also declared that Feramo resembles a young Omar Sharif, though it's curiously late for that improvement (and creates the odd impression that the two men cited look alike to the author, which is odd).
Although unrealistic from the get-go, the book does drag for several chapters. When the story begins to improve, it's marred by a short passage in which the island-hopping Olivia--seeing biracial locals--briefly "imagine[s] she was in a weird land where fathers would sleep with their nephews and great-aunts have secret affairs with donkeys." I tried to excuse this ugly analogy by thinking that perhaps Joules' character was meant to seem provincial or uncultured--but she's supposed to be a worldly, multi-lingual travel writer, & a heroine. Distracting and hurtful, brief though it was.
"Overactive Imagination" did keep me reading out of curiosity, but it is carelessly and implausibly written, with quickly sketched characters...a storyboard of a book, as though Fielding intended to sell the film rights immediately and didn't care about the quality of the writing so much as getting the plot down on paper. And the American dialogue could use some work--about the 10th time an American character calls Olivia "baby"--and both he and the author intend it to be sexy--it's just eye-rolling.
It there was anything I did very much like about the book, it was the delightfully arch "Professor Widget" character (perhaps Fielding wrote him with Sir Ian McKellen in mind). Widget gets the best paragraph of the entire book when he comments on the nature of man and the seduction of self-image.
Not an awful book, but not terrific either.
Rating: 
Summary: mildly amusing and annoying at the same time
Review: Honestly, Bridget Jones got on my nerves in the second book and I never finished it. That rarely happens to me since I always have a compulsion to find out what happens. Olivia is less whiny but there seems to be very little brain processing when she decides on a course of action that's almost as annoying. She manages to skate through some dicey situations by what seems to be just dumb luck.
It was almost grating on my nerves of how Ms. Fielding would use current events, which in my view was just a device to try to make the book more believable. If she had just stayed in fantasy land, I might have been more ready to suspend my disbelief. And the way she would describe the romantic interests by comparing them to Osama bin laden and Eminem, made me feel like she was just being lazy. Especially since I don't see either them of as being attractive.
Despite those annoyances, I still finished the book since it was still mildly amusing and I had to find out what happened.
Rating:
Summary: Olivia Joules could be Fielding's next movie character
Review: I don't think I'll ever read another book as endearing to me as Bridget Jones Diary and the sequel to that book but this book came in a close second.
A very good read!
Rating:
Summary: Quite nice, but...
Review: I enjoyed this book. Having read all of Helen Fielding's novels I found this one to be an odd combination of Bridget Jones and Cause Celeb. In the beginning of the novel Olivia definitely was a rehashed Bridget character. Even some of the language and jokes were the same. If you enjoyed Bridget then you won't mind more of the same. The flow of the first half was definitely interrupted by the poor editing. At some points it was unclear where the action was going or had been simply because it needed better editing.
The second half of the novel begins to find it's own voice and you are able to disassociate the this novel from the previous novels. Also the editing seems to improve dramatically.
Having said this I found the book wildly entertaining and quite a few places I actually laughed out loud. IT became a real page turner that I could not put down. Definitely light, easy, fun reading that I would recommend and a nice addition to Helen's resume.
Rating:
Summary: Summer Reading
Review: I give this book four stars instead of three since I read it during the summer. As a Bridget Jones fanatic I was a little bummed out by this one. It's not nearly as clever and insightful as the two Jones installments. I know plenty of people find Bridget Jones to be shallow and pointless, but Olivia is transparent. Basically, Fielding is better than this and all of her references to 'current events' are cliched and pretty lame. In the end, this book reads more like Candace Bushnell than Helen Fielding. But there are hints of Fielding's genius hidden in references to fashion, terrorism, and scuba diving.
Rating:
Summary: This is no Bridget Jones...
Review: I really enjoyed the Bridget Jones books, and after reading this, wish Helen Fielding had just stuck with the chick-lit genre. This book isn't bad, it's somewhat entertaining though sometimes just sort of annoying. However, having read the BJ books, I know Fielding can do better! Also, Olivia Joules is not nearly as likable as Bridget.
Rating:
Summary: Really great read!
Review: I think the common mistake of people who aren't fans of this book is that they are expecting a second Bridget! However, Olivia is a fantastic character - funny, smart and doesn't take herself too seriously. This novel moves at a fast enough pace to keep things interesting, and has enough twists that you will genuinely not know how it's all going to turn out. I really enjoyed this book and found the latter part of the novel difficult to put down. Olivia is a brilliant role model - if you're feeling a bit low in self-esteem, read this book!
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