Cause Celeb

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious triumph of the human spirit
Review: Funny, sophisticated, witty, engaging and heartbreaking, Helen Fielding's "Cause Celeb" would be a worthy successor to her two runaway bestsellers, "Bridget Jones's Diary," and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (now released in Penguin paperback). Except that "Cause Celeb" came first.

At first glance, it's easy to see why Fielding's first novel might have been a hard sell to American publishers in 1994. A Jane Austen-for-the-nineties comedy set in war-torn, famine-stricken Africa and the vainest, silliest aspect of London celebrity society, with a plot that centers on a coming famine of epic proportions, "Cause Celeb" doesn't have the lighthearted ring of the endearing, madcap diary of a single woman pining for love. But Fielding pulls it off.

Narrated by Rosie Richardson, London publicist turned refugee camp administrator, the novel opens in the camp, located in the fictional country of Nambula. Rumors of a locust plague across the border in Kefti worry the refugees and the aid workers although scary rumors are common and solid information hard to come by. As Rosie ruminates, brushing her teeth on a dusty hillside, her irreverent assistant Henry wanders by wearing his favorite t-shirt - "a multiple choice questionnaire for relief workers: (a) Missionary? (b) Mercenary? (c) Misfit? (d) Broken Heart? ...I was a c/d hybrid and soft in the head to boot."

This reflection takes her back to London and the beginings of her self-destructive affair with the handsome, sophisticated, TV arts show host and producer, Oliver Marchant. A type Fielding seems to know all too well, Marchant has a lot in common with Daniel Cleaver of "Bridget Jones's Diary." Professional success, wit and good looks make him popular with women who he treats as sexual conquests, devalued once won. His relationship with Rosie blows hot and cold; cold when she's hot, hot when she's cold.

In Marchant, Fielding creates a man with a Hindenburg-sized ego, easily bruised. His skill at manipulation is diabolical but transparent. Once, fed up with his habit of storming out in a fit of pique, she shrugs and lets him go instead of entreating him to stay. Ten minutes later he's back.

"Oliver was holding the sort of bunch of pink and yellow flowers you get from petrol stations for 2.95 with imitation white lace on the edge of the cellophane. 'Plumpkin,' he said, holding them out to me."

But he's a celebrity and she'll put up with a lot for love and the envy of friends and coworkers. Most of Rosie's forays into the glittering celeb milieu are disastrous, though hilarious for the reader. And Fielding has a lot of fun skewering the wobbly celebrity psyche.

"There was a commotion at the door and Terence Twinkle burst in. 'Hi, everyone,' he shouted across to our table. 'God it's a nightmare out there. Why can't anyone leave me alone?' He was wearing a floor-length white mink coat."

Between ironical reminiscences, Rosie tends to her duties, attempting to track down rumors of disaster and overdue food shipments. Staff relationships, including her own, inspire moments of affectionate hilarity and once or twice erupt into zany farce. Obsessions with luxury foods and petty jealousies live side by side with homeless, undernourished refugees yet Fielding's deft touch makes it all work - funny and starkly realistic together.

When Rosie is late meeting a new staffer, her young assist diffuses the awkwardness with a dose of black humor. " 'Sorry not to be here to give you the old welcoming committee - bit of an old blood bag crisis down the black hole of Calcutta.' "The new doctor looked somewhat taken aback. He seemed pleasant, but dull. Pity."

Of course the new doctor is going to be anything but dull, igniting a new flame of romance in Rosie, with, naturally, numerous obstacles in its path.

Meanwhile the coming refugee crisis looms larger. Food shipments are delayed and starving people begin to trickle over the border. Rosie and the new doctor, against all the rules, cross the border on a fact-finding mission. But, even armed with pictures of ravaging locusts and fleeing people, Rosie is unable to move the powers that be.

So she decides to act on her own, organizing a celebrity benefit along the lines of Live Aid and BandAid. But four years is a long time in celebrity circles and Rosie has been forgotten by all but one - Oliver. Dastardly Marchant has a price for his cooperation and Fielding has a great time showing Rosie's maturation into a pretty good manipulator in her own right. She also has fun skewering celebrities, bureaucrats and reporters, with great good nature.

The climax brings them all together - starving refugees, egomaniacal celebrities, Rosie and her two beaux - in an all-stops-pulled ending that should have been either in bad taste or hopelessly depressing or both. But Fielding manages to pull it off, joining tears, laughter and heroics in a triumph of the human spirit despite war, inhumanity and hopeless vanity.

Rating:
Summary: Incident at Loring Groves
Review: This was a pretty good book. I am not much of a reader but this book had a very good middle. The beginning was kind of boring to me but it started to become good in about the seventh chapter. I am only in High School and my weakess subject is enlish but after this book I feel like I want to read more. The beginning was kind of boring so thats why I rate this book a three stars.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting, engrossing, pretty unique read
Review: Having enjoyed the Bridget Jones books like so many others, I was curious to see what else Helen Fielding had written, and came across Cause Celeb. I didn't have any specific expectations, although I suppose I was hoping for more of Fielding's wit and keen observations. I was very pleasantly suprised by this book, and came away from it quite impressed by Fielding's capabilities as an author.

This time, the heroine is Rosie Richardson, a London woman who has somehow fallen into a career that she doesn't quite seem to like or understand, has a penchant for the wrong type of man, and ditches it all to go do relief work in famine stricken Africa (the last bit was definitely not what I had expected!). As the 'wrong' man is somewhat of a celebrity, the readers get a peek into the exclusive world of the famous, with it's etiquette, rules and self-importance. The contrast between this world and that in Africa is, of course, enormous, but Fielding does not get overtly moralistic and simply presents the two universes as they co-exist and occasionally intermingle.

The characters are wonderful, from preening celebrities to other relief workers to the Africans. Rosie's encounters with all of them are funny, interesting and well-fleshed out. And Fielding has great fun with the concept of celebrity and it's ridiculousness, with using the famous to raise money for causes and whom it helps more - the celebrities orthe needy? The descriptions of the horrors of famine and starvation are presented speak for themselves. I got so engrossed in the book that I found myself having to put it down at times, too stressed the relief wouldn't arrive in time for those who needed it!

My one minor complaint about the book - which did not prevent me from enjoying it tremendously - is that there was so much going on that I didn't really feel I knew Rosie all that well. I appreciated her wit, her humanity, her togetherness and so on, but I never got a clear picture of her - it was kind of blurry amidst so many other characters and such a huge background. But this is a small issue, and I problably noticed it only because the Bridget books were so much about Bridget that we saw everything through her eyes. Although Rosie narrates the book, it isn't quite as much her story.

Still, I highly recommend Cause Celeb to anyone who enjoyed the Bridget books or who would like to read an engrossing book that tells an interesting, not overdone, story.

Rating:
Summary: A Very Nice Surprise!
Review: I was a little worried about taking on this debut by Helen Fielding. I mean, how could it be as good as the "Bridg Jones" books? It's just different. Not better or worse...just not comparable. And, I don't think it's far to just presume she's going to always write like that. This was a really nice book and I had lots of fun making my way threw it. "Cause Celeb" certainly has my vote. A really nice treat and a great debut novel. Helen Fielding's got the RIGHT STUFF! I can't wait to read more of her work. BRING IT ON!

Rating:
Summary: not bridget jones
Review: too many people think that this will be like bridget jones' diary. it's not. it's better. my aunt lives in london and brought me this book. i couldn't put it down. the story is not like anything i've ever read. but it is a love story in the truest sense of the word. i have since bought copies as gifts for lots of friends and they have all enjoyed it as much as i did. just don't expect bridget jones and you'll love it.

Rating:
Summary: Something to tide me over...
Review: After gobbling down The Edge of Reason I was curious to read Fielding's first novel, and hoping to re-experience some of the style I so enjoyed (actually, loved!) with Bridget. Cause Celeb fits the bill. While the protagonist is a less-extreme Bridget, more sure of herself in general, you can see Bridget's roots in Rosie and Fielding's style evolving. While the Bridget books are, let's face it, poor, unbridled silliness (Hurrah! What fun!), Cause Celeb has more of a social conscience, not only regarding the plight of Africa but with Rosie herself acknowledging she is worthy of more than being a doormat for the lunacy of a man. And, the best thing, tho superfluous...it's a slower read than Bridget, delaying the inevitable "What do I read now?" feeling! Keep 'em coming, Helen! Mmmmmm...

Rating:
Summary: A nice surprise!
Review: I was in a bit of a contemporary fiction malaise (awaiting the Canadian publication of The Edge of Reason) and picked up Cause Celeb on a lark. Helen Fielding demonstrates that she can write beyond Bridget, crafting a story that is engrossing and satisfying. Her use of timing (jumping back-and-forth across 4-5 years) does more than serve as a means to an end, it sets the stage for the culmination of Rosie's "worlds" - fabulous! Her descriptions of the intracies of diplomacy in developing countries are funny, in a sad-but-true sort of way. Ultimately, I just really liked the way she told the story, it was the right amount of description coupled with dialogue (at least for me!). Let me one thing out of the way: Oliver *is* like Daniel. I thought that "complicated" Oliver would get old pretty fast, but I ended up sympathizing with Rosie (like I did with Bridget), because we've all been there. My only real problem with Cause Celeb was the lack of Rosie's character development. She's in London, and then five years later, she's in Nambula, and there's no real explanation of her motivation for staying (and how it's changed her). The ending, while wholly predictable, was nice and left me feeling satisfied. Helen Fielding *must* be encouraged to write beyond Bridget in the future, if Cause Celeb is any indication of the powerful and thoughtful stories she has to tell.

Rating:
Summary: Can't wait for her next novel!
Review: Very entertaining; couldn't put it down. Came upon this after finishing the delightful Bridget Jones' Diary. How she combines comedy (albeit satire) with the harrowing situation in Africa without trivializing is particularly deft. Am I the only person that thought her villains - Oliver and Daniel in BJD were awfully similar?

Rating:
Summary: Swam right through it...
Review: Having absolutely LOVED "Bridget Jones' Diary" (Can't wait for the sequel! ), I was glad to find another title by Ms. Fielding. This book didn't quite have the ever-present humor of "Bridget", but since it's set in a more sobering community I can forgive. I thought it was easy to read, kept me interested, and gave me some small sense of Learning Something. I enjoyed it very much.

Rating:
Summary: Very funny & original
Review: I absolutely enjoyed this book and just could not put it away. It does have some similarities to 'Bridget Jones's diary', but the changing settings makes this story different and in some ways more interesting.