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A Good Girl Comes Undone (2008)

by Polly Williams(Favorite Author)

2.96 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0751539635 (ISBN13: 9780751539639)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Sphere

review 1: Review: this was a classic chick-lit story about a young woman on a journey of self-discovery with some fabulous mis-haps and friendship along the way, and of course a love interest or two. It was an easy read and very predictable but neither of these things made it any less enjoyable. There were plentry of twists and turns in the story to keep the reader guessing all the way through as to what was going to happen. There was also the wonderful aspect of having several stories going on at once, adding more depth to this novel and making it even more enjoyable. I really enjoyed the story about Annie's challenges at work, and her challenges within her love-life. I found the story involving the challenges within her family rather Difficult and therefore not as enjoyable, even ... morebringing me to tears at one point, but nevertheless adding another dimension to this well-written tale.I liked Annie as a character initially although I did loose some respect for her because of her inability to say no and to ignore things when things were going wrong. She certainly redeems herself towards to end of this novel and I am aching to find out what has become of her. I strongly disliked Nick from the start if the novel but this shows how well written he was, that I found myself shouting at him sometimes because of his actions or words. I didn't like many members of Annie's family either, and I found new character Don fairly hard to take too. The interactions that Annie had with some of her work colleagues were seriously funny and had me laughing out loud, I think this particular part of the storyline was my favourite. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader occupied and although the majority of the novel is set in London, Annie travels to New York, her parents move from the Cotswolds to Brighton and so there are plenty of 'scene changes' too, all of which are well-described, so much so that I wanted, myself, to sink down into Annie's new sofa when it was delivered. This would make the perfect addition to your beach bag, and is another great novel from this wonderful author. An easy read but with plenty to keep your attention, this is definitely a book which I would have loved to have a sequel to, I definitely need to know what happens next...
review 2: Annie Rafferty is a woman who has it all. She’s just got the job of Deputy Editor at Glo! Magazine, has just bought a big house with long-term boyfriend Nick and life is all rosy.But soon Annie’s world is about to come crashing down around her when Nick resigns from his job, leaving her with the bills, a depressed sister and nagging parents who don’t think she should have to be the bread-winner.But Annie soon discovers who she really is, and ends up going in a totally different direction…As soon as I started this book, I knew that I was going to really enjoy it. It was much more along the style of her fantastic debut which I just couldn’t put down with likeable characters, a great story and a brilliant first person narrative which just draws you into the story immediately and without taking too much time to warm up and really get going. Williams narrative is very engaging, a friendly voice which is fun and easy to read, without being too ridiculous in any aspect. As was the case in her previous novels, we are also introduced to the other 2 main characters within the first chapter, given a really good outline of the main character herself and a stonking first chapter which makes a great start to the book.Williams has a knack for writing great characters which are realistic, funny and endearing to the reader. She knows what demographic are going to be reading her books, which is generally going to be woman aged between 18-40 years old, and thus makes her characters appeal well to the this range. The main character of Annie is a career-girl, proud of her job and proud of working her way through the ranks, loves her boyfriend and their brand new house, and also loves her family. She’s got it all, and despite this, she’s a lovely character who isn’t at all unlikeable. She talks about her job at length in a funny humourous way, and you can really visualise her workplace and the characters there as well. The other characters are also well written, from her out-of-work boyfriend Nick who seems to resent Annie for having a job she loves, to her hopelessly in love sister Georgia who crashes at Annie’s house after her latest love crisis.The book goes along at a great pace, throwing you in at the deep end with Annie and Nick, and then moving along as their life continues and their roles chop and change. Williams has grasped human emotion fantastically in this book, from Annie’s exasperation at Nick’s lack of motivation through to Nick’s annoyance at being nagged to get a job, and even to Annie and Georgia’s parents, particularly their father who wants the best for his girls and will speak his mind to Nick about not having a job! She’s created a great balance of humour within the story, mainly based around the offices of Glo! and Annie’s job there, and also love, sorrow and confusion. Williams explores these throughout the book in a gentle way which is in keeping with the storyline, and never too heavy either.The book is a great read, and I just wanted to keep reading it to find out what was going to happen to Annie and how things were all going to turn out. Williams has this talent of making you want to read on, engrossing you with the story and the characters, giving you twists and turns along the way as well to keep things fresh. Her narrative is a joy to read, with great descriptive writing, yet very realistic narrative as well, endearing you to the main character fantastically well, so you feel you almost know her! I loved the story, although it sounds like it may not be the happiest, it is an uplifting book which is a fun and fantastic read for anyone who loves a great story of change, love and finding yourself somewhere you didn’t expect. less

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