Having just seen the movie today, I thought I'd compare the book and movie as they were quite different.
Rebecca Bloomwood is a journalist who is somehow working at a financial magazine although she is in debt and has a debt collector (or a 'stalker' as she explains to her parents) hounding her for money throughout the novel.
Rebecca Bloomwood is a journalist who is somehow working at a financial magazine although she is in debt and has a debt collector (or a 'stalker' as she explains to her parents) hounding her for money throughout the novel.
She lives with her friend Suze who practically lets her live rent free as she never has enough money for her rent cheques to be cashed.
Becki gets a good 'warm' feeling from shopping for mostly designer clothes, shoes, and bags and feels compelled to put everything onto her credit card and forget about the consequences of using all that plastic until she gets her statement and is convinced someone has stolen her credit card.
Becki does realise she has a problem though and tries 'cutting back' and then 'earning more' neither of which help the situation as she keeps making more and more excuses to shop. She even tries one disastrious day working in retail where she fights with a customer she's meant to be helping, for a pair of pants.
Luke Brandon, Becki's love interst in the novel is the head of Brandon Communicatiosn, a financial PR company. He and Rebecca have the usual misunderstandings about where they stand and eventually face off (very unrealistically but it is a comedy) on a morning breakfast show after Rebecca outsed one of his companies in an article for misleading clients right before they could have received a monetary windfall.
Rebecca does very well in the debate and it leads to a permanent slot on the show. She also sorts it all out with the bank manager and gets together with Luke who has broken up with his girlfriend.
The main differences are that the novel is set in London, while the film in New York.
Luke Brandon is Becki's boss in the film but in the book someone unrelated to the company she works for.
Suze has a boyfriend then fiance name Tarkin, who in the book was actually Suze's cousin, has a thing for Becki, is a multimillionaire and Becki considers him mostly for this reason but does grow a conscious and can't go through with anything.
In the book Luke is described as a self made millionaire and a genius. This doesn't come though so much in the film. They invent a story about his mother beiing a great rich fashionista but Luke wants to make it on his own, not on his mother's coat tails.
He's also a bit self doubting in the film in some ways, and he and Becki get together quite a bit earlier than in the novel.
I think the novel and film were both okay. I probaly enjoyed the film a bit more, the role was excellent for Isla Fisher (we like to compliment any Perth people pretty early on, see Ledger, Heath) and she comes across a lot more likable in the movie than in the novel.
Becki does realise she has a problem though and tries 'cutting back' and then 'earning more' neither of which help the situation as she keeps making more and more excuses to shop. She even tries one disastrious day working in retail where she fights with a customer she's meant to be helping, for a pair of pants.
Luke Brandon, Becki's love interst in the novel is the head of Brandon Communicatiosn, a financial PR company. He and Rebecca have the usual misunderstandings about where they stand and eventually face off (very unrealistically but it is a comedy) on a morning breakfast show after Rebecca outsed one of his companies in an article for misleading clients right before they could have received a monetary windfall.
Rebecca does very well in the debate and it leads to a permanent slot on the show. She also sorts it all out with the bank manager and gets together with Luke who has broken up with his girlfriend.
The main differences are that the novel is set in London, while the film in New York.
Luke Brandon is Becki's boss in the film but in the book someone unrelated to the company she works for.
Suze has a boyfriend then fiance name Tarkin, who in the book was actually Suze's cousin, has a thing for Becki, is a multimillionaire and Becki considers him mostly for this reason but does grow a conscious and can't go through with anything.
In the book Luke is described as a self made millionaire and a genius. This doesn't come though so much in the film. They invent a story about his mother beiing a great rich fashionista but Luke wants to make it on his own, not on his mother's coat tails.
He's also a bit self doubting in the film in some ways, and he and Becki get together quite a bit earlier than in the novel.
I think the novel and film were both okay. I probaly enjoyed the film a bit more, the role was excellent for Isla Fisher (we like to compliment any Perth people pretty early on, see Ledger, Heath) and she comes across a lot more likable in the movie than in the novel.
Having read 2 of Sophie Kinsella's books now I feel she comes across as a bit obsessed with the finer things in life (read: outrageously expensive). I read Remember Me? recently and the preoccupation with mentioning expensive things can get irritating.
Overall the movie and novel were both similar pieces of fluff which are easy to watch/read when you don't want to press your mind too much.
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