Customer Reviews

Slave to Fashion: A Novel

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

As a collector of Brit Chick Lit novels, finding Slave to Fashion on the bookshelf was like discovering a jewel in a treasure chest. However, *reading* Slave to Fashion was worth much, much more! A heavier, more sarcastic version of the genre, but it is just as satisfying.

Katie Castle has made it. After her embarrassing beginnings as daughter of two ignorable parents and citizen of a less-than-fabulous part of London, finally making her mark as production manager of a successful clothing company is a dream come true. But while all is well in the job department, Katie feels something is missing. No, not a man, because she is engaged to Ludo, but maybe -- just maybe -- she needs to sow her last oats before taking the plunge. Be careful what you wish for, Katie! Ludo is your boss's son and cheating on him could spell trouble in more ways than one....

Funny, wry, and observant, Slave to Fashion packs a punch. And while Katie Castle may be the anti-Bridget, I believe all Chick Lit lovers will find something in this novel to love. It starts out a little bland, but never fear -- it does pick up! Chock-full of fashion, parties, and celebrity -- a wild ride on the other side and one not to be missed!

Rebecca Campbell seems to be aiming for a dark, witty satire of the fashion industry in "Slave to Fashion," with a manipulative anti-heroine and a so-there at the fashion moguls of the world. Don't stop working in the fashion industry, Rebecca -- because you're really not much of a writer.

Kate Castle is a snotty fashion designer, working for the legendary Penny Moss -- she designs clothes, hobnobs with the rich'n'famous, hangs out with gay publicists, and so forth. She basically slept her way to her current position -- not with Penny, but with Penny's son, Kate's sweet-natured fiancee Ludo. Basically, it's the life most women would kill for, but the self-absorbed Kate wants a few last bed romps before settling down.

Her seemingly perfect life changes when Kate has a side fling with hunka-hunka-burnin'-lust Liam Callaghan, and news leaks out. With the dissolvement of her engagement to Ludo, she also loses the job Penny gave her, and is tossed unceremoniously from Ludo's apartment. Suddenly she finds herself with the looming prospect of having to do actual work for her living, and finds that her personality is alienating everyone around her.

Chick lit has become something to satirize in recent years, with books like "Cassandra French's Finishing School for Boys." But satire is hard to write. And Rebecca Campbell, who works in the fashion industry herself, had better not give up her day job -- this irritating, blandly-written book is the proof of why.

The killing point of this book is that Campbell -- after making you despise Kate -- suddenly decides that her heroine is worth caring about anyway, and should be given a happy ending, despite being obnoxiously self-centerd and lacking in any redeeming characteristics. So she starts rigging up a ridiculous path back to Kate's former job, including a defunct fashion mogul (oh how very coincidental), inept coworkers, and finally blackmail over a porn video. Everything falls into place with no effort, which give the book the feel of an amateur who lost control of her plot, then quickly reshuffled it into a quickie ending.

Kate frankly is not interesting or intelligent enough to be the "anti Bridget Jones" -- while nasty people can be compelling protagonists, she's too much of a self-centered idiot to ever be compelling. She just comes across as a shallow, whiny child-woman who will shag any semi-attractive male, if she can avoid being caught. Most of the supporting characters come across as paper dolls, especially Penny. Honestly, isn't the bash-my-evil-boss-by-proxy thing getting a little old?

One of Kate Castle's friends says that no one would care if she died in the streets. Well, it's hard to imagine caring if this book died in the remainder bins. Shallow, obnoxious, and poorly written.

When I first picked up Slave to Fashion, I loathed the main character, Katie Castle immediately. I could not stand her egotistical, deplorable attitude. However, with this novel, things change. Katie learns the hard way to develop integrity and the way to a beautiful soul.

A bit weightier than the average Brit Chick book, it follows Katie Castle and her rise from her loathed hometown to Fashion Diva. However, certain events disrupt her climb, and she learns what the meaning of humility is, as well as several other essential human qualities.

If you are looking for the average Brit Chick quick escape, I wouldn't necessarily recommend Slave to Fashion. It's definitely a very enjoyable read, but it's got much more depth than usual.
Slave to Fashion is definitely worth the purchase, and, should not be skipped if you fear it is yet another formulaic Brit Chick romp.

Everything in Katie Castle's life is going her way - just about. There are a few only a few negative aspects (like the future mother-in-law from hell), but she has the things she wants. Katie is on the verge of being a fashion designer, she has a fiancee she loves (but doesn't appreciate fully) and she gets to attend all the best parties.

Katie isn't a very sympathetic character. She does some terrible things, but early on none of the characters are very sympathetic. Just when you start to like Katie, she does something else horrible to the people around her. From the beginning to the end Katie undergoes a bit of a transformation. While she will never be the most likeable person (which she fully admits to), she does care more about others and is less judgemental.

Compared to Confession of a Shopaholic or Bridget Jones' Diary, Slave to Fashion starts off a bit hollow, but soon finds its own way. The main character suffers a downfall and that is when the book starts to take off. Once the story gets going, it is very gripping. I couldn't put it down. I found myself routing for Katie despite her flaws.

The end is wrapped up a little too nicely and too easily, but so what? This book is intended as a fun read and isn't trying to change the world. If you are looking for some fun, light reading in the vein of Bridget Jones, then this is a book for you.

This is the kind of book that can be read in a day - definitely take this one on your next trip! It was light and funny with moral lessons. The storyline was a bit predictable but told in such a wickedly funny way that I found myself completely amused with the main character and could sympathize with her plight. This could be made into a feel good romantic comedy with the sarcastic humor that the Brits do best.

I am getting a little weary of the brit-chick formula books these days and was a little hesitant to read this one. What a nice surprise! The main character, Katie, is a ruthless little snot who would run over all of the other brit book heroines in a limo!

We get to follow her kamakaze nosedive from grace, in hilarious fashion of course. All of the people in her life turn on her (deserved) and she is left without a job, friends or a place to live. Throughout the whole ordeal, she faces problems with great humor and candor. Kind of like a modern day fairy-tale with a great ending.

After several months of trying to finish this book, I finally completed the task. Although I had doubts about this book in the beginning, it ended up being better than I thought.

Katie Castle is on top of the world. She's a production assistant to a popular fashion designer, engaged to the designer's son, and lives in a qaint little apartment in London's posh Primrose Hill. But then Katie succumbs to temptation one afternoon with a delivery driver that turns her life upside down.

The next thing she knows, she's list her job, lost her fiance, lost the Primose Hill apartment, and is out moving from one place to the next trying to get her life together. With the help of Jonah, a man who's influence and power only exceeds his enigma, Katie finds her feet again.

If you read this book, don't expect an attention-grabbing opening chapter. Don't even expect a compelling section chapter. In fact, as a warning, there's a lot of fashion lingo that's difficult to translate especially if you're not familiar with the terms. Personally I found that this book didn't really catch my attention until halfway through, hence the reason why it took so long to get it started, and so little time to finish it.

I started out really disliking the main charater Katie. She was shallow, heartless, and materialistic. I couldn't relate to her, couldn't emphasize with her at all. However, she did have two redeeming qualities about her, that being she was intelligent, spunky, and ambitious. It takes quite a while, but you begin to learn more about her, hate her more, and then warm up to her as she begins to "grow." And yes, she definitely is a character that grows into someone that's, well, an improvement from what she was in the beginning.

This book is promising. The beginning is difficult to get through simply because there's so much fashion lingo. The characters are hard to keep track of and grasp, but with a little patience and some appreciation for the sometimes-shallow world of fashion, you can get through this book without wanting to pull your hair out.

Katie Castle works for Penny Moss and thinks that everything in her life is wonderful. She has the man of her dreams, the job she loves and a good life, but when things change she realizes that she needs to change.

Katie at first annoyed me at first, she was a snob who only wanted things for herself and didn't care about anyone or anything. But when she screws up and loses everything she has to realize that she too needs to change.

From the high end to the low end Katie makes turn around. She makes new friends and starts up with new ideas.

The only downfall of the book was at the end I knew how it would end and was upset with it, but other then that this was a wonderful first book from a great new author.

This novel has the essential chick lit elements -- young woman seeking love and career success in London -- but the story has a darker edge and cleverer appeal than the other Bridget Jones knock-offs!

Katie fits more into the "anti-heroine" category. She lets us into the very shallow and sad world of the fashion industry with a great deal of irony. The heroine herself seems to find this glamorous, yet gloomy world as part of everyday life. Her life, however, is together. She has a great apartment and a fiancee, who happens to be her boss's son. A fling tumbles her perfect world apart, and she must do whatever possible to redeem herself and her reputation.

With a darker approach to humor than most books of this genre, Slave to Fashion is one clever chick lit! I recommend it most highly.

I am a somewhat of a conisseur of the chick-fic genre, and this is far and away THE best fluffy book I have read in a loooooong time. I started it at 10 p.m. yesterday, put it down at 1:30 a.m. for a 6 hour sleep break, and finished it this morning at 10 a.m. It was that engrossing, smart (Deconstruction, signs and signifiers, and a hitman who quotes Nietszche, for cryin' out loud!), and funny.
The two reasons I wish there were a 4 and a half star rating, though:
1. Veronica. Makes no sense. Badly defined character.
2. The metamorphosis was a bit too facile, but for a girlie book, what do you really expect?
Other than that, I love, love, love this book. Loooooooove it. (How embarrassing that I get this gushy over this stuff--I'm a very serious grown up person with a graduate degree in English, for goodness sakes, and here I am babbling like a goofy teenager--oh mah gawd!!)