Cause Celeb by Helen Fielding {Book Review}

I haven’t had any interest in reading any of Helen Fielding’s other books, the ones that made her famous: Bridget Jones Diaries. I’ve seen the movies so I had a pretty good idea that the books would be filled with worrying incisively about weight loss and gain, drinking and overusing crass language as a writing style.

I wasn’t sure what to expect with Cause Celeb, knowing the type of characters Helen Fielding has since written and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get though the book if there were anything like Bridget Jones.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and the balance that Helen Fielding brought with humour and seriousness.

DISCLAIMER: This review could contain possible spoilers based on my opinions. All opinions and views are my own.

Book Review: Cause Celeb by Helen Fielding #bookreview #helenfielding #romancebooks #booktwt #bookaddict #booktwitter
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Challenge prompt: The letter C in the A-Z Book Challenge 2022
Originally published: 1994

Pages: 352
Format: Paperback

Plot:

Rosie Richardson works in marketing and starts dating Oliver Merchant, and falls in love. Oliver is the host of a TV show where issues with cultural and political topics are tackled. Their relationship is controlled by his behaviour, one telling her he loves her and then ignoring her for days.

Rosie heads off to Nambula on a business trip after she breaks up with Oliver, and the revelation she faces around the poverty and environmental situation on her trip, makes her reevaluate many aspects in her own life.

Four years down the line, she is running a camp. Rumours of a locust invasion start to spread and the possibility of the food shipment being late.

Rosie decides to take matters into her owns by heading back to England and raise funds through Oliver and his circle of famous friends.

There are catastrophes big and small to face, Rosie needs to face a few things from the past that might complicated a future romance she might have in her sights.

Thoughts:

This book really does have an amazing balance of humour and seriousness. The humorous parts left me chuckling out-loud and the serious parts left me crouching down, worrying along with the main characters in the book.

You have countless descriptions of the famish the people are facing in Nambula (fictional country in Northern African)and the desperation carried across about no one taking the situations seriously. Especially when there are rumours of a locust invasion approaching and no one still worrying about lifting a finger.

Not only is Rosie facing the shipments of food supplies being delayed, she faces personal dangers while trying to help others which was a frightening scene and not something I was expecting to escalate so much.

I did notice the irony the author added with bringing in celebrities to help out with the publicity campaigns and most of them doing it only for the publicity yet some changing a little then actually facing the crisis that Rosie is trying to save everyone from.

Rosie’s character development is quite amazing to see, coming from a city life with almost no problems, except her frustrating on off relationship with Oliver who should’ve been given the boot within the first few chapters of getting to know him. However, his character and behaviour was necessary to give Rosie the push she needed for her own development and ambitions.

Also, if it wasn’t for Oliver, Rosie wouldn’t have met Robert, and the little we sadly get to know about him in the book, he is so much more of a person than Oliver could ever dream of being. This might sound like some love triangle going on here, which I try to stay away from if possible, but I’m happy to say that this doesn’t happen!

The book had a good pace with every event flowing well into the next. The only things that dragged out a little were the political parts and those weren’t even as interesting as the more boring parts in the book.

Overview:

The plot is pretty straight-forward and the themes might come across as preachy with the humanitarian side of things, but I found the book to be sincere instead.