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Cause Celeb

By Helen Fielding

(20)

| Hardcover | 9780670894505

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Book Description

"B.B.J."-Before Bridget Jones.

Helen Fielding's highly acclaimed first novel brings all the insight and charm of the Bridget Jones novels to a brilliantly witty, thought-provoking take on today's woman-and today's world.

Cause Celeb-the critically acclaimed debut novel from a Continue

"B.B.J."-Before Bridget Jones.

Helen Fielding's highly acclaimed first novel brings all the insight and charm of the Bridget Jones novels to a brilliantly witty, thought-provoking take on today's woman-and today's world.

Cause Celeb-the critically acclaimed debut novel from a writer with a boundless grasp of the existential and the uproarious-has just landed in America. Deftly skewering the world of celebrity fundraising, Fielding has created an alternately comic and moving satire that straddles the glitter of media London and the horrors of an African refugee crisis.

Rosie Richardson, a twenty-something literary puffette is in a totally nonfunctional relationship with an unevolved but irresistible adult male-a hotshot TV presenter who plunges her into the glitzy, bitchy inane lifestyle of London's It people. Disillusioned with the celebrity world, Rosie escapes to run a refugee camp in the African desert.

When famine strikes and a massive refugee influx heads for the camp, governments and agencies drag their heels. Bringing her former media savvy to the fore, realizing the only way to get food out fast is to bring celebrities first, Rosie returns to the life and man she fled to organize a star- studded emergency appeal from famine-racked Africa.

Seamlessly bridging cataclysm and farce through the insights of a modern-day everywoman, Cause Celeb crackles with insight into fame, passion, and altruism in our time.

"Henry was wearing his favorite T-shirt which featured a multiple choice questionaire 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."

Critics

  • Cause Celeb

    Cause Celeb However, reading it, I did imagine some numbers in the tradition of Bridget's calorie counter. For instance. Laugh-out-loud moments: 27. Occasions when Rosie Richardson reminded me of Bridget: 12. Number of times the grade moved from B+ t ... (read full critics)

    likesbooks published on Tue, 31 Aug 2010

4 Reviews

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  • This is the first novel by Helen Fielding of Bridget Jones fame which she wrote in 1994. Surprisingly I never read until now. It is a satirical story full of both ridiculous and tragic events about what happens when celebrity aid comes to the help of famine relief in Africa. It is this angle that ma ... (continue)

    This is the first novel by Helen Fielding of Bridget Jones fame which she wrote in 1994. Surprisingly I never read until now. It is a satirical story full of both ridiculous and tragic events about what happens when celebrity aid comes to the help of famine relief in Africa. It is this angle that makes this novel more than just another chick lit type novel. It is I read a subject Helen Fielding is interested in and she has worked in producing documentaries for relief for such famines.
    The heroine Rosie Richardson is living in London, working in publishing when we first meet her. After a disastrous relationship with Oliver Marchant a minor television celebrity who turns out to be cruel and manipulative she becomes disillusioned with her lifestyle. As a complete life change she heads for Africa to work as a Director of a refugee camp, for a charity. Four years later famine strikes and desperate for funds Rosie decides to use her celebrity acquaintances to raise emergency funds by organising a television appeal from the camp itself.
    Towards the end of the novel the descriptions of the human suffering are powerful and disturbing. It is fourteen years since this novel was written and sadly many parts of the world are still suffering in such a way, despite worldwide campaigns to try and reduce such incidents.
    I quote from the novel direct as I think it is an excellent reaction of the horrors as viewed by the aid workers and celebrities. ‘It was such a monumental horror that it felt as though nothing should be the same any more, nothing should continue: none of us should speak or do anything, the sun should not be moving across the sky and the wind should not blow. It did not seem possible that such a thing as this could be taking place without the world having to shudder to a halt and think again.’
    This might start out seeming like a lightweight novel but it certainly does not leave you feeling that way at the end!

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    Lindyloumac said on Sep 8, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

  • I loved this! I thought it was better then Bridget Jones. I could really relate to Rosie. I would recommend this friends looking for a fun read. There are some adult issues, but I think a mature high school reader would enjoy this book as well.

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    SheReads said on Mar 6, 2007 | Add your feedback

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