shopaholic

I read the Shopaholic series when they were new - at the time (2001), I found it a guilty pleasure. I liked the humble details - how Becky Bloomwood likes the cushy chair where she picks photos for the financial magazine's cover, how she wishes someone would stop and ask what labels she's wearing, how she proudly ignores the newsstand (but only b/c she's read all the magazines already). It was cute and homey, easy to relate to her struggles of stopping spending. My favorite episode was when she tries to follow the thrifty book's advice. I read the first three books in the series, but lost interest as the later ones seemed painfully dopey. It lost the relatable touch and became just an airhead doing horrifically irresponsible things and yet everyone loves her anyway.

But I did rent the movie (for ninety-nine cents) and found it a pleasant diversion. The actress was cute.

What I was thinking, though, is that the Shopaholic book is a WARNING in disguise of the economic collapse of last year. Seriously. The main character is a financial journalist who knows nothing about finances. Shades of all the newspapers that missed the story of the bubble. She's told to get a job in the financial services industry in London to get rich - exorbitant bonuses sounds familiar? And, of course, the main plot - she can't stop SHOPPING despite that she has no money. It's like a predictor of the future. All those problems which seemed so amusing had some horrifically ugly consequences for us all.