Title: Coy and claustrophoba-inducing
Review: Based on the jacket blurb, I was hoping this would be a fun, literate romantic comedy. After the first two chapters, however, I found myself wishing Helen had a richer inner life, since Schine spends almost all her time detailing Helen's thoughts and feelings. Helen is too complacent and sold on her own charm and flirtatiousness to be interesting as a character we're supposed to identify with wholeheartedly. Jane Austen or Barbara Pym would know how to use irony to give us a larger perspective on Helen, but Schine really seems to expect us to fall in love with Helen. The references to books and reading (Helen owns a bookshop) end up feeling dropped in, since Helen never seems convincing as a reader and lover of books. The cutesy quality of the plot and some of the language, along with Helen's self-obsession, end up giving the novel a claustrophobic feeling.
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