Book Review: Killing Monica, by Candace Bushnell

This is Bushnell at her best – full of mordant wit, casual sex and highly conspicuous consumption.

In KILLING MONICA Bushnell spoofs and skewers her way through pop culture, celebrity worship, fame, and even the meaning of life itself, when a famous writer must resort to faking her own death in order to get her life back from her most infamous creation–Monica. With her trademark wit and style, KILLING MONICA is Bushnell’s sharpest, funniest book to date.

***

Many thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy via NetGalley. It’s been a good few years since I’ve read any Candace Bushnell books, but I remember enjoying them, and was looking forward to reading this one.

The first thing I must clarify is: I did enjoy this book. Pretty much. Overall, it was fast-paced, witty, exciting, very OTT but in a fairly satirical way, and generally quite fun.

But I also did struggle to actually get into the swing of it for any length of time. It starts off with a lot of drama, then goes to the back story and explains how they got there. In short:

Pandy (P.J. Wallis) is writer and creator of ‘Monica.’ Sondra Beth Schnowser is the actress who plays her in the film series. They become fast friends and cause a general raucous, but it soon shows Sondra Beth starts to think she really is Monica, when Pandy is the original and creator. Things come to a head, and they are no longer close at the point the book begins.

It all goes a little crazy. There was a pretty cracking twist at the end, which I had half-considered, but still enjoyed. But throughout the rest I found it really struggled to capture my attention, especially as because it went back in time from the start of the book, some things you already knew were going to happen, and I found that I wasn’t that interested in finding out the specifics. I also hadn’t really anticipated how much of a parody it would be – I mean ‘Sondra Beth Schnowser’, seriously?! – so I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so…ridiculous, if I’m honest.

As I said, it’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it, I did, I think it was just a little too OTT for me – even if it is a spoof – and I struggled to really engage with it.

Rating: