My Thoughts On Sophie Kinsella’s ‘Surprise Me’

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Surprise Me is about a couple who find out they’re likely to live past 100 years old. This causes some panic (healthy people problems?) and the two decide to give each other little surprises to keep their marriage “fresh”. My take on this book: I found the main character unrelatable and pretty forgettable and the story feels rushed. Overall a cutesy and funny book but I wouldn’t say it was Sophie’s best.

Let’s get this straight–I love Sophie Kinsella.

At this point, there is no Sophie Kinsella book that I do not own. I’d been an avid fan of hers since my sister and I first got our hands on her delightfully funny ‘Shopaholic’ series. 

Funny, easy to read, and maybe even relatable, her books are a gift to chick-lit fanatics like moi. While it is true that the writing isn’t the most superb, the characters the most developed, and the plot the most inspired, Sophie has that brilliant ability to give you a BFF who has family drama and work troubles you can mindlessly and willingly read about. 

Now, when it comes to her later works (like the last three Shopaholic books, My-Not-So-Perfect Life, and Surprise Me), I have to admit that I was much less charmed. I’ll talk about the other books in a different article, but in this one, I’ll be focusing on her latest standalone: Surprise Me.

The main plot? I have some issues with it.

The blurb for Surprise Me seemed intriguing enough. Generally speaking, I am a fan of the premise. Working to keep a marriage interesting through creating little surprises for each other? Sounds pretty promising.

Although, I must say that the characters’ motivation for doing the whole “let’s surprise each other” thing was…interesting. Dan and Sylvie (who coincidentally share names with my aunt and uncle) panic upon learning that they may have around 70 years of life left to live together as a result of their healthy lifestyles.

Yep, they panicked. Quite a confusing reaction since most people would consider this a cause to celebrate, or something they would maybe joke about briefly before moving on with their lives. It seems peculiar that this innocuous bit of information is a source of so much distress.

I remember feeling particularly flummoxed when Dan randomly blurts out his concern about having to sleep with only one person for the rest of his long, long life. Um, Dan? That’s how marriages work nowadays. I obviously don’t have any marriage experience but surely this is isn’t a concern you get 7 years into the marriage? Surely you knew that in most of the modern world, marriage generally suggests monogamy — no matter how long it lasts?

Despite this dubious ‘dilemma,’ the nuances Sophie introduces in her books still make for an entertaining read. I believe the reason why her books do so well is her heroines are imperfect beings who get themselves into undesirable, unlikely, yet often hilarious situations. Unsurprisingly, I found myself chuckling here and there at Sylvie’s antics and the typical Kinsellaesque dialogue.

Becky, Katie, Sylvie…what’s the diff?

In terms of characterization, I’ve observed that Sophie’s protagonists up to this point have almost the same personality, save a few minor quirks. In fact, there is essentially no way to tell their internal dialogues apart. Another similarity is that they’re all the type to be aware of how utterly self-destructive they can be, but they move forward with their irresponsible plans and provide the reader with terrible rationalizations. The only thing new with Sylvie Winter, really, is that she’s the only protagonist of Sophie’s that was introduced to the reader as already married.

I have to say that Sylvie is one of her more forgettable and, in my personal opinion, unlikeable main characters. While the reckless behavior worked for Becky in the Shopaholic series (she can be rather daft and frustrating sometimes but you can’t help but cheer her on), Sylvie just wasn’t as captivating. Her personality was simply underwhelming.

I was left wanting more…

…but that’s because the book didn’t really do much for me. I’m pretty disappointed by the lack of structure and seamless flow between the scenes in the book. Also, there was simply too much going on — marriage problems, work problems, family drama — and they were not quite tied neatly together in the end. In fact, I felt like it was rushed and some parts of the book were rather uneventful, almost boring.  Although, I did appreciate the main twist in this book even though I would have liked more clues or scenes that properly lead up to it so it would make for an overall realistic story.

Given the blurb, I expected for a lot of interaction between Dan and Sylvie throughout the book but I recall most of it is just Dan being weird/tense and Sylvie desperately trying to deal with too many things on her plate. Disappointingly, the  “surprise” thing became much less of a focus in the story; they pretty much end halfway into the book.

Has Sophie lost her touch?

In all honesty, pretty much after reading Shopaholic to the Stars in 2014, I have had to condition myself to expect the touch of ‘improbability’ in Sophie’s books. And unfortunately, I’ve also learned to lower my expectations. As a huge fan of many of her works, that felt incredibly wrong of me to say, but I am sure I am not the only one who feels like Sophie’s put away her writing magic. This could be the case, or perhaps being exposed to other chick-lit has somewhat affected my opinions of her books.

Whichever case, buying her books has become a habit that I don’t foresee dying soon. I still have my fingers crossed for another winning Shopaholic novel or standalones like Twenties Girl, I’ve Got Your Number, and Undomestic Goddess that will make me laugh my socks off.