I am a very patient person. I can tolerate a weak storyline, provided there are good (or at least sexy) characters to make up for it. I can tolerate an excess of description, or an excess of characters, or even a book with too much going on at once. But, what I have recently discovered that I cannot tolerate is when the main character, (as in… you know… the protagonist… who you’re supposed to give a crap about) is so absolutely flawed, has no redeeming features worth noting, and does NOT redeem themselves, even though the ideal situation for redemption does arise. This is what I found with my reading of Altar Ego by Kathy Lette. What annoyed me the most about Altar Ego was the absolute lack of integrity in the protagonist. I couldn’t be on her side, because she was on her own side to such a ridiculous degree that she obviously didn’t need me there, and she wasn’t worthy of it anyway. Every single action she takes is in her own self-interest, and because of that I didn’t want her to succeed. I wanted her to fail; making this the first book that I have ever read that has had that specific end result. There were moments in the text that SHOULD have been positive moments for her as a character, as she, for example, proclaimed her love for Julian. Over and over again. I love you, Julian. I still love Julian. I love him more than anything. And every time she said that, I felt like screaming “No you don’t! You just love yourself! If you loved Julian you wouldn’t be playing with him like he is your puppet for persecution!” The way that Julian is written in this text is as though he is some form of perfect, heroic person. He is a human rights lawyer, he is fighting the good fight, and he’s saving the world. He is polite, well-spoken, educated. And so often, characters that are upper class, educated person are written as a little self-involved, self-serving and a bit of an asshole, but in this text it is the main female character who is self-involved, self-serving and a bit of an asshole, and Julian is just this good natured, genuine fellow. It felt as though Kathy Lette was trying to have a strong female lead who made these decisions that were crazy, fun, and unpredictable, but instead it just wrecked the characters and the strength of the story. I really like Kathy Lette’s writing. I find it fun, flirty, frivolous (and sexy at times), but I found this book really difficult to get through because her protagonist was just SO unlikable. I couldn’t support any of the decisions she was making, any of the actions she was taking, and I couldn’t support the fact that she ended up getting what she wanted, even though she was the last person who deserved it, and as a result, she destroyed lives and left suffering in her wake. You can have a character that has faults. You can have a character who starts off as a despicable human being, but they have to be redeemed at some point. They need to realise their faults and change themselves as a person along the way so that they deserve the happy ending. Becky didn’t do this. She is still a selfish person. She is still making terrible decisions. She is still leaving devastation in her wake. She doesn’t seem to care if her family, friends or loved ones get hurt because of her actions. She only cares about herself and though she tries to put the message across that she is just a victim of love, she is in the end, a villain. And to see her get her way. To see her get her man. It was just so very disappointing and disheartening that for now I won’t be going on to another Kathy Lette book for a while. Which, I guess, is the most significant form of literary criticism.
I enjoyed this as a great escapist chick lit read. Becky Steele proves to us that its possible to make one bloody disastrous life after another and leave a trail of destruction of friends and family in your wake but then still turn out to have some simply irresistible and redeeming character features. There were times when I didn't think Becky could possibly make her life get any worse......and then she proves me wrong.....a great read to make your life and all its flaws seem simply enjoyable.A great light-hearted read.....one to save for your holiday at a beach house.
What do You think about Altar Ego (1999)?
Nachdem ich von derselben Autorin bereits ein anderes Buch (Sushi-Schwestern) gelesen hab und für ziemlich schlecht befunden hatte, bin ich an dieses mit einigen Vorurteilen rangegangen. Und war dann doch überrascht, dass es zumindest lesbar war. Die Story (junge Frau bekommt kurz vor ihrer Hochzeit Muffensausen und hat das Gefühl, noch nicht genug erlebt zu haben - weshalb sie sich flugs in eine heiße Affäre stürzt und sich dann nicht zwischen Mann und Lover entscheiden kann) ist nicht schlechter als bei anderen Chick-Lit-Büchern (realistisch sind die ja meist alle nicht); es ist flüssig zu lesen und unterhaltsam.Als Tipp an die Autorin: wenn sie schon einen sexy Roman schreiben möchte (und die Protagonistin und andere Figuren nehmen ja kein Blatt vor den Mund, wie scharf sie aufeinander sind), dann darf sie aber auch nicht so feige sein und immer dann wenn es doch mal zur Sache geht ausblenden und zur nächsten Szene übergehen.
—Karschtl
