Vivien Mennyei Fagylaltozója (2000) - Plot & Excerpts
This book is just such an enticing proposition, a beautiful retro cover and promises of a lovely story as sisters Anna & Imogen take over the Brighton Ice Cream shop left to them by their grandmother. Anna is the solid, stable sister in a relationship with divorced dad Jon. Imogen is the free spirit who is travelling around Thailand and journeys home to help take over the business. It has the setting for a great tale.I found that what offered so much promise at times fell a little flat. Too much story, not enough book to do it in. We meet the family matriarch Vivien at the start of the book an her legacy is left behind but it's not fully explored, she's a bit player and it would have been nice to have blended her story a bit more with that of her granddaughters. In fact that seems to be the ongoing fault with this book.Story lines are introduced then almost thrown aside as we move into the next. Anna's journey to Florence learning to make gelato should have been a book on it's own. The backstory of their father's breakdown, Anna & Imogen's stories all jumble around vying for attention and none really get it. It feels rushed and a little empty, it didn't pull enough emotion out for me.The result was the characters remained one dimensional and a little fickle. The shop never quite the story, yet it was sold as the story. I just felt like I'd ordered Italian Gelato and ended up with cheap supermarket vanilla. It wanted to be up there with Colgan's Rosie Hopkins yet it let itself down.It's a pleasant summer read but it won't remain with me as a favourite. The cover makes me want to sink my head into a pot of delicious raspberry gelato. That's what made me pick up this book from the shelf. Also, the description looked kinda good! A story about two sisters that start a business together. I like that kind of stuff so I bought it.The ice cream parlour belonged to Vivien, Anna and Imogen's grandmother. She's a good woman, loved by everyone, that likes to share what she has with those less fortunate. Anna and Imogen are very different from each other. Imogen loves travelling and havin fun, while Anna is content with living a more conventional life, this is, finishing uni, find a job, find a boyfriend, move together and get married. In fact, she just started the phase "move together" by buying an apartment with her boyfriend Jon after a couple of years together. About Imogen, they say she's the spitting image of her father. Which seems to annoy her mother, who dislikes those traits on her and is not happy with the kind of life her daughter is living.The girls have an uncle called Martin, who married a french woman. They live in France. I think they have no children.Also we got Alfie. Jon's son from his first marriage. Alfie is 3 and speaks about himself in third person. Jon and his mother divorced when he was 1 because Jon caught her cheating on him with the neighbour. The best of the book, the recipes in the end! Can't wait to do the blueberry one. The worst, that most of the situations were forced by the author to fit into the story. Even if that means making her characters do unreasonable or absurd things.SPOILERS WARNING!!!! And now my personal opinion:A lot trouble that happened in the book, could have been solved by talking about it first. I mean... the author wanted Anna and Imogen to inherit the ice cream parlour, she wanted it to be a surprise but... that is a serious thing that should have been talked beforehand. A shop requires a lot of sacrifice and commitment. Nana Vivien knew that Anna just got promoted to her new job, and Imogen was living abroad. If they wanted to run the ice cream parlour, Anna would've had to resign, and Imogen would've had to leave Thailand and come back to England, and maybe she didn't want to do that! Inheriting a shop is something too serious and lifechanging to just throw the news to you like that!Convenience strikes back after a few chapters, when Anna and Imogen take over the business. Anna decides to go on a trip to Italy to assist to a gelato academy. That is three weeks after she resigns from her new job and starts focusing on Vivien's Heavenly Ice Cream Shop. In that time, she was a bit busy, but she had time to take a weekend out with her boyfriend. Nothing wrong here. But apparently, when she comes from her one week gelato course, she finds out that her boyfriend has been sacked and he didn't say a word to her because he felt too embarrassed. Anna of course is angry, everyone would be. But he then quickly defends himself by turning the tables and accusing Anna of leaving their relationship in the background. He also says, he doesnt feel at home anymore and he's going back with his ex that cheated on him. Leaving Anna alone with the burden of being the one to blame for the relationship failure, and just a month after buying an apartment together, and just because she's a bit busy with a new business! Sounds realistic to me.While Anna is in Italy, Imogen makes a couple of big purchases without consulting her sister's opinion. I mean... she is in charge, that's true, but Imogen please, your sister is your business partner aswell, you don't just spend all your budget without asking her first! And that moment when Finn breaks into the garage to fix the engine, and Imogen catches him. Finn, we know your intentions are good, but why did you have to sneak in like a burglar? Well the answer is to conveniently create awkward moments with Imogen, so people won't suspect they'll end together. O wait...Do people act like this in real life? Because I don't know of anyone who does... when I buy a real life based story, I want to read something realistic, not a book full of silly easy fixes and cheap coincidences.
What do You think about Vivien Mennyei Fagylaltozója (2000)?
Nice, easy-to-read chick lit. It was enjoyable reading on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
—aquarius
