Book: Remember Me?
Author: Sophie Kinsella
Publisher: The Dial Press
Rating: 3/5
By: Jann Lee
Date: May 06, 2008

With lazy hot days approaching, light summer reading is to be expected. And one book hot off the press is Remember Me? by chick-lit authour extraordinaire Sophie Kinsella. The British authour, who is well-known for her best-selling series Confessions of a Shopaholic, has recently introduced a new heroine, Lexi Smart.

Lexi is a 28-year-old business executive who wakes up from a coma with retrograde amnesia. She cannot remember anything that has happened in the last three years and is shocked to find a whole new life awaiting her. In her mind, it was just yesterday when she was a working girl in a big business grumbling about her salary to her friends. The book goes on to describe her adjustment to her lavish lifestyle consisting of her rich husband, job and friends. It also questions a larger theme that readers can relate to: How far are we willing to sacrifice everything in order to achieve our dreams?

Although the book tries to answer and explore this theme, it doesn’t even touch upon it until the climax of the novel. And by then, it has probably already frustrated readers with the trivial, glacial plot consisting of Lexi’s daily adventures. The book would have been better if the main character was lovable. Unfortunately, unlike the ditzy but charismatic Becky Bloomwood, from the Shopaholic series, Kinsella’s new heroine is at best forgettable. Lexi is shallow and well, just plain boring.

Though the book seemed like a leftover collection of Kinsella’s ideas, it doesn’t completely fail as a light read. Remember Me? would be great for those boring days in the sun or for one long reading at the couch. Once you start, you should finish as you will probably forget the book if you put it aside. At best, it has some similarities to Kinsella’s more successful books and occasionally will make you chuckle. However, if you want a more entertaining read, I say stick to reading or re-reading the Confessions of a Shopaholic series.