Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination

Erg leuk boek. Hilarisch en vol fantasie. Totaal ongeloofwaardig spionageverhaal, maar dat stoorde me geen seconde. Sterker nog, ik genoot met volle teugen van de totaal overtrokken avonturen van Olivia.

"Ahahah!! AAHHAHAHA!!!" you think. "SHE'S BACK!"

Alas, no, it's not another Bridget Jones (wise decision on Ms. Fielding's part). Olivia Joules is self-assured and smart as a whip, with not even a hint of frump. But, like our friend Bridge, she is a bit loony.

Olivia works as a freelance journalist, and is always getting chastised by her boss for her overactive imagination (locust plague in Africa, etc.). She goes to Miami to cover a product launch and is swept up into the life of Pierre Feramo, who is handsome, rich, good looking, and probably not French.
After the explosion of a Nursing Home/Cruise Ship, Olivia begins thinking that maybe Pierre Feramo and his crew are not all that they seem to be. So what does she do? She asks for an show more extension in Miami to cover another story...

All I can say about this book is "PLEASE, SIR, I WANT SOME MORE" (even though I know a woman wrote it). It's one of those get-lost-in, can't-put-down, type of stories. I literally had to make myself stop reading so I would go to sleep. It was that good.

I really love the writing style, especially the little descriptions of little things. That's a lovely little thing that she does.

The characters are really very... well characteristic of themselves. I mean you get to know them, how they look, how they move, what they'll think of this or that... They were really very well developed. I liked them all, especially Olivia (which is pretty important, you know). She is just so mischievous for a woman around her age (I never really figured out what that is).

The only thing that bugged me about the book was that at the end, a character, Scott, kept calling her "baby". "Ok, baby, you're on" or stuff like that. It was SOOO annoying but maybe Fielding finds that appealing... or it's like some stereotype she has about American men or something.

I would have really loved to see an alternate resolution because I really liked a certain character that didn't make it to a *ahem!* certain end of a certain story.

Anyway, lovely book, lovely people, lovely writing, lovely, lovely, lovey love love. show less

Freaking brilliant! Outrageously untrue, action/adventure/romance(just a tinsy bit). Joules is a journalist with the curiosity of a tiger cub and the courage to back it up. SHE"S AWESOME and my new favorite hero. Outstandingly British, stiff upper lip, situation well in hand and all that. Absolutely WoNderFUL!!!

'It's me', she whispered urgently into the receiver.
Olivia, it's the middle of the bloody night!'
'I know, I know. Sorry. But it's very important.'
'OK, what? Don't tell me. You've discovered Miami is a giant hologram designed by aliens? You're getting married to Elton John?'
'No', said Olivia. She began to have second thoughts about asking Kate's advice if she was going to be like this.
'What? Come on.'
'I think I've found Osama Bin Laden!'

Has multi-lingual freelance journalist Olivia Joules really stumbled upon the notorious terrorist hiding in plain sight as a Hollywood producer, or is she letting her imagination run away with her as usual? A strange mixture of fluff and Al Quaeda terrorism.

Olivia Joulles is not a book that gets off to the best of starts, but you need to put your apprehension aside and read it, damn you!

I have to admit that I love this book. Sadly, I don't own it (hints, people). It's a tale of a very overactive imagination in the hands of a journalist. I must admit to having similar thought processes to those mentioned in this book whereby Olivia assumes that seemingly normal people are spies and terrorists out to get her. Of course, this wouldn't be quite so brilliant if it didn't turn out that some of her crazy imaginings came true!

#83, 2004

This was a fun book. Fluffy, but fun. By the author of the "Bridget Jones" books, it's about a journalist whose job forces her to cover "soft" news - fashion, mostly - when what she really wants to do is cover real news stories - world events, terrorism, that sort of thing. The problem is that her boss (and others) don't take her seriously because of her "overactive imagination." So, when she suspects that a French film producer she's met in Florida (while covering the launch of a face cream) is really a member of al-Qaeda, the few people she tells laugh in her face. Even she can't decide if she's jumping to an outlandish conclusion or not, but she decides to pursue "the story" anyway. I don't want to say anything more, or risk show more spoiling the plot which was very unbelieveable and over-the-top, but was also totally unpredictable. Unexpected things kept happening that surprised and amused me, and it was a fun ride. Olivia is a great character - sweet, funny, and able to laugh at herself when she's being ridiculous - which she is, at times, as are we all. But she's also right about things more often than not.

On somewhat of a side-note, she has a set of "Rules for Life" (which struck me as interesting, considering the previous book I read was The Four Agreements. There is some overlap in the two lists ::grin::). I include them here because I liked them, and wanted to be able to reference them later. Actually, I'm planning to create my own list, and may swipe a few of these. ::grin::

Olivia's Rules for Life:

1. Never panic. Stop, breathe, think
2. No one is thinking about you. They're thinking about themselves, just like you.
3. Never change haircut of colour before an important event
4. Nothing is either as bad or as good as it seems
5. Do as you would be done by, e.g., thou shalt not kill
6. It is better to buy one expensive thing that you really like than several cheap ones that you only quite like
7. Hardly anything matters: if you get upset, ask yourself, "Does it really matter?"
8. The key to success lies in how you pick yourself up from failure
9. Be honest and kind
10. Only buy clothes that make you feel like doing a small dance
11. Trust your instincts, not your overactive imagination
12. When overwhelmed by disaster, check if it's really a disaster by doing the following: a) think, "Oh, fuck it," b) look on the bright side, and,if that doesn't work, look on the funny side. If neither of the above works then maybe it is a disaster, so turn to items 1 and 4
13. Don't expect the world to be safe or life to be fair
14. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow
15. Don't regret anything. Remember there wasn't anything else that could have happened, given who you were and the state of the world at that moment. The only thing you can change is the present, so learn from the past.
16. If you start regretting something and thinking, "I should have done . . . " always add, "but then I might have been run over by a lorry or blown up by a Japanese-manned torpedo."

Olivia Joules was a quick, easy read - I read large parts of it while supervising my son at an indoor play area, and I was able to keep track of things in spite of having to shift my attention back and forth incessantly. (Read a bit . . . "Walk!" . . . read a bit . . . "Go down the slide on your BOTTOM" . . . read a bit . . . "Do you need me to button that for you?" . . . read a bit, etc.). ::grin:: I've read all of Fielding's books, and compared to the others, probably enjoyed this more than any of them, with the possible exception of Edge of Reason, which I also thought was hilarious. show less

A stronger editorial hand was needed for the "jump-cut" sections of the book (and yes, a film/video term is very appropriate given that HF clearly had movie options in mind when she write this book;) and while not great literature, it was silly, fun and entertaining.