BOOK REVIEW: Miss Understanding by Stephanie Lessing

Miss Understanding is about Zoe Rose who is .. odd. She shows signs of having Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and possibly even autism, but this isn't referred to openly (at least not that I noticed, but I could have missed it - I'll explain in a bit). She has recently been made deputy editor to Issues magazine (which featured in Stephanie Lessing's first book, She's Got Issues) and since Zoe's apparently a radical feminist and Issues is a typical women's fashion glossy, you can imagine it's not exactly a match made in heaven.

Zoe starts work at Issues and immediately gets on the bad side of a couple of Fashionistas (in a very funny bathroom scene). It has to be said, no-one is convinced by Zoe's journalistic credentials and everyone is more interested in the fact that one of her enormous boobs leaps out of her blouse in the first editorial meeting. Because that's the other thing - Zoe can't dress herself. At all. Basically the rest of the plot is typical bitchy, back-stabbing, sabotage type of stuff you would expect from a book set at a glossy magazine.

For probably the first third of the book I kept putting it down and gasping with frustration. It's predictable and obvious and far-fetched, but it's also really funny and that's what kept me reading. I have a vague idea in the back of my mind that Stephanie Lessing meant Miss Understanding to be a satire on chick lit, but then I kept stopping to ponder whether satire works if you have to be told it's satire and if a satire on chick lit is just another way of saying bad chick lit.

As for Zoe being a radical feminist, she suggests articles like 'Why Your Girl Boss Is Mean to You When You Dress up for Work!' and 'Why Girls Are Mean to Redheads, Fat Girls, Girls with Freakishly Large Breasts and Sluts!' So, um, not so much (then again it is meant to be satire .. I think). There are actually some interesting (though not new) points made about the way women treat other women, but there are also too many examples woven through the book - in general the woman are stereotypes and stereotypically mean to one another - I felt a bit like Stephanie Lessing was beating me over the head with it.

The reason I'm unsure as to whether Zoe's issues are mentioned openly, is that I found myself scanning great chunks of the book - there was just too much waffle - but I kept reading because the character of Zoe fascinated me and there were some damn good jokes in there. Stephanie Lessing can really write so I hope she forgets the satire and writes a "proper" chick lit book next time.

Rating: 3 out of 5

If you like this, try The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger

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