Wednesday 23 April 2014

Book Review: The Girl Who Was Saturday Night by Heather O’Neill



This title has got Bon Jovi’s Someday I’ll be Saturday Night stuck in my head.

At birth, Nouschka forms a bond with her twin that can never be broken.
At six, she’s the child star daughter of Quebec’s most famous musician.
At sixteen, she’s a high-school dropout kicking up with her beloved brother.
At nineteen, she’s the Beauty Queen of Boulevard Saint-Laurent.
At twenty, she’s back in night school. And falling for an ex-convict.
And it’s all being filmed by a documentary crew.

This summary is so misleading. I was thinking it some The Truman Show like book, no it just her dad famous and she was famous because of him. She was part of a documentary when she was a kid and then a documentary crew show up after she became a Beauty Queen and she doesn’t even agree to take part in the documentary. I thought it would be like staging of her life.

What did I actually think of this novel? Now that’s a question. It was interesting, especially since my home country is deciding on Independence soon. The book was sort of focus on Quebec wanting to be independent from the rest of Canada and set around 1995 Vote.  They obviously don’t become independent.

The characters were a troubled lot. Nouschka quit school because her twin brother did but going back now. Everyone in this book has major issues, not as characters but as people. Nouschka does grow as person. You do feel for the characters at certain parts.

The thing I liked about this book was writing style. O’Neil has this arty, poetic thing going on. Also wanting to know what these half-crazed people were going to do next and what was meant by the chapter headings. There were lines from the actual chapter I think.

Overall, I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. I’m not really what to think of this book. I mean, it definitely has plot and the characters are well developed but the book’s most appealing aspect is the writing style. I would recommend it on that based on the style, so if you like sort poetic writing then this book is for you.

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