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You wouldn’t think that a book about starvation in Africa could be funny without being heartless, but Helen Fielding manages just that in her debut novel (this one came out before .nightsandweekends.com/article.php?acode=NW0200235″>Bridget Jones’s Diary).
Fielding manages to give the subject a light touch without treating it at all lightly. So if such a subject scares you (if, for instance, you’ve seen too many of those late-night appeals that make you feel guilty), don’t let those associations put you off reading this book.
I think the reason this book succeeds is its compassion: not just compassion for African war refugees and relief workers, but also for celebrities and TV producers and for everyone’s various strengths and weaknesses.
To sum up the story in a sentence: Rosie Richardson tells the story about how she left a very complicated love life in London to work as an aid worker in Africa, and then how she returned to London to organize a celebrity appeal to help her camp’s desperate situation.
In this book, Fielding deftly recognizes maudlin sentimentality, self-righteousness, and selfishness, and recognizes them without accepting any of them. The result is a remarkably moving book that’s humorous at times. A book that’s very forgiving of human foibles but also doesn’t let humanity get away with ignoring things like the plights of others either.
This is a book that’s clearly worth spending some time with. So, like I said, don’t get scared away because of the subject matter.
