Cause Celeb

By: Helen Fielding

Narrated by: Bernadette Quigley

Deftly skewering the world of celebrity fundraising, Fielding has created an alternately comic and moving satire that straddles the glitter of media London and the horrors of an African refugee crisis.

Rosie Richardson, a 20-something literary puffette, is in a totally non-functional relationship with an unevolved but irresistible adult male - a hotshot TV presenter who plunges her into the glitzy, bitchy, inane lifestyle of London's It people. Disillusioned with the celebrity world, Rosie escapes to run a refugee camp in the African jungle.

When famine strikes and a massive refugee influx heads for the camp, governments and agencies drag their heels. Bringing her former media savvy to the fore, realizing the only way to get food out fast is to bring celebrities first, Rosie turns to the life and man she fled to organize a star-studded emergency appeal from famine-racked Africa.

Seamlessly bridging cataclysm and farce through the insights of a modern-day everywoman, Cause Celeb crackles with insight into fame, passion, and altruism in our time.

©2002 Helen Fielding (P)2005 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

brilliant

I loved this book. Written before her Bridget Jones books, it definitely has a more serious tone - the subject matter being famine and politics in Africa and the hypocritical, self-absorbed behavior of the rich and famous. Yet the book still has plenty of her signature humor and despite the heaviness of the subject at times is still essentially an enjoyable read. And it made me laugh out loud which I don't often do when I read (listen) even if I am amused by a book. I understand she has written a new book - something about a spy - and I hope that it too will make it to Audible.

satirical/heartfelt account of human inequity...

...shines light on the range of responses to unspeakable conditions of others, from the cruel indifference that perpetuates it to the compassion that can help ameliorate it -- and the possibilitty of redemption when people confronted close up with the results of those conditions are moved to act. The narrator is transformed by becoming part of the solution, and in the course of so doing empowers herself in her personal relationships.The author balanced all of us by allowing for human foibles even in those who listen to their better angels.

Meh

Confusing character differentiation. Relationships that command no interest. Definitely not in the spirit of Bridget Jones.