Review - The Undomestic Goddess

The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella

The Undomestic Goddess, by Sophie Kinsella, is about a workaholic who loses her job as a high-powered lawyer. The main character, Samantha, appears to have everything going for her. She is incredibly bright with a photographic memory and the ability to calculate complex equations in her head. Her legal prowess is admired by all whom she works with, and she’s a seriously hard worker who has earned the respect and admiration of the top lawyers in her firm. It seems the only thing Samantha isn’t good at is cooking, cleaning, and finding a man. She has no time for these endeavors, as she works basically 24-7.

Then the unthinkable happens, when she makes a mistake that costs tons of millions of pounds. Unable to handle it, Samantha flees, taking a random train and riding it until the very last stop, which happens to be an ultra quaint little English village. There she knocks on the door of the first home she sees, hoping they can give her some Asprin for the severe headache she’s developed. Well, one thing leads to another, and because they think she’s there to apply for a housekeeping position, Samantha winds up staying on as the couple’s cook and cleaner. Of course, she has no idea what she’s doing, but she soon learns (with the help from a local woman) how rewarding preparing food and ironing can really be. Plus, Samantha loves having her weekends off, which gives her time to hang out at the local pub and fall in love with a really great guy.

So then the central question becomes, given the chance to go back to her old life, would Samantha do so? Have women become so consumed with work that they’ve forgotten about what’s really important? Which is more fulfilling, a career, or caring for a family? While Samantha claims she is only one woman and is not speaking for anyone other than herself, the same can’t be said of Kinsella. She is making a statement here, whether she intends to be or not.

First off, Kinsella has written yet another extremely fun read, full of humor and suspense. She is a master at letting her characters make mistake after mistake, while the reader, in sweet agony, is left wondering how it will all work out. Still, as a pseudo-career woman myself, I could not help but be just a little offended by the book. It seems that all the characters in The Undomestic Goddess who have opted for career over family are shallow, competitive, and mean. All the characters who Samantha then meets in her new life are sincere, kind, and if they have any flaws at all, they are quirky, loveable flaws.

Real life is rarely so black and white. And while one could easily dismiss this book as a beach-read, not meant to make any sort of controversy, again, it’s not that simple. Many, many women struggle to find a balance between cooking, cleaning and caring for their loved ones while pursuing a career that is intellectually fulfilling. To create a portrait that so obviously labels one as bad and the other as good minimizes that struggle. Would it have been so hard to add in some complexities to all the characters? Perhaps then Samantha’s struggle would have mirrored more closely the one which thousands of real women deal with everyday.

Still, The Undomestic Goddess is definitely worth reading, especially if you are a Kinsella fan. You’ll wind up caring what happens to Samantha, because she is a well-developed character who comes to realize that life rarely offers up easy answers. Unfortunately, she is the only character who does so.