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A review by rosietomyn
The Christmas Surprise by Jenny Colgan
2.0
1.5 ☆
The Christmas Surprise by Jenny Colgan confirmed something for me: Colgan has grown both better at character development and better at unpacking what appears to be internalized fat phobia in her writing over the years.
The Christmas Surprise is the 3rd and final installment of stories about Rosie Hopkins. This was published in 2014, and Colgan has written many more accessible, engaging books since then. So far, for me, I have had much better experiences with her more recent Christmas story offerings.
This story, and Rosie's entire arc, reads with a tone that is very Bridget Jones-esque. Enter "plump" girl who falls all over herself to be a problem solver (and in many cases feeling hider/stuffer) so that she can prevent everyone around her from giving up on their relationship because she dares to be "larger than a size 8" (that specific qualifier mentioned in this installation). She must be a people pleaser or they might notice!
This style also conveniently elevates the males in the story as somehow saints for not caring about poor Rosie's giant character flaw: not being tiny. How dare this girl exist in an average body. Also convenient? The men in these types of stories, and Rosie's fiance fits this bill, then direct judgement and exasperation at the protagonist because she can't just let go and be honest. You can totally be honest with me, big girl, because I'm a saint! Barf.
The second book in this series was enjoyable, and the internalized fat phobic nonsense somehow wasn't as prevalent as it is in this final piece. It was there, mind you, but not as glaring.
The Christmas Surprise still features Colgan's skill at time, place, and feel, but the characters are so plastic and negatively impacted by such vapid vanity that it's distracting. They're all awful. Even the same characters that didn't seem as awful in the previous book. And I cannot fail to mention that Colgan's handling of "Africa" is...questionable. Maybe she forgot Africa is a continent? And that "poor" and "too hot" are not primary, exclusive defining qualities of countries within the continent. Also white saviorism? There's a bit that's problematic here. I would recommend picking up one of Colgan's more recent publications. They are leaps and bounds better than this one.
The Christmas Surprise by Jenny Colgan confirmed something for me: Colgan has grown both better at character development and better at unpacking what appears to be internalized fat phobia in her writing over the years.
The Christmas Surprise is the 3rd and final installment of stories about Rosie Hopkins. This was published in 2014, and Colgan has written many more accessible, engaging books since then. So far, for me, I have had much better experiences with her more recent Christmas story offerings.
This story, and Rosie's entire arc, reads with a tone that is very Bridget Jones-esque. Enter "plump" girl who falls all over herself to be a problem solver (and in many cases feeling hider/stuffer) so that she can prevent everyone around her from giving up on their relationship because she dares to be "larger than a size 8" (that specific qualifier mentioned in this installation). She must be a people pleaser or they might notice!
This style also conveniently elevates the males in the story as somehow saints for not caring about poor Rosie's giant character flaw: not being tiny. How dare this girl exist in an average body. Also convenient? The men in these types of stories, and Rosie's fiance fits this bill, then direct judgement and exasperation at the protagonist because she can't just let go and be honest. You can totally be honest with me, big girl, because I'm a saint! Barf.
The second book in this series was enjoyable, and the internalized fat phobic nonsense somehow wasn't as prevalent as it is in this final piece. It was there, mind you, but not as glaring.
The Christmas Surprise still features Colgan's skill at time, place, and feel, but the characters are so plastic and negatively impacted by such vapid vanity that it's distracting. They're all awful. Even the same characters that didn't seem as awful in the previous book. And I cannot fail to mention that Colgan's handling of "Africa" is...questionable. Maybe she forgot Africa is a continent? And that "poor" and "too hot" are not primary, exclusive defining qualities of countries within the continent. Also white saviorism? There's a bit that's problematic here. I would recommend picking up one of Colgan's more recent publications. They are leaps and bounds better than this one.