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A review by gleefulreader
Spin by Catherine McKenzie
2.0
A book that fails to fulfill its promise on two fronts: not light enough in subject matter to be a true fluffy chick-lit type read yet not aggressive enough with its subject matter to address the issue in a satisfactiry manner. All this, assuming you can get past the unreasonable premise (twenty-something Katie gets rip-roaringly drunk (again) the night before her big interview at a music magazine. She doesn't get the job but they do offer her a chance to redeem herself and a second chance at the job. The catch is that she has to go to rehab (which, surprise!, she really needs) where a major starlet will also be checked in, spy on her, and write a tell-all article at the end of the month. Needless to stay, Kate and the starlet become friends and drama ensues.)
The book falls into the category (albeit uncomfortably) of an unchallenging beach read. There's a bit of romance (because what alcoholic doesn't come out of rehab with an attractive, well-off, understanding boyfriend?), amusing observations on the gossip/TMZ/modern celebrity culture and some Bridget Jones-type hilarity, particularly with respect to the observations of the 12-step plan and life in a rehab/therapy environment. But overall there was so much more the author could have done to elevate this book beyond what it was and I felt that it was a missed opportunity by the author. The reality is that many people leave university and, particularly those that live in the city in jobs in the arts and media, flirt with alcoholism, regardless of whether they realize it. The partying that occurs almost every night. The social life that revolves around the next bar or club or party. The constant water-cooler talk of the big nights out and the hangovers. While most will eventually leave this life behind as they settle down in their 30s, it would have been a more interesting story to look at how those patterns are set up throughout young adulthood and those that don't escape from them. This, to me, would have been far more fascinating than the half-explanation/blame of coming from a home that normalized drinking, as written by McKenzie. This could have been written to explore those themes while still maintaining the amusing Bridget Jones-seque qualities.
While we see Katie grow somewhat during rehab, and McKenzie does a very good job of showing the effects of the whole late-20s party scene, I never really felt any resolution of Katie coming to terms with her alcoholism. Since that was a major plot point in the book it needed more fleshing out than it really was at the end of the book. There were some other dangling plot lines - such as the family members that make a brief appearance before pretty well disappearing. And oddly, we never get a real sense of Katie's appearance. McKenzie describes the other characters fairly well, but with the exception of Katie's weight (we are repeatedly told how she loses weight during her time in rehab) we don't get a real sense of exactly what she looks, a fact that I realized was driving me nuts in the latter half of the book.
Overall, one of those books that is frustrating for what it could have been and wasn't.
The book falls into the category (albeit uncomfortably) of an unchallenging beach read. There's a bit of romance (because what alcoholic doesn't come out of rehab with an attractive, well-off, understanding boyfriend?), amusing observations on the gossip/TMZ/modern celebrity culture and some Bridget Jones-type hilarity, particularly with respect to the observations of the 12-step plan and life in a rehab/therapy environment. But overall there was so much more the author could have done to elevate this book beyond what it was and I felt that it was a missed opportunity by the author. The reality is that many people leave university and, particularly those that live in the city in jobs in the arts and media, flirt with alcoholism, regardless of whether they realize it. The partying that occurs almost every night. The social life that revolves around the next bar or club or party. The constant water-cooler talk of the big nights out and the hangovers. While most will eventually leave this life behind as they settle down in their 30s, it would have been a more interesting story to look at how those patterns are set up throughout young adulthood and those that don't escape from them. This, to me, would have been far more fascinating than the half-explanation/blame of coming from a home that normalized drinking, as written by McKenzie. This could have been written to explore those themes while still maintaining the amusing Bridget Jones-seque qualities.
While we see Katie grow somewhat during rehab, and McKenzie does a very good job of showing the effects of the whole late-20s party scene, I never really felt any resolution of Katie coming to terms with her alcoholism. Since that was a major plot point in the book it needed more fleshing out than it really was at the end of the book. There were some other dangling plot lines - such as the family members that make a brief appearance before pretty well disappearing. And oddly, we never get a real sense of Katie's appearance. McKenzie describes the other characters fairly well, but with the exception of Katie's weight (we are repeatedly told how she loses weight during her time in rehab) we don't get a real sense of exactly what she looks, a fact that I realized was driving me nuts in the latter half of the book.
Overall, one of those books that is frustrating for what it could have been and wasn't.