Review: Fun, Quick Read
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 12, 2013
I'm generally not one for shorter-length stories, but Showstoppers by Helen Smith was quite enjoyable. I especially loved the typical, under-stated British reactions (or at least the under-stated reactions I typically associate with the British - it's a good thing, promise!) Very dry wit, which is also fantastic. Americans (of which I am) are such drama queens in comparison - little subtly at all.I also loved the quick writing style and the ability to not over-explain every little nuance. The best line out of the story for me was (in response to one of the poems in the poison pen letters Victoria receives) `Not exactly W.H. Auden, is it?' said Victoria. `I can't show these to Piers. He did English at Oxford. He'd be mortified.' Best. Line. Ever. Being a bit of an English snob, myself, I wholly concur. :-)The only reason I gave Showstoppers 4 stars and not 5 is the lack of character development. I realize, of course, that with shorter-length stories you're not going to get the typical amount of character development that you'd see in a standard novel, but I had a hard time keeping characters straight in my head as I read - there wasn't much to wholly differentiate them from each other. I, for one, would love to see these characters in a fully-fleshed out setting and think they'd be well-suited to a full-length novel.I did enjoy reading it, though, and I adore Ms. Smith's writing style. Based on that alone, I will be picking up other works by her as time and money permit.