Single White E-Mail

by adams-jessica

Saturday night is a nightmare when you're single. Saturday night is for couples and everyone knows it. Victoria 'Total Bloody Relationships Disaster' Shepworth is single and knows all about Saturday nights alone. A broken relationship with the guy she thought was 'the one' has led to a string of disastrous dates. Now she's fed-up with being on her own and is once again in search of the man of her dreams. But life begins to look decidedly more interesting when she becomes involved in an internet romance with glamorous Frenchman, Pierre Dubois. Little does she know he could be closer than she thinks...

Genres: Chick Lit, Fiction, Romance, Australia, Roman, Comedy

Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Rebecca]

bridget jones-like book, but set in australia, but you would never know except for the few mentions of places there. a book where the wilds of the internet are just starting and everyone online is good and pure! turns out the guy girl has been chatting with lives upstairs! and for some reason she freaks out. they sort of get together in the end, but not really. it's like there is potential for it, but it doesn't go all the way, which i like. too unrealistc.

[Ulla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leichte Kost und nur deshalb mal was Anderes, weil das Buch in Australien spielt. Ich mochte "Bridget Jones" und habe mir das Buch deshalb gekauft. Aber es ist bei weitem nicht so unterhaltsam. Ich kann es nicht empfehlen.

[Kourtney · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this more. I should have liked this more. This had all of the elements that appeal to me at the moment - 30, single, sad about it, career going nowhere - hey she wrote all about me! This book was written in the 90s with the rise of the internet. It brought me back to that time when it was exciting to talk to people you never would have ever met before the internet existed. But it just didn't do it for me. There were times I had to force myself to pick up the book to finish it (thank you reading challenge). I am surprised this book was in the top 100 chick lit books of all time, but then again I'm one of the only chick lit fans who didn't like Bridget Jones. So take my reviews with a grain of salt. I just didn't care for this one, but I didn't out and out hate it.

[Alise HARRIS · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started out really liking this book. Victoria was a funny, normal woman. Not some airhead who acted like a character from some G-rated Christian women's film. Then, when we got into all the stuff with Pierre, it was like she became a hysterical self-righteous psycho. Still, it was better than most of the stuff I've read lately.

[Yoyomaus Die Büchereule · Rating 3 out of 5]

Samstagabende sind langweilig.

Samstage sind für Paare.

Aber du bist allein.

Dein neues Date ist eine Katastrophe.

Und dann stürzt auch immer wieder dein PC ab,

dabei chattest du so gern mit deinem neuen Kumpel, der immer einen guten Rat parat hat.







Zum Inhalt:

Victoria ist verzweifelt. Immer wieder enden ihre Beziehungen in einer Katastrophe und sie fällt von einem Fettnäpfchen ins nächste. Mit dem neuen Grafikdesigner Liam soll aber nun alles anders werden – hätte ihre Chefin nicht auch ein Auge auf ihn geworfen. Zeit, um ein bisschen Frust loszuwerden. Da kommt ihr ihr neuer Chatfreund gerade recht. Mit ihm kann sie über alle Probleme debattieren, er hat immer einen guten Rat parat, er scheint sie zu verstehen, genau wie ihr nerdiger Nachbar, der ihr immer mal wieder aus der Patsche hilft, wenn die Technik nicht mehr so will, wie sie soll. Doch was soll sie nur tun, um die Samstagabende nicht mehr allein zu verbringen? Weiterhin Liam daten oder doch jemand anderes finden?

Cover:

Das Cover zeigt lediglich ein lachendes Gesicht einer Frau, was ich nicht sonderlich ansprechend fand. Zugegeben, da hätte man vielleicht doch ein bisschen mehr machen können, aber vielleicht war hier weniger mehr. Zugegriffen habe ich hier tatsächlich nur, weil mir das Buch damals von einer Schulkameradin empfohlen wurde.





Eigener Eindruck:
Die Geschichte von der chaotischen Victoria stammt aus der Feder der neuseeländischen Autorin Jessica Adams und ist schon ein bisschen aus der Mode, wenn man bedenkt, dass hier noch fleißig gechattet und Email geschrieben wird, aber damals war das topaktuell und hatte somit seinen gewissen Reiz, wenn man die Kommunikation zwischen den Charakteren verfolgen konnte. Einige werden das vielleicht ein bisschen altbacken finden und auch die Ansichten, welche die Protagonistin vertritt, aber wenn man darüber hinwegsehen kann, bekommt man eine ganz solide Geschichte, bei der unsere Victoria dazu neigt sich immer wieder kopfüber in die größten Peinlichkeiten zu stürzen. Fremdschämen ist vorprogrammiert (und das nicht zu wenig), schmunzeln und lachen durchaus auch. Aber das war es dann auch schon. Die Geschichte bleibt nur hintergründig in Erinnerung und beschäftigt im Nachgang kaum noch. Es ist eine dieser Geschichten die einfach so langhin plätschert, eine Passage aus dem Leben, gewürzt mit einem Hauch Romantik, aber selbst das kommt in dem Buch meiner Meinung nach einfach zu kurz.



Fazit:

Grundsolide Geschichte, wenn man einfach nur mal abschalten will, ohne groß nachzudenken. Die Geschichte plätschert langsam dahin und bietet kaum Nervenkitzel, aber sie ist wie gesagt ganz nett zu lesen und zu Lachen gibt es auch genug.



Idee: 5/5

Charaktere: 4/5

Logik: 3/5

Spannung: 3/5

Emotionen: 3/5





Gesamt: 3/5



Daten:

ISBN: 9783442541485

Sprache: Deutsch

Ausgabe: Flexibler Einband

Umfang: 412 Seiten

Verlag: Goldmann

[Nicole Hughes-Chen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is rather dated because - as you can tell from the title - it's about the new technology of email. It's always an issue when an author writes about technology - because technology advances so quickly it makes a book seem out of date very quickly.

However, leaving that aside, this is a brilliantly well paced and thought out book. It is exactly the sort of book I would write if I were an author! Romance, some humour, a twist or two and an ending that was unexpected.

I enjoyed the characters and thought it was obvious where the book was going - and I was write, but the book got there about a third of the way through so there was a lot more to the story than I expected.

I would definitely recommend. I note that it is set in Australia so there are a couple of references I didn't get, but it's a great well written story.

[Plum-crazy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Victoria is the usual thirty-something with a number of failed relationships behind her but supported is by the obligatory lesbian friends. When she's given a computer for her birthday she discovers the wonders of the internet & soon she's having a e-mail relationship with Pierre, who's an Englishman living in Paris - or is he... & you'd have to be pretty thick not work out who Pierre is!

On the whole it's enjoyable chick-lit but nothing out of the ordinary. It's got a very 90's feel to it but as it was published in 1999 I guess it would have.

[Jayde · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy to read book for in between the heavier ones. Romantic life in the days before mobile phones existed. Every girl will no doubt relate to some of this book.

[Lee Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

As




C l

[Digby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seichte Strandlektüre.

[Fiona Byrne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Predictable but still funny and enjoyable, wish the ending had more detail.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quirky story, easy to read, but predictable at times. I did however enjoy this book and I am keen to pick up another Jessica Adams soon!

[Carla · Rating 1 out of 5]

1/5
This was just boring

[Lexie Lou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scores points for nostalgic elements. Loses points for half-assed feminism that could have been written in a much more clever way, considering how fun the rest of the book is.

[Emer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not a bad book, and it kept me entertained for a couple of hours, but I don't believe it's a book I would read again or recommend to a friend.

To be honest, it was rather difficult for me to even get past the first chapter. At the start of the book, main character Victoria Shepworth is wallowing in self-pity after a break up. Now, I'm not quite as old as Victoria so I don't know if I would have the same reaction as her to a break up at the age of 30, but I felt her internal monologue (which took up a good 40 pages of the 400-page book) was more reminiscent of a 13 year old than a 30 year old. This was quite frustrating, particularly as she only really seems to evolve from this mindset in the last few dozen pages.

I felt the premise was interesting, however: a single 30 year old who turns to the internet (which was still in its very early days at the time of writing) in hopes of finding her soulmate. It's just a pity that the true identity of her so-called "anonymous" online love interest was blatantly obvious. As a result, a large portion of the time spent reading the book is also spent wondering "come on, Victoria, when are you going to catch on!?". Luckily, the plot after the great reveal was not a simple case of "it's okay, I love him anyway" or "I never want to see or hear from him again", so it was a bit of a toss-up as to whether Victoria and her online love interest would end up together for a (short) while. I found the ending to be quite short and lacking in detail, however, particularly as so many pages had prior been dedicated to Victoria's complaints about her love life...

Overall, this book had a fairly interesting plot, and some likeable characters, but it suffers from a rather annoying main character and a predictable plot.

[Leen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Een doorsnee chicklit verhaal, zul je denken; wel dat is het natuurlijk ook, al speelt het zich af in wijlen de jaren negentig, toen de computer en het internet een log, onbekend en daarom mysterieus en bovendien compleet overbodig attribuut was. Victoria schetst haar leven met de nodige humor doorspekt met zelfmedelijden en de wanhoop eigen aan een werkloze, single dertiger zonder toekomstperspectieven.
Anders dan bij de huidige doorsnee chicklit verhaaltjes waar boy-meets-girl gevolgd wordt door boy-screws-up-and-gets-dumped-by-girl en afgesloten wordt met een happy end à la girl-beseft-dat-boy-the-one-is-en-springt-terug-in-zijn-armen, eindigt dit boek vrij open, met voldoende ruimte voor je eigen fantasie-afloop.
Lezen!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would normally represent everything I hate; trite, cliched, mindless fiction, aimed solely at women and their ‘issues’. This book did suffer from that, not going to lie, the plot is pretty laughably transparent and some of the stereotyping is truly amazing, but despite all those things I enjoyed this book for one reason and one reason only… I did not realise it was written in 1998 and it brought back so many memories of my early days on the internet. So many things made me take a wander through my nostalgic memories. So for that reason only I liked it.

[Joke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ach, wat kan ik hierover vertellen ...
't Is chicklit. Niet onverdienstelijk. Maar het boek zal ook niet blijven hangen.
De personages waren geen stereotiepjes, dus dat was mooi meegenomen.

Opvallend: Het Net (internet) is in dit boek nieuw, nieuw, nieuw. En spannend. De meesten hebben nog geen eigen mailadres. En surfen is helemaal een avontuur. Het is best wel confronterend om op deze manier te ontdekken hoe snel alles gaat.

Aardig, best leuk, geen blijvertje.

[Deirdre · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I guessed chunks of the suspense end of the plot this was a harmless read. Nothing spectacular but entertaining enough. Victoria Shepworth has been dumped, on her 30th birthday and this is the story of her slow climb from disaster to romance.

Yeah, yeah, filled with cliche but has some entertaining moments

[Mariefitriani]

absolutely hilarious... as someone who grew up watching the internet become available to the masses gradually, this novel is like a flashback to the early 90s, when people are just learning how to use email and the neighbour actually taught her how to chat on IRC (which i actually used when i was a kid!), i know that my very best friend would enjoy this, haha

[Karschtl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Netter harmloser Chick-Lit, wenn ich mich recht entsinne spielt er sogar in Australien - was ihn in meiner Bibliographie zu einem kleinen Exoten macht. Das Internet als Single-Börse kann übrigens sogar funktionieren!!

[Seena Seena · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remember reading this book over 10years ago and from what I remembered I enjoyed it. So much so that I bought it in paperback wanting to re read it. This time round though wasn't as thrilled with it.

[Fez · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has to be the funniest book I have read in a long long time! There were moments I couldn't see what I was reading from the tears of laughter pouring down my face. You just cant beat Aussie humour! Would have been 5 stars but I was a little disappointed in the ending..... :D

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think every girl can relate to this book at some stage in their life. Over thinking about what they did wrong with their ex and how it can be fixed even though they should just leave it be. Falling for the first guy that comes after the ex. Its all so true. Could have been better written though

[Debby Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book although I wasn't altogether happy with the ending but the journey was well worth the read. There were some likeable characters and some quite introspective and thoughtful exploration of relationships,and I would definitely read more of this author's work.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

War süß (v. a. auch wegen des Neunziger-Jahre-"Das Internet ist noch so frisch"-Charmes), aber leider konnte mich die Protagonistin – Viktoria Beziehungskatastrophe Shepard – nicht so recht um den Finger wickeln und auch das Happy End war etwas sehr gewöhnungsbedürftig.

[Brie · Rating 1 out of 5]

what a bad example of "chick lit". CRAP... but an easy read.

[Julz Gibsoni · Rating 5 out of 5]

I simply fell in love with reading this book, I just didnt want it to finish.

[Hayley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting book - definitley a holiday read - it had well rounded characters and the story line was easily something that could happen for real.

[Zippy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a lover of "chicklit" but surprisingly I enjoyed this, and the characters. A very easy read, but funny and quite thought provoking in places.