Friday, May 4, 2012

Novel Reflection: Life Swap


I had just finished an awesome book named "Life Swap"



 The picture that you are seeing above this line is the cover 
of a book "Life Swap"


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Jane Green



Jane Green (born May 31, 1968), is the pen name of Jane Green Warburg, an English author of women's novels. Green was born in London, England. Frequent themes in her most recent books include cooking, class wars, children, infidelity, and female friendship. She says she does not write about her life, but is inspired by the themes of her life. Life Swap is one of her successful book. 


Book Review: 

  What would you do if you were given the chance to swap your life with someone else? Maybe you are single and enjoy a great job, friends and an impressive social life but part of you wonders what its like to be married, have a wonderful husband, some beautiful children and live in big house with a couple of dogs. Or maybe you're married and have forgotten what its like to be young, free and single. What if someone offered you a swap, a life swap for a month, to find out if the grass is really greener on the other side, would you take it? 

  Well this is the story of two women who did just that. Vicky Townsley is the Features Director of the women's magazine Poise! She is young, free and single although has a male friend she can call on when required. She enjoys her social life in London but she longs for a husband, children and a big house in the country with an Aga and some dogs. So when the idea comes up to do magazine articles on life swap Vicky jumps at the chance to try married life without the commitment. 

  The person she swaps lives with couldn't be more different. For a start Amber Winslow lives in America, has a husband, two children and a nanny, one dog and a large house with swimming pool. She doesn't work but fills her days with so-called charity work which is a front for the local women competing against each other for the best clothes, houses, food and jewellery. Despite all this Amber feels something is lacking in her life and she decides that a life swap might just be the thing she needs to set her life back on track again and escape for a while from the superficialness of her day to day existence. 

  The book is more than just the actual life swap, it's looking at the characters of these two very different women and seeing what makes them tick, what they like and how they interact with the people around them. By the time the life swap happens you feel like you know these two women well and that allows you to get into the life swap and see how they respond to living each other’s lives. For the reader to be able to appreciate the life swap they must first understand what each of the women's lives is like before they swapped.

  This book is a great read, it lets you glimpse into two women's lives and then watch them as they try to take on another lifestyle with sometimes hilarious results. It also shows how they learn from each other and how they learn to appreciate what they have after being taken away from all that is familiar to them. Jane Green writes simply but allows us to really feel that we know these characters, they are written in a way that makes them very believable. Although on the surface she appears to have everything when Vicky tries out her life she realizes that there is so much missing e.g. quality time with the kids, many of her so-called friends are not genuine and she does not really know what is going on with her husband. Meanwhile Vicky’s life also has some problems, her relationships are not going well, men tend to use her and she keeps going back for more, will her trip to America make her more confident to change her life? There are a few surprise twists and turns which add to the enjoyment of this book before you get to the end. 

  I think it's always exciting when you find a new author that you enjoy as now I look out for some more of her books and see if they are as enjoyable as this one. 
  So would I do a Life Swap, no definitely not but I would recommend the book!  

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