Distret

There was plenty to like about this one, and plenty to not like. In the end, this book was just kinda there for me, completely neutral. It definitely felt like Fielding was testing out her noveling legs with this one, and the growing pains of this book eventually lead to the awesomeness of Bridget Jones. Some of my favorite elements of this book made it into Bridget Jones as well, such as the arrogant charming boyfriend clashing with the practical smart potential boyfriend, the completely relatable female protagonist, and the description of frustrations that professional women face daily. I also appreciated the juxtaposition that Fielding pulled off in switching between life in a refugee camp with its horrors and bureaucracies, life amongst celebrities with their vanity and disconnection from the real word, and then the very real and startling results when the two conflicting worlds finally clash.

But, sadly, I must admit that I was also quite bored by large sections of the book, including scenes that should have been the most compelling. Our protagonist goes on an action-adventure in the middle of the book that somehow, despite explosions and adventure and romance, seemed to drag so badly that I found myself just skimming in an attempt to get through it all. In scenes such as this, Fielding seemed to rely on simple play-by-plays of the plot's occurrences, making the otherwise engaging writing suddenly turn into what felt like a dry non-fiction. It made me upset with myself when I realized that I was much more interested in Rosie's stupid girly crush on a celebrity than I was in her heroic adventure in Africa, but I think this was because the human element that Fielding usually conveys so well was suddenly missing from these more exotic scenes. When Rosie gets back into her camp and interacts with the refugees and aid workers there, things get a bit better. My other gripe is that I also found myself confusing the celebrities a bit, as there are many, many listed and to me it wasn't clear which ones we were supposed to actually remember. (Similarly, I also got the various aid agency middle-manager types confused, but this didn't really bother me since I think that added to the feeling of hopelessness that Rosie felt in her predicament.)

So overall this worked pretty well for me as a plane/beach read that I could knock out in a couple days, with potential here and there, but also with uneven storytelling that kept me from getting as engrossed as I would have wanted.

I seriously didn't like any of the characters in this book. It was so hard to get through. It just didn't have any elements of true entertainment where I was really interested or wanted to know what happened in the end.

It's not quite as funny as Bridget Jones, not quite as adventurous as Olivia Joules, but for me, Cause Celeb has more heart, and truth, than any other Fielding book. The comedy is strange and honest. I wonder if Lena Dunham of GIRLS fame has ever come across this book, because Rosie and Dunham's Hannah character are cut from the same cloth.

The story is funny, gut-wrenching, loving, and inspiring. Fielding does an excellent job of posing some pretty serious questions to the reader including, what drives us to help, or not help, others? She's wrapped a human interest story into a fun, chick-lit book. I first read the book ten years ago and it continues to resonate with me to this day.

Reading this book is like sitting with your butt in the middle of two chairs.
I really like BJD 1 and 2 (yes, the second book too!) and i hated olivia joules. So when i picked this one out of my shelf, i had the intention to read it as fast as i could and to give it away to whoever would be kind enough to take it.
But i don't know anymore. Because even though reading about rich laughable people doing humanitarian work is not something that is entertaining to me, i still think this that this book has some good points. I'll wait to find some thick self centered friend to give this one to, as a hint.

This book is a mix between Bridget Jones' Diary, An imperfect offering and Eat Pray Love.

The thing is, with Fielding, you want to hate her characters because they are a satire of the modern, unsatisfied, urban, love mess, 30-something woman; but because the author is really talented she makes you like the book. Or at least not hate it.
There are issues with going to Africa to "find your true self" and the author makes it clear that she knows it but that's sill how her character is.

To make it short i didn't like the part about Africa. It was realistic, accurate, and relevant but i didn't like to read about it in a book labeled as comedy, i didn't like the romance in it, i didn't like that Nambula is fictional (i can see why the author chose this option but it still irks me), i felt butt hurt when the celebrities got involved in it and i cringed until the last pages of the book, i didn't like O'rourke (irrelevant character).

On the story line itself, i didn't quite like how the 4 years gap is managed. It was not credible to me.

I liked how this book made fun of the famous people, journalists and of Rosie herself but it was still not enough for me. Every time I read something by this author i get mad at some topics that are brought in even when it's clear as day that the author knows what she's doing (she knows that her characters are wrong on such or such thing). I would like for them and their ideas to get strongly bashed by some others characters in the book and not just as an innuendo. I want things to get more pointed at in the book itself. Generally whatever happens in the sphere of the romantic relationship is divided into white (o'rourke) and black(olliver) easily but everything else stay in the gray zone.

The whole abusive relationship part was nice to read because it felt real. It was not as humorous as in BJD because this time, the female lead was really into a bad relationship and it was well portrayed.

Refreshing. "Chicklit" with a twist.

I was pleased to learn that Helen Fielding has past experience concerning relief work and refugee camps in Sudan, which added plenty in terms of credibility to this story.

Also, in comparison to some of her other books, this seems much less wishy-washy and grounded. By lacing the story with romantic drama throughout, Fielding manages to keep a light tone apart from in the most tragic of scenes, which provided a sharp contrast. The writing was a good balance between descriptive and to-the-point.

Happy endings all round, but nothing unbelievable. Thoroughly enjoyable, with provoking insights.

Kind of interesting book about a chick who gets ditched and moves to Africa to help at a refugee camp. She later comes back and realizes the superficiality of the life she had left.

I wanted to like this book, it just didn't come together for me. It was not believable.

This was a very good read, and whoever wrote the blurb for it should be fired immediately.
This isn’t “hilarious” or a “spoof”.
There are humorous moments throughout, but a lot of darkness too..but it isn’t overdone or overly dramatic.

Having read Bridget Jones & another novel of Fielding's I was excited to read Cause Celeb. From the very beginning I was disappointed. The lead character is not really developed & she makes choice that I cannot understand or respect. She ended up driving me nuts, as did almost every character in the book. The dialogue for certain characters, like Nadia & Andre, was very annoying & was hard to read smoothly. There is also very little humor or romance in this book. While you feel for the refugee story the rest of it is pure cr*p and should be avoided.

Melting in the same pot a chick-lit with (a sort of...) a humor book and a story about disasters is like combining a rhino, a goose and a donkey in an orchestra.
It may sound well, even if I doubt it very much, but you might not find the proper audience...
So, three stars are partly for the soul and, most important, for Helen's pedigree in Africa.

This is gutsily written, and highly informative when it comes to the ins and outs of running a refugee camp, and the difficulty of raising awareness and money when people aren’t seen to be “starving enough”. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that tackles the subject with quite such zeal. It was an eye-opener. And yet the storyline back in London, where the narrator gets involved in an emotionally abusive relationship with a media personality and rubs noses with all sorts of flamboyant (and almost universally dislikeable) slebs, sits uncomfortably alongside it. Both were well written, but despite the fact that having the celebs come over and support an emergency appeal was a key part of the novel, the two strands of the story felt horribly jarring. Maybe it’s significant that there is a nostalgic feel to the London sections with the yuppie culture (at its height when the novel came out), and that only recently have questions started to be seriously posed about “white saviours” and the focus on celebrities by organisations like Comic Relief. Either way, an informative read but one that never felt quite like a rounded whole.