Λονδρέζα αφιερώνεται σε καταυλισμό αστέγων της Αφρικής. Το όνομα του καταυλισμού Σαφίλα.

So incredibly well written and funny while still being a serious critique of hollywood charity. I loved it

The book was hard to get into the storyline at first and filled with lots of details where I found myself skimming a bit. Towards the end it definitely got more intriguing. Overall I liked the moral of the story and the passion Rosie has for third world countries.

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CAUSE CELEB is kind of like if someone thought, I want another CATCH-22, but I want it to be about refugee camps instead of war, and also, make it chick-lit. And to that effect, it's actually a pretty decent book. In some ways, it actually ages better than BRIDGET JONES because of the author's prescience about celebrity endorsements and influencer culture. She brutally satirizes virtue-signaling and the rather callous way that people view impoverished countries (if I don't personally see the starving children on my TV set, then suffering doesn't exist to me, etc.) and people's need to be recognized for giving.



There are a couple things that date this book-- an off-the-cuff insult about lesbians and a reference to President Reagan and Michael Jackson-- but for the most part, everything the author says in this book could probably still hold true today. How sad is that?



P.S. Speaking of sad, the way I welled up when the heroine saw all those starving people huddled by the mountain was just-- brutal.



3 stars

Not a total waste of time, but almost. Writing this review six months later and I can barely remember anything about the book.

Judul: Cause celeb
Penulis: Helen Fielding
Penerbit: Gramedia
Dimensi: 480 hlm, 18 cm, cetakan pertama Januari 2005
ISBN: 979 22 1200 0

Alasan menjadi relawan:
a. misionaris?
b. prajurit bayaran?
c. orang aneh?
d. patah hati?

Rosie Richardson merasa dirinya perpaduan antara c/d saat memutuskan menjadi relawan di Afrika. Bermula dari kesal terhadap pacaranya, Oliver yang merupakan selebriti, Rosie memilih pergi ke Afrika, tepatnya Nambula.

Dia tidak pernah menyangka bahwa ia akan betah dan semakin tenggelam dalam dunia kerelawanan. Empat tahun sudah dia lewati di Nambula, yang berkali dilanda bencana kelaparan, peperangan dan wabah penyakit.

Namun tahun ini, semua bencana itu begitu besar dan menghabiskan seluruh persediaan makanan, obat, dan juga tenaga. Mengetuk PBB dan beragam LSM lain tidak mendatangkan hasil. Hanya janji kosong. Tercetuslah sebuah ide brilian yang bisa Rosie lakukan demi jutaan nyawa yang sedang di ujung tanduk. Sayangnya hal itu mengharuskan dia kembali ke London dan berhubungan lagi dengan Oliver, segenap selebriti, dan dunia hedonis yang telah lama ia tinggalkan. Akankah rencananya berhasil?

Membaca ini, seakan saya diingatkan lagi niat dan motivasi saya bergerak sebagai relawan di tiap komunitas yang saya ikuti. Rosie menggambarkan sosok naif namun nyata dalam cerita ini. Meskipun lagi-lagi konten dewasa tetap menjadi bumbu utama, namun deskripsi Afrika, artis, dan bagaimana NGO serta PBB bergerak cukup terwakili.

Saya apresiasi 4 dari 5 bintang.

"Aku mulai merasa kesepian, lalu mengingatkan diriku sendiri bahwa banyak hal yang lebih buruk daripada sekadar sendirian." (H.92)

"Hal yang paling membuat kita ingin menangis adalah ketika ada orang begitu manis terhadap kita." (H.281)

"Peristiwa yang begitu nyata dan menyedihkan bagi kita, bisa menjadi hiburan bagi orang lain. Itu salah satu cara mudah membuat kita tampil menarik, tapi juga murahan." (H.356)

Meta morfillah

I loved this book. It's been sitting on my book shelves for probably close to ten years and I finally read it. I'm glad that I did.

Ugh. It was not funny. I tossed it in the recycle bin because I don’t want anyone else to make the mistake of reading it.

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.

I picked this up a few years back, tried to read it but never really got into it. I picked it up recently and I love it, I finished it in under 2 days. This is Fielding's 1st novel, before Bridget Jones made her career. The writing style is very different, the subject matter much more serious.

The main character, Rosie, is a refugee camp administrator in a fictional African nation trying to get the world to pay attention to a famine that everyone says is not going to happen. And no one will listen to her, not the UN, not the local governments.

So she decides to use celebrities to get the money and food need to help the tens of thousands of refuges she expects will start showing up at her camp. It is at times funny and heart-breaking, I don't know how Fielding accomplished that balance. Fielding also writes some good commentary for and against the practice of using celebrity figures to raise awareness of genocide, famine, floods, wars, etc. Overall, this was a surprisingly entertaining and meaty story. I can't bring myself to categorize this as "chick lit"

To debiut literacki pani od Bridget Jones.
I niestet daleko mu do fenomenu Bridget.
Nudzilam sie cholernie, choc ksiazka porusza wazny temat, dopiero koncowka w miare mi sie podobala.
Autorka ukazuje dwa rozne swiaty. Z jednej strony swiat londynskiej telewizji, gwiazd i showbiznesu. Z drugiej, kraj w biednej Afryce, gdzie glod, choroby i plagi dziesiatkuja ludzi.
Te dwa rozne swiaty uzmyslowily mi , ze mamy wiecej niz potrzebujemy, a konsumpcionizm zamyka oczy na drugiego czlowieka, ktory nie z wlasnego wyboru urodzil sie w tej biedniejszej czesci swiata.

Bridget Jones light but a good read with some serious points being made underneath the satire.