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The Diva's Guide to Selling Your Soul |
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Book Reviews -
Women's Fiction
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Written by Jennifer Thompson
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 The Diva's Guide to Selling Your Soul, by Kathleen O'Reilly
Need an escape into the fantasy world where you can have perfect hair,
thin thighs, a glorious outfit and women wanting to be you? The you
need to meet Lucy and join her Life Enrichment Program, otherwise known
as selling your soul to the devil.
In Kathleen O'Reilly's The Diva's Guide to Selling Your Soul,
the devil is alive and well and living in Manhattan as the Post's
dishiest gossip columnist. She can make or break people, and she's
always looking for new souls. Readers are introduced to Lucy and her
ways by V. (anonymity is crucial in the program). V. is an It girl -
her Sonata line of handbags are the bags to carry, and V. has all the
trappings of the good life.
Once she reached level two in her powers
she gave herself the perfect mahogany hair, the firm thighs and the
wardrobe and jewels she'd always dreamed of. All she has to do to earn
more powers (mind reading, behavior modification, memory creation and
replacement) is recruit more members, that is, bring Lucy more souls.
V.'s troubles only begin when she starts having odd pangs of wanting to
do good. The LEP doesn't require people to do bad things, per se, but
it does require its members to be apathetic, to not do good things. So
when V. starts having these twinges of conscience, she finds herself at
odds with the devil.
Enter Nathaniel, hunky, sweet and most decidedly not a member. How can
V. pursue a relationship with a man when she can't even allow herself
to care about anyone or anything? V. sets off to make the best of her
situation by saving souls one at a time, even when they don't know
they've been saved. Ultimately, Lucy gives her the choice of a lifetime
and V. must decide what she's willing to do in the name of goodness.
O'Reilly, when asked what her inspiration was for writing The Diva's Guide to Selling Your Soul, had this to say:
"Actually,
when I heard the title The Devil Wears Prada, I said to myself, 'Wow,
what an awesome story! The devil has invaded New York and is running
the place.' Then I found out the book was about the fashion industry,
and I was really disappointed (if you could see my wardrobe, you'd
understand)., so I realized that there was this great story that needed
to be told. And voila! V, or Everywomen, as I tend to say, emerged."
The
transition between wanting it all at the mere cost of her soul to
wanting to save the world wasn't always a smooth one, but ultimately
one can see in V. what lurks in most of us in varying degrees: the
push-pull between wanting the good life and living a principled life. The Diva's Guide to Selling Your Soul
certainly has a lot to say about those with power, money and fame and
how they might have gotten there, but don't confuse this book with dry
social commentary. It's a page-turner and a fun read. I read it in
three nights, wanting to see how V. and Lucy finally settle their
differences, and curious to see if V. and Nathaniel end up with a
chance at love at all.
Copyright 2005
Reprint information. |
