Gin & Tonic and Cucumber

Woohoo, chick lit! I've been hearing about it for ages! Apparently, these kinds of books are a guilty pleasure. They're light, they're a quick read and they play right into the heartstrings of women, whether they want to admit it or not. They are also a bit sexist, and talk (again and again!) about love. Not romantic love like Romeo and Juliet, but rather the everyday love, disappointing, passionate or unreasonable, of people who don't always know exactly what they want in life. A human love, so banal that we don't understand why girls like to dive into it so much, as if they only thing they could think about.

But I'm a girl, and I admit that I like girl stuff. I like women's magazines about beauty and relationships, I like romantic comedies. I just never dared to read "chick lit", as if it was vulgar to associate literature with such low concerns.

Fortunately, I have changed, thanks to my introduction to phenomena like Harlequin or Danielle Steel. In my opinion, a book can't be bad if it manages to keep us on the edge of our seats all the way through, to make us laugh, or if it leaves us with lasting emotions. Gin & Tonic and Cucumber officially falls into this category of books.

The story could be set two blocks from home. A girl, her roommate whose personality is not very developed, her ex and a highly comical eccentric gay man form a gang of friends who are totally synergistic. They see each other every day, and every time they do, it's crazy. They laugh, they rave, they get angry and they tease each other so much that it's like a vaudeville show. And their main subject: love stories.

Frankly, the girl is lucky. Having so many guy friends who are passionate about her little stories, who comfort her in her insecurities, and who are with her in every aspect of her life, is what every girl would want. She has no competition, and enjoys a quiet security with guys who are all more or less attracted to her (except the gay one, of course).

One day, she meets Gabriel, the prototype of the mysterious Prince Charming: the handsome, deep-eyed doctor (blue, I think, with dark hair). Completely smitten, she is flabbergasted when he sends her flowers and invites her to dinner. But it will not be smooth. We're only a quarter of the way through the book: the next three quarters are devoted to the continuation of this complicated story between two humans who don't really know what they want, and those of all her friends.

It took me several pages before I found it passable. The characters are very cliché, the dialogues reminded me of the series Friends, and the writing is rather minimalist. Then I found myself laughing, often and out loud. The main character is a sympathetic whiner, and she has a knack for bringing out the ridiculous in every scene and character. It's just irresistible. So much so that I thought about it all day and couldn't wait for the evening just to continue the story (which isn't exactly thrilling, but that's the point: it's so close to our own lives...)

Guys: don't touch it. But girls: I bet you'll like it.

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