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137th out of 510 books
—
640 voters
Cause Celeb
Available for the first time in the United States, Cause Celeb is the hilarious debut novel by British literary sensation Helen Fielding. With the same wit and candor that shot
Bridget Jones's Diary
and
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
to the top of bestseller lists and forever altered the vocabulary of dating, Fielding executes a remarkable spoof on the altruistic ende...more
Paperback, 352 pages
Published
February 26th 2002
by Penguin Books
(first published 1994)
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In "Cause Celeb" Fielding satirizes the pretentiousness of celebrities, the not-always pure motives of humanitarians, the poetical idiosyncrasies of Africans, the tangled and futile politics of foreign aid, and the stupidity of certain women when it comes to relationships.
I enjoy Fielding's novels even though I can never manage to relate to her female protagonists, who tend to be shallow women who lack self-respect, initially have bad taste in men, readily engage in casual sex, and play relatio...more
I enjoy Fielding's novels even though I can never manage to relate to her female protagonists, who tend to be shallow women who lack self-respect, initially have bad taste in men, readily engage in casual sex, and play relatio...more
Sep 12, 2008
_inbetween_
added it
Sticking with the Brits, this is Fielding's first novel. Bridget Jones meets Bob Geldof, half set in London with another pretty young woman thinking herself always too fat, loving an abusive asshole, drinking a lot and freaking out about make-up and stockings and shaving, the other half with her working as an aide in a refuge camp. Since Rosie is more intelligent and competent and assertive than Bridget, even though both are creatures of the publicity and media world, and since Fielding herself...more
This book is about Rosie, who, after finally breaking up with her emotionally abusive boyfriend, Oliver, goes to do relief work in Africa. Because the UN isn't sending needed supplies, the refugee camp is running out of food. Rosie has to return to London and try to get the celebrities she used to associate with to come to Africa and do a benefit.
What really kept me reading the book is that I really liked and empathised with Rosie. She seemed like a good person, and I could relate to her belief...more
What really kept me reading the book is that I really liked and empathised with Rosie. She seemed like a good person, and I could relate to her belief...more
#42
I really enjoyed this - probably not the least because I had just finished a disappointing book so this one was a welcome feast of light, somewhat humorous fare! Still - I had previously enjoyed the Bridget Jones Diary books so I knew I would like Helen Fielding's writing style. There were similarities here with her heroine who is ridiculously attracted to a rather awful man who keeps her utterly imbalanced. But the story of how she ends up finding herself and her self respect is much more dr...more
I really enjoyed this - probably not the least because I had just finished a disappointing book so this one was a welcome feast of light, somewhat humorous fare! Still - I had previously enjoyed the Bridget Jones Diary books so I knew I would like Helen Fielding's writing style. There were similarities here with her heroine who is ridiculously attracted to a rather awful man who keeps her utterly imbalanced. But the story of how she ends up finding herself and her self respect is much more dr...more
This book is being passed around at work for obvious reasons (that it's about a woman working for a nonprofit agency who is trying to get celebrity support for a refugee camp in Northern Africa).
I thought this was interesting because instead of the protagonist working for a fashion magazine, she works in a refugee camp in Africa. As this is written by the author of Bridget Jones, perhaps this will get more people interested in supporting international causes, or at least aware of them. Maybe/ma...more
I thought this was interesting because instead of the protagonist working for a fashion magazine, she works in a refugee camp in Africa. As this is written by the author of Bridget Jones, perhaps this will get more people interested in supporting international causes, or at least aware of them. Maybe/ma...more
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...more
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...more
Okay, full disclosure, I did not finish this book. I picked it up thinking, "Hey, I wonder what Helen Fielding's writing is like when it's not BJ's Diary." To be honest, it's pretty darn good. I don't know if she's ever lived in Africa, but she really picked up on a lot of good detail. I stopped reading the book because it was breaking my heart. Too much human suffering for me to handle right now. Still too wound up from the whole Mommy hormone thing. I am impressed with HF's writing and will co...more
I was prepared for Helen Fielding to do no wrong after reading Bridget Jones's Diary. I was sorely disappointed by the second Bridget Jones book, but Cause Celeb went a ways to redeem that disappointment. A frivolous London girl makes good by going to Africa and then leveraging her London life to save the day.
Might've been a book club book?
Might've been a book club book?
Since I had read Fielding's other novels and loved them I blindly went into this one expecting more light-hearted female humor. While there are a few moments of that in this book, that is not the overall feeling. I can't lie and say that I wasn't disappointed - but I 100% think that is my fault. I think having a book that illustrates how famines happen in 3rd world countries in an approachable manner is wonderful. She does a great job of describing what it is like to be there and why things get...more
Written earlier than the Bridget Jones books, and much deeper. Not just an interminable diary about pounds lost and gained, drinks drunk, and fellows not won; Cause Celeb is about a Bridget-like woman who transcends all that, goes to Africa to work in a refuge camp as a 20th century woman's analog of the French Foreign Legion, and discovers how unnecessary and unmerited her previous obsessive insecurity was. A charming book. I don't know why this one wasn't made into Helen Fielding's first movie...more
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 f...more
Rosie Richardson found out her life's calling: to help out at a refugee camp in Nambula, in Africa. There's only one problem, her two-faced boyfriend Oliver isn't letting her go.
Notes: When I first read this, I thought it followed the same track as BJD because of the twisted boyfriend. But it definitely was different. I thought it was pretty good for a first novel by Fielding, but I still prefer Bridget Jones. If you don't want to read about mutilated bodies and warring countries, this book isn'...more
Notes: When I first read this, I thought it followed the same track as BJD because of the twisted boyfriend. But it definitely was different. I thought it was pretty good for a first novel by Fielding, but I still prefer Bridget Jones. If you don't want to read about mutilated bodies and warring countries, this book isn'...more
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This is the first novel by Helen Fielding of Bridget Jones fame which she wrote in 1994. Surprisingly I never read until now. It is a satirical story full of both ridiculous and tragic events about what happens when celebrity aid comes to the help of famine relief in Africa. It is this angle that makes this novel more than just another chick lit type novel. It is I read a subject Helen Fielding is interested in and she has worked in producing documentaries...more
This is the first novel by Helen Fielding of Bridget Jones fame which she wrote in 1994. Surprisingly I never read until now. It is a satirical story full of both ridiculous and tragic events about what happens when celebrity aid comes to the help of famine relief in Africa. It is this angle that makes this novel more than just another chick lit type novel. It is I read a subject Helen Fielding is interested in and she has worked in producing documentaries...more
Sometimes chic lit is all you need. Truly.
With this novel I did not find what Bridget Jones brings to the table, nor what (the poor man's B Jones) Jemima J. experiences in the wacky world of Hollywood. I found something a bit more serious, some sad descriptions of a famished country in Africa (I keep reading about poor, poor Africa!), a tint of pathos that both aforementioned heroines only hint at. This one is combination comedy and tragedy... very well balanced. Skillfully so, and even if its n...more
With this novel I did not find what Bridget Jones brings to the table, nor what (the poor man's B Jones) Jemima J. experiences in the wacky world of Hollywood. I found something a bit more serious, some sad descriptions of a famished country in Africa (I keep reading about poor, poor Africa!), a tint of pathos that both aforementioned heroines only hint at. This one is combination comedy and tragedy... very well balanced. Skillfully so, and even if its n...more
If you have read Fielding's Bridget Jones books--this is nothing like them (which I see as a plus). The characters are believable, face real dilemmas, are intelligent (but human) and are interested in more than their own small problems. Sadly, Fielding has apparently decided that writing trash is more rewarding. While the Bridget Jones' are (clearly) not my favorite, I was hoping that she might go back to writing something like this after exhausting the Bridget Jones frenzy. I was extremely disa...more
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 list...more
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 list...more
OK, I liked this fine enough but didn't love it. And I'll admit I listened to the audio version. I think the rit accent reading added to it too LOL If you're looking for Bridigit Jones, this isn't it. It was a weird contrast of the London "scene" and draught stricken Africa which I found awkward to skip back and forth from. The Africa side was serious and the London side so "puff" My own little pet peve is Brit writers painting PR people assimpleton party girls and this happens again in Cause Ce...more
Cause Celeb is enjoyable overall. It managed to make me laugh and be absorbing while still satirizing how celebrities use the misfortunes of others to boost their images. I was a bit disappointed that the character of O'Rourke was never fully developed (why does he limp, how did his life "fall to pieces" before he decided to come to Africa, etc.), however I greatly appreciated reading about many of the smaller characters (Muhammad, Betty, Harry, Dinsdale, etc.) and all of their antics.
This book blew away my expectations for it. I was expecting light and fluffy - not thought provoking. What I got was a very well written story that offered a clear view of parts of Africa and the extreme difficulties that are faced there. At the same time, the main character is a real woman, who has messed up, silly relationships. Plus, there are all kinds of self-centered celebrities that add substance as well as levity to the story.
I am not sure why I am not giving this book 5 stars.
I am not sure why I am not giving this book 5 stars.
The author of the Bridget Jones books; she actually wrote this before the others. It's about a publishing publicist who gives notice and moves to a refugee camp in West Africa. She (somehow) ends up running it, but there is another famine which she can't convince her higher-ups to believe in. She has to go back to London to get her former famous friends to do a fundraiser for her. Interesting. She does good characters, and this plot was a whole lot better than Bridget.
Helen Fielding's pre-Bridget Jones debut novel. It is about hunger in Africa, juxtaposed against the celebrity world of London.
Fielding worked at the BBC, producing Comic Relief benefit shows for Africa an a documentary on Sudanese refugees, and the descriptions of poverty, camp logistics and politics in this book show that she's writing from experience. There were the entertaining 'chic lit' moments here, but the heartbreaking intensity of the refugee crisis makes it a lot more worthwile.
Fielding worked at the BBC, producing Comic Relief benefit shows for Africa an a documentary on Sudanese refugees, and the descriptions of poverty, camp logistics and politics in this book show that she's writing from experience. There were the entertaining 'chic lit' moments here, but the heartbreaking intensity of the refugee crisis makes it a lot more worthwile.
Rosie Richardson works at a refugee camp in Nambula, Africa, where she's been for the last four years after breaking off a toxic relationship with the famous television man Oliver Merchant in London. It took me a while to get into this book, as it couldn't decide whether it wanted to be a serious look at starvation in the Third World, or Bridget Jones Goes to Africa (yes, I know it was written before Bridget Jones's Diary, but you get my drift). Some parts were very funny, and others made me fee...more
This was pretty similar to Bridget Jones Diary. The only thing that saved it was the parts about Africa. I just grow tired of books about women dating and putting up with a** hole men! Have some self esteem. What does this say about women? That as long as they are good looking that we are grateful they'll "put up" with us and we should stay with them. I have a hard time with that mentality and it bothers me to read about women putting up with it.
This book was not what I expected of it. I came to it after reading Bridget Jones's Diary and was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting a rather self-richeous main character, so it was comforting to find Fielding had created a character who was appealing and likeable. Though not as entertaining as Bridget Jones, Rosie's story is thought-provoking. The book makes it clear Fielding very much cares about poverty and the issues she tackles in her first novel.
I grabbed it as a silly quick read, judging it to be silly be by the other things the author has written (Bridget Jones). But here the really silly girly parts seem to be a counterpoint to the protagonist's journey, geographical and emotional.
It has some interesting fictional narrative about how a refugee camp in Africa might operate, and also depicts various viewpoints of charitable giving and the African hunger crisis.
It has some interesting fictional narrative about how a refugee camp in Africa might operate, and also depicts various viewpoints of charitable giving and the African hunger crisis.
I actually liked this better than Bridget Jones's Diary. I believe it was a less-successful earlier novel that was republished after Bridget's success. The setting among relief workers in Africa is both unusual and lends a certain gravitas to what is, essentially, "chick lit." But good chick lit.
I've actually read this twice. I wish I could say that it was because it was a good book but the truth was I literally couldn't remember anything that had happened in the book until I was reading it again. That's never happened to me before. I would remember it as I was reading, but nothing further. Not a remarkable book, but I so wanted it to be. It wasn't even funny where it was supposed to be.
This is kind of a cop-out, because I actually listened to it on audio book. But it was pretty entertaining. Really funny at times. Fielding gives much needed attention to the food crisis in Africa; she also sheds light on the glitzy, superficial world of British celebs. The main character travels back and forth between these two worlds, and it was a nice, light listen while driving back and forth to work.
Something about this book really got to me. Maybe it's the ex-pat angle, but I'd like to sit down with the author and talk to her about her experience. It seems impossible to me that Fielding didn't see the things she describes in this book. But most of all, I was stunned by the way she delineates the ex-pat mentality, and how you can't ever go back to the way you were. I did not expect to get so much out of this book - what a surprise!
Cause Celeb
was Fielding's first novel but it didn't find a stateside publisher until Bridget Jones found success here. It is a fun read, and interesting in that the reader can see Fielding developing the style and wit that she used with such success with Bridget. The narrator, Rosie Richardson, while somewhat insecure and suffering the stereotypical problems of a single lass in London has more to say than Bridget. She is aware of the wider world (in fact a good portion of the novel's action ta...more
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Helen Fielding (born 19 February 1958 in Morley, West Yorkshire) is an English author, best known as the author of the novel Bridget Jones's Diary (winner of the 1998 British Book of the Year award) and its sequel Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason. In 2003, she was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy.
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“If you ask where a relationship is going too often the question has a habit of turning into where the relationship went. Unfortunately, however, God has given women an inbuilt irresistible urge to insist on knowing where their relationships are going, and to force their partners to discuss the matter at length whenever they are late for something.”
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“Quite quickly I grew less deranged. I had begun the process of calming down, assimilating and compromising, which is necessary to live comfortably in the world as it is, and probably is why its imbalance never changes. But underneath, my idea of life was completely altered.”
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9 people liked it
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