Guest Review: The Time of My Life

The Time of My Life

Cecelia Ahern

Reviewed by Karishma Upadhyay

If life was a person, would it be a man or a woman? Grumpy or happy? Well, if your life is a Cecelia Ahern novel, then you’d be stuck with Life (yes, in caps) who is grumpy enough to kick your butt. And, he is a man.

Confused? Well, here’s the story of Lucy Silcheste– she is out of touch with her life; hates her job; has lost her gorgeous apartment; hates meeting her family and friends and would much rather stay at home with her cat. Oh, the love of her life has left her to go travelling and make his own tv show. In short, it’s all going South for Lucy.   

Like the proverbial Ostrich, Lucy refuses to deal with her life. She tells herself and others around her, little soothing lies. Lying on her carpet one day when she returns from work is an invitation from Life. She ignores the invitation but soon learns that Life just doesn’t give up on you. Tired of being ignored and mistreated, Life decides to stage an intervention.  When she finally does meet Life, he forced her to take charge and make changes. Together the duo go about setting Lucy’s life right.

Lucy starts off being an annoying, lying good-for-nothing but at some point during the book I found myself rooting for her. Towards the end, there is also a smidgen of chemistry between Lucy and Life. Book stores might stock The Time Of My Life in their chick lit section, but this more than just regular chick lit. Ahern takes a regular theme of reclaiming your life, adds a bit of magic and philosophy with huge dollops of wit to turn the book into a lot more.

(Karishma Upadhyay has been a film journalist for 15 years. When is she not chasing actors or digging for gossip, she is stuck to her books (or now Kindle))