Slacker Girl
by Alexandra Koslow
Plume, HK$104
Since Bridget Jones's Diary arrived on bookshelves more than a decade ago, modern-day chick lit has grown in writing style and quality to become a category derided and defended. If critics wanted to score points in the debate about the genre's worth, or lack thereof, they would do well to dissect Slacker Girl. The novel, which is as complex as a cornflakes-box recipe, centres on twentysomething Jane Cooper, who so values her leisure time she's turned it into an art form. But then what seems the perfect job lands in her lap. She's hired for a 'relationship manager gig' at an investment company, which sounds attractive because, she imagines, all it involves is schmoozing in a guy-heavy industry. Dialogue-heavy (with superfluous swearing), the narrative skates from one scene to the next in linear fashion, barely bothering about plot or character development. Satellites around Cooper are her best friend, Rebecka, and her blushing boss, Ray, whose job is on the line because of poor sales figures. His other problem? He's in love with Cooper despite her attitude towards work. Slacker Girl promises fun but delivers tedium. Even the editors seem to have given up on the book: no one bothered to check the spelling of Jackson Pollock.