A richly comic first novel about a British journalist, in her late
20s, who is just getting over the sudden death of her mother, an
event both more and less traumatic than one would imagine.
Determined to plow on with life, Tansy thinks about how to dress
for the funeral-"I enjoyed the bimbo widow look"-and what to do
with the (UKP)50,000 she's just inherited. She and boyfriend Tom
decide to take a tour of Southeast Asia, a plan that falls apart
when Tom splits up with her. After a days-long bacchanal of
dinners, drugs and drink, Tansy jets off alone for Vietnam. Used to
her urban Soho apartment and the easy accessibility of designer
clothing and drugs (cocaine's her favorite), it takes her some time
to get the hang of things there. But soon she's met up with a group
of Australian "backpackers"-a term Tansy furiously refuses to apply
to herself-and started to enjoy her new life. Dropped clunkily into
this breezy narrative is a subplot about a maniac killer of blond
backpackers in Asia, a fact that doesn't worry blond Tansy as much
as it does the people she e-mails back home. Bit by bit, she
surprises herself by befriending people she wouldn't have
associated with in London and even finding a new boyfriend, far and
away more caring than Tom ever was. Tansy's easy elitism makes for
hilarious telling; and though her moods and lifelong convictions
seem to change in a minute, Barr's intimate knowledge of Tansy's
character-she herself is a British journalist (London's "Observer",
"The Guardian") who spent a year travelling in Asia-makes all come
off not as Bridget Jones-esque flightiness but just as the
ever-churning mind of a bright and rebellious woman in flux. Only
the clumsily handled serial killer subplot and a depressingly tidy
climax mar a sparkly and entertaining debut. (Kirkus Reviews)
Tansy has to escape from her London life. She's desperate to get
away from her media job, her coke habit, her dead mother and her
selfish boyfriend. But she finds travelling through Asia more
smelly than romantic and, besides, she's missing her boyfriend.
However, she is determined not to give in, give up or go home. As
she travels further east she begins to enjoy her journey - until
murder starts to follow her and the trip becomes much more
adventurous than she had anticipated.
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