Notting Hell - Books (Rachel Johnson, Paperback)

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Customer Reviews of Notting Hell

S.M. Gidley
Sidmouth, Devon, UK
27th August 2008

Tied up in Notts
I'm really not too sure what to make of this. It's not your usual tired chick lit (haphazard heroine, on the look out for a man who does all manner of amusingly endearing things on the way to finding true love with the support of her marvellous friends), but it's not exactly biting satire either, although a lot of these reviews would have you believe otherwise.

Although Johnson makes a pretty fine fist of satirising the - dread phrase! - yummy mummies she's only prepared to make so much of an effort. She plugs the rest of the gap by flinging the names of shops, designers and other businesses around as if they will mean something to her readership (if this is published abroad people will be even more confused), but this just comes across as lazy and will date in time. Just try and read the original Sloane Ranger's Handbook today and it's like reading Magna Carta.

The two main characters, Mimi and Clare, are also a strange pair. I'm all for ambiguous characters, in fact it's often refreshing to have to put in a bit of effort to decide where your sympathies lie, but Notting Hell is not the place to try out this device. Both of them seem as irritatingly neurotic and vacuous as each other which doesn't really work for this kind of novel, you need to have straight likeable/dislikeable because the plot doesn't give you enough room to discuss their fascinatingly nuanced behaviour. It's hard to care about them at all.

It's well documented that Mimi is probably Johnson herself. Who knows what that says about anyone at all? Likewise all the other characters are supposed to be based on her real-life neighbours so the novel turns into a game of spot the celeb which in itself is a surefire way of giving a novel a very short shelf-life.

However, what raises Notting Hell above the usual pastel-fronted nonsense is the simmering distrust shown by everyone to each other, even between Mimi and Clare, this gives the novel an edge and makes it (almost) a bit uncomfortable to read. No-one seems to have anyone else on whom they can rely, wives and husbands can't even rely on each other, and this alone takes this novel into the realms of the dysfunctional rather than the merely ditzy.

The humour relies on punny one-liners too much as well, a trap that journalists-turned-novelists often fall into. I'd be surprised if anyone would read this and end up rolling round the floor.

Rachel Johnson certainly isn't a Jane Austen for the 21st century, the staying power of this novel will be lucky to maintain its momentum beyond half a dozen or so years or until the next social phenomenon is identified by Tatler or the Daily Mail.

James Lyons
London United Kingdom
17th June 2008

A hellish read
Johnson's stated aim is to mock the super-rich, super-elite West London social sect she belongs to. Instead, with every celebrity name check and description of their absurdly extravagant lifestyles she only appears more and more smug about being a part of it herself.
In contrast to a writer like Tom Wolfe who takes his readers into a world of penthouse suites and six figure salaries and with them marvels, grimaces and despairs at its astonishing luxuries, waste and arrogance, Johnson appears to rub her readers faces in the vulgar wonders of it all which, of course, only she can enjoy.
Add in endless cliches and a daft plot and you get a very unpleasant read.

Cando
Manchester National Express Coach Station
18th October 2007

Thought I was going to love it, but it let me down!
I loved the beginning and middle of this book - it's a sharp, accurate and satisfying satire about the 'haves and the have yachts' of London's most exclusive district. However, I expected the characters to branch beyond satire and superficiality as we got to know them better, and this never happened. I ended up feelign quite angry with the book. Even people in NOtting Hill have feelings, presumably, and the writer skirted over serious plot issues like infertility, adultery etc as if they didnt' matter to the protagonists, as if the author didn't care two hoots about her characters. Ultimately, this led to a lack of depth. This book is a real missed opportunity.

T. Ljubic-Brown
Cambridgeshire, UK
17th September 2007

A big disappointment...
Sorry guys, I really wanted to like this book and best thing about it actually is the title, which I found great. It simply does not live up to its hype or the blurb on the back. The two main characters - Mimi and Clare - leave me completely indifferent. Mimi is so self-centred, it's bordering on the unrealistic, and Clare just remains very bland and one-dimensional. Throughout the whole book I was waiting for it to get better, for some kind of "oomph" to get into the story, but was hoping in vain. Even for the world of Notting Hill, the story-line is very far-fetched, but not in a tongue-in-cheek, satirical way - it's just a constant list of name and brand dropping - I wonder if any money was made via product placement... Cannot recommend this and in fact regret the money spent on it.

Ingaborga
London, UK
11th September 2007

Terrible...
I cannot begin to describe how ghastly this book is - words genuinely fail me. Rachel Johnson is a freelance writer/housewife who lives in a large house in Notting Hill with several children, a dog, and a charming old Etonian, former journalist husband. Her neighbours are a combination of super rich Americans and uber trendy, uber wealthy Brits. Notting Hell, her debut novel, features a freelance writer/housewife who lives in a large house in Notting Hill - I think you can guess the rest. Johnson's awful characters - proof in black and white of the dangers of having more money than sense - break from their hectic lives of extra marital affairs, shopping and feng shui to dine at E&O with Kate Moss and spot Stella Macartney on the way to Fresh and Wild. So knowingly self-referential is the plot that Johnson even name-checks the afore mentioned old Etonian husband, Ivo Dawnay.

Nothing much happens - certainly nothing that's remotely realistic - but I've read badly plotted novels in the past. What really irritated me about this book is its smugness. Johnson has clearly conferred outsider status upon herself for not being quite as rich or quite as well-groomed as the other yummy mummys on the block - a dubious standpoint to take when the proceeds from the sale of your house could probably feed a starving African nation quite comfortably for a good few years. In fact, here's an idea - if you were thinking of buying this book, why not take the money and give it to Oxfam instead? Then you might spare yourself this faintly dirty feeling I've had ever since I finished this book...