Burgs Sunday book review

I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella, Random House Press, 2012, $26.00.

Reviewed by Alison M. Armstrong, of Blacksburg. She is the collection management librarian at the McConnell Library, Radford University.

Sophie Kinsella’s latest book, “I’ve Got Your Number,” has everything readers of her previous novels love about her work. It is written in first person by the decidedly British Poppy Wyatt as she prepares for her wedding to Mangus Tavish.  Mangus comes from a family of geniuses. Poppy, a physiotherapist, is proud of her academic fiance, despite often feeling out of her league. Mangus’ focus, however, is on Poppy’s looks, not her intelligence.

In an unusual turn of events, Poppy becomes tangled with a businessman, Sam Roxton. The result is a combined inbox with e-mails and text messages to each of them on a single phone. Sam is refreshing compared to her relationship with Mangus. While trying to cover up one awkward situation after another, Poppy is building one little white lie on another until she hardly keep track of what she has said to Mangus, to his family and to her friends. The lies are ones she hopes will be a temporary fix but one builds on the next and with each one, Poppy knows she will eventually pay for them all.

In the novel, Poppy uses footnotes, which is interesting in a work of fiction.  They function as little asides and, if you miss them, it isn’t a big deal, but they are good for a bit of irony and often, a chuckle. Later in the novel, footnotes become a metaphor as well.

She loses the Tavish family engagement ring, cheats to win a Scrabble game and plays detective in a variety of circumstances, she sees herself as a failed Poirot. Poppy determines that Sam has a horrid sounding fiancee. Poppy’s co-worker, Annalise, is still mad that she and Poppy swapped appointments and Mangus ended up seeing Poppy, not her.

In the countdown to her wedding, Poppy finds ways to do what she considers “tidying up” in Sam’s life, sending out overdue responses to work and personal e-mails. She takes it upon herself to come up with some employee morale boosters, despite the fact that Sam is a near stranger and she is completely unfamiliar with his company. Poppy is altogether willing to tackle what she perceives as Sam’s issues at work and life head on, making him deal with things he had been putting off or ignoring, his dental care, for instance. However, Poppy is unwilling to dig into the issues going into her wedding; putting off problems, making a list of lies to keep straight for the rest of her life and things to learn since she has lied about being an authority on the subject for the sake of covering another lie.

She has become Sam’s unpaid personal assistant in addition to her actual job.  Poppy takes pleasure in coming up with positive ideas for Sam’s workplace, which often backfire and cause headaches for Sam.

Poppy’s wedding planner, Lucinda, is a friend of the Tavish family and is a horror of a wedding planner; by far the most stress-out person in the whole endeavor. Poppy is busy meddling in Sam’s life in an effort to make Sam a better man. She is trying hard to ignore her own insecurities. While Mangus’ family is intimidating to Poppy, Sam’s life is intriguing and interesting. Sam treats Poppy as an equal and sees her accomplishments, personalities and her beauty. Is she falling for him? Is he falling for her?

Each chapter runs into the next, you can’t wait to see what happens next. I actually woke up one morning thinking I was eager to get back to a television show only to realize, it wasn’t a show I was looking forward to but this book.

-To be a guest reviewer, e-mail palston@mfrl.org.

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