Author : Lucy Sykes, Jo Piazza
Publication date : May 19th 2015 by Doubleday
Hi guys! Great to see you again. I love reading about fashion, even though I may not know much about things behind the a famous fashion magazine. It's fun reading about how people do their job (which so much difference with your own) and The Knockoff is a story about an out-of-date fashion magazine turned app.
Yes, from printed to digital. Please do not connect it with the ebook vs. paper book debate, we've enough of it already. Imogen Tate is a well known editor of Glossy, a fashion magazine. She is famous of having good eyes for great products and photography. To sum it up, she knows everything about fashion and how to run a magazine.
Imogen had a superb assistant, Eve Morton, a smart girl and was very helpful to her. Luck wasn't on Imogen's side as she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to do six months hiatus to recover from mastectomy and while she was fighting for her life, her beloved magazine was turned into an app, thanks to Eve. Imogen is overwhelmed by the changes, she has no idea how social media or other electronic devices work and she's also trapped with Eve who tries to take control of everything.
Imogen Tate is the opposite of socialite stereotype. I find her to be very nice, levelheaded, and she has great skill in controlling her emotion. She's just classy. She's not a mean woman as some socialites are notorious of. Eve is. I have never come across an antagonist character like her, I mean there's nothing good about her, she's so bad it's unbelievable. Imogen is also so good and also unbelievable. The main characters of The Knockoff is a bit one dimensional for my taste.
What irks me the most is Imogen doesn't really fight back until the last few chapters. I believe people can hurt you, only if you allow them to and this is what happen in this book. It's a good girl vs mean girl, classy vs juvenile, you name it. Imogen is helpless when she's at work and I hate a helpless protagonist.
What keeps me going is the author's narration. It's unlike the typical humorous chicklit book. It's so Imogen, if you know what I mean. The narration is calm, just like Imogen's personality and I love it. It's the plot that I believe needs to be deepen. As a reader, I'd like to know why Eve's act the way she does, there must be something behind it. The Knockoff doesn't really tell me why. Now, time for a quote:
They texted, they tweeted and the checked Facebook, oblivious to the world around them. Was there even a point to being in the same room as one another anymore? Their entire lives were condensed in the palm of their hands
3 rating for The Knockoff. It's an entertaining read, but I wish there's more back story about the characters, especially Eve. I recommend this for chicklit lovers or those of you who love novels about fashion. Do you read any chicklit lately? How was it?
