Book Review: "The Burnout" by Sophia Kinsella

So, sometimes I do like to read something a bit funnier and a bit lighter and considering I have had this book sitting around for about six months, I probably should have started it earlier. I don't know whether anyone else feels this way but there is a specific time when you just know you are going to enjoy a certain book a lot more and today was that day for this book by Sophie Kinsella. Now unfortunately, we lost Sophie Kinsella recently and though I grew up in the millennial era with her Shopaholic series, I cannot help but think there's a ton of her literature I probably haven't read. That was initially why I bought The Burnout. And honestly, it did not disappoint. Not even in the slightest...

Sophie Kinsella's main character is Sasha, a woman with a good job living in London and unfortunately, her mental health isn't great. She's not experiencing 'joy' at work (and if you've ever dealth with HR women then the very word 'joy' would make you want to stick a gun in your mouth because boy, can they never stop talking about it!). She's also burned out entirely because she ends up suffering a mental health moment in a very public place. This breakdown prompts her into the storyline - she needs to leave even if only for a while. She just needs some air. Sophie Kinsella's writing never makes fun of mental illness but it is still relatably funny. She manages to take something that people will often think that they don't experience and make them realise that in fact, this is so universal that even you (yes, you) have experienced it even if you think you haven't. Her writing is so entirely readable, her books are such a fond memory of being a pre-teen for me.

So Sasha goes to Devon. Specifically, she goes to Rosington. The resort that she recognises there is all dead and dreary, mirroring the chaotic and yet dark mental state of our main character. Another person sticking around is a lawyer named Finn who seems to be in the same situation as Sasha. Sophie Kinsella gives us these two characters who are so similar that they have personality clashes in which they bicker and argue regularly, they have these funny little outbursts. It's funny because the reader can definitely recongise their strange similarities yet they seem to both claim that they are different to the other and better than the other. This is something Sophie Kinsella always does so well, and again it reflects reality. More than often the people we don't tend to like we tend to also have more in common with than we realise. Yes, it's not all the time but it occurs every now and again and it also makes us feel silly when we find out.

They begin investigating mysteries on the beach together and after a while, they bond more and more. These mysteries include things like tokens left on the beach and stuff like that but it definitely intrigues the two professionals who have recently suffered mental breakdowns. Now Sasha is still trying to relax and that is why what keeps happening is so funny. There's this whole supplementary cast of hotel staff who keep interrupting this in a very slapstick sort of way but also, they are at a beach resort - the hotel staff don't seem to understand this place needs to be relaxing because what else does one do at a beach resort? It's very funny, again - as we move through the book we get more and more of this happening.

All in all, Sophie Kinsella writes something intensely funny, heartwarming and yet chaotic and adventurous at times. Her writing is readable because of its universality. She's not trying to make you learn or believe anything. She's basically that best friend that just wants to show you that literature can still be insanely funny yet still be well-written and deep. I remember someone writing an article about how Sophie Kinsella made 'chick-lit' more literary and clever and I have to say, I agree with that. The Burnout is definitely an example of her ability to bring depth to this kind of modern literature.