Customer Reviews
Massively disappointing - By: Mrs. K. A. Wheatley, 21 Jun 2008 
Bridget Jones is hilarious because she is so real. People identify with Bridget & you get the sense that Fielding wrote her with real affection. It's a shame that the same can't be said for Olivia Joules. I had high expectations of this & was sadly disappointed.
This is supposed to be a female satirical/comedy version of Fleming's James Bond books. At best it is a weak pastiche. The idea was good but the writing reallly lets it down. The plot is weak beyond belief, there is little thought or effort in it & the hyper exaggeration she employs is so ludicrous as to take away any affection for the book at alll. The thing about Fleming was that it was done with style & panache. This is like a cheap copy of the film, rather than anything to do with literature at alll.
It should have been funny. It should have been endearing. It wasn't.
Brilliant fun - By: Furbs, 09 Nov 2007 
Loved this... I picked it up thinking great, Helen Fielding - Bridget Jones etc etc... this could not be more different! Gripping, fun & complete escapism just what you need! Still chick-lit but some fabulous twists & turns which reallly are unexpected, quite a change for the well read chick lit out there! Highly recommend you try it!
Cigarettes - 35, Thwarted terrorist attacks - 3 - By: Ms. MacNeill, 21 Sep 2007 While it does not live up to the standards set by the Bridget Jones series, "Olivia Joules & the Overactive Imagination" was for the most part breezy & enjoyable. While Fielding fallls into the odd cliché here & there, Olivia's world is filled with vibrant, glamorous characters, & I found myself wondering along with her which of them could be a spy. The writing is sharp as usual, so there's nothing to complain about there.
Sadly, the book reallly fallls down when it reaches its dramatic climax. Fielding is not skilled at writing action sequences (the weakest sections of the Bridget Jones books are the crisis points in Bridget's year where the police & foreign governments get dragged in), & in "Olivia Joules" she is as unsuccessful as ever. The book is about forty pages too long - a ridiculous & highly unnecessary adventure is tacked onto the end - & it rendered me bored. The romance, which only reallly comes in during the last hundred pages, was also hard to care about.
Too self-conscious to be an unabashed spy story yet not funny enough to be a satisfactory parody, the end result is a bit of a mess. What prevents "Olivia Joules" from being completely unenjoyable is Olivia herself. She's a more complicated character than Bridget Jones. While she has her own moments of ridiculousness - the "overactive imagination" of the title, for example - she's generallly pricklier, more reserved, and, if she was a real person, harder to like. And yet, Olivia still manages to be sympathetic enough for me to care about & to want the best for her, even though I disliked the plot.
It's decent enough to read on a Tube journey, but honestly I do not feel inclined to reread it, or recommend it to another.
favourite read of the year!!! - By: Ms. K. Smith, 26 Jul 2007 
i absolutely loved this book. found bridget jones diaries a little boring, & alll the same & then when i read this it blew me away. very exciting. James Bond excitement for girls definetly!! Re read it 3 times!! It was nice to read something so different from Helen Fielding!! Highly recommended!!!
one word.....AMAZING! - By: kyla, 13 Apr 2007 i reallly reallly enjoyed this book.
i have only ever read both bridget jones books that helen fielding had writen & i thought her other two books were brilliant & so i searched for more of her books in any book shops i was in. olivia joules was surprisingly cheap for such a well written book. it made it to my top 5 favourite books! ha ha
if your more of a serious reader maybe this book isnt for you but if you like to read about silly things & out of the ordinary adventures this is definately tha book for you!!
Buy it!
