Whitley’s review of Charlie and the Latex Factory by Tessa Ditner
Join Charlie in pursuit of a humour-filled journey of eccentric discoveries and loyal friendship. For fans of Sex and the City, Kinky Boots and The Devil Wears Prada. Or anyone who would quite like to be handed the key to Lady Gaga’s wardrobe.
When Charlie musters up the courage to attend an interview at the London offices of Latex Factory Magazine, she has barely heard of latex fashion. Nor had she heard of the notorious design editor Ruby.
She is convinced one of the many Dita von Teese look-a-likes will bag the job. But Ruby certainly does not want some burlesque beauty nabbing all the attention and overshadowing her hard-earned reputation as office diva.
Eight months later, Charlie has become Ruby’s right hand girl. She assists on rubber fashion photo shoots, she slides into the occasional Louboutins and apologises when journalists on nearby desks get roped into being an office slave by Ruby.
Charlie however knows her hunky South African boyfriend disapproves of her job, and that her best friend thinks she’s wasting her life. In fact everyone is bent on saving Charlie from the clutches of fetishists. So why does Charlie enjoy her job as an agony aunt so much, rubbing shoulders with the weird and the wonderful?
To satisfy those dear to her, she decides to quit. But should she take that job at the Financial Times and finally become a proper journalist? Or should she follow her man, who needs to return to South Africa to save his dad’s game farm from ruin?
Besides, she doesn’t want people thinking she enjoys her job. Who would want to use bubble wrap as a bed sheet? Be sent free samples of Coco de Mer erotic toys? Or have a custard pedicure?
And she is so not into latex Haute Couture, leave that to Gaga and Katy Perry.
Charlie’s not a fetishist or a rubberist or anything weird like that. No way. Certainly not.
The title of this book fits it perfectly: humorous and irreverent. Despite a few lapses on the technical side, the writing was just my type of funny and it kept me giggling at indecent moments. It was a sarcastic, absurd kind of humor, the kind that makes you think “what the hell was that?” right after you laugh.
I also greatly enjoyed the portrayal of fetish in this novel. It dealt with the fetishes themselves rather than using latex, etc., as a set-dressing to sex, and it treated everything with a down-to-earth kind of sensibility, showing these things in a realistic setting instead of a stylized fantasy. (Well, as realistic as you can get when Charlie goes on every other page about her boyfriend’s abs. There is some standard fantasy.) I thought the view of the fetish magazine and the very mundane complications Charlie ran into were spot-on perfect.
However, I did not finish this novel, and for one reason. It was basically a slice-of-life. After reading a full quarter of the novel, I still has not run across any hint of a plot. Nothing. Nada. It was basically several vignettes about Charlie’s mishaps, strung together in book format and using agony aunt articles as glue. Everything by itself was funny and great, but after a while I realized there was nothing there to keep me engaged. There wasn’t anything to compel me to turn the page. Oh, what’s going to happen next chapter? Ruby does something wacky and Charlie is sensible. Again. Eh. It’s nice, but it’s nice as a short story and I don’t really want to have to force myself through a full-length novel of it. Some people might find this kind of book right up their alley, but it simply wasn’t for me.
Rating: DNF.
This book is available from Tessa Ditner. You can purchase the book here in e-format.