Reviewed by Leah on
The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns is a short novel, 167 pages, which makes it an incredibly quick read and one you can finish in one sitting. I read it in two and found it really enjoyable. Elizabeth Leiknes has created a character you love even though she condemns people to hell. To be fair they do deserve it and it is a job a lot of people would love to do – doesn’t the idea of sending bad people away forever appeal to you?
Lucy is a brilliant character and you can totally understand why she wants out of the life: she can’t fall in love, she can’t have a family and she can’t see her family. Sure there are perks to the job: staying 29 forever, eating as much chocolate as she likes without getting fat, having the perfect body but can perfection really cover up not having your family around you?
I also enjoyed Luke’s character and loved how he wasn’t the all-perfect hero of the novel. I also loved Maggie and Finn, Finn being one of my favourite child characters in a novel.
The novel is written in first-person which helps along the story brilliantly and it helps us understand exactly what it was that made Lucy have to become a facilitator – believe me, I was shocked!
The reference to Maury Povich as a facilitator was hilarious. Poor Maury! I felt we could have heard a bit more from Teddy Nightingale but I enjoyed his presence in the story.
Throughout the story you couldn’t help hoping Lucy got the chance to get out of her job as facilitator and I found it hilarious the stages she had to go through and the lengths she went to do the 3 tasks she had to complete to get out of it all. I found the 3rd task completely shocking and did not see it coming.
I loved the ending of the novel. It was written incredibly well and was so fast-paced I wanted to speed-read through the pages to see exactly what happened.
The whole novel was incredibly well-written for a debut author and was an incredibly enjoyable read. The novel also made reference to the whole good vs. evil debate: the two movies and the whole car-wash habit of Lucy’s.
The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns is definitely not your average chick-lit novel, it’s much darker and quirky. I loved the mystery of who Lucy’s boss actually was – he is referred to as “He” throughout the novel.
As Jane Green said it is a great premise for a novel and I sincerely hope Elizabeth Leiknes is writing a second novel – whether it be a sequel of sorts or not. I also hope that if there is to be a second novel from Elizabeth it carries on the whole dark/light, good/evil debate.
It makes for an interesting and brilliant story.
Rating: 5/5
I’d like to thank Elizabeth’s publishers for sending me a copy to review!
Reading updates
- Started reading
- Finished reading
- 30 August, 2009: Reviewed