Diva

by Carrie Duffy

[Leah]

When Carrie Duffy’s debut novel, Idol, was released last year, I didn’t enjoy perhaps as much as I would have liked to. It wasn’t entirely what I was expecting, so I was a little bit doubtful as to whether I’d read her second novel. However, I purchased the short story prequel VIP (for 49p, bargain!) and found it so engrossing that I immediately purchased Diva and began reading it. Diva and Idol are very much alike, but they’re not if that makes sense. Where Idol was a bit too OTT and the big female face-off was non-existant, Diva got it spot on. There was nothing in the novel that was too OTT (at the end of the day, a novel like this is always going to be a bit unrealistic, but there’s good unrealistic and bad unrealistic) and I found the face-off/battle between the girls to be fascinating.

Diva is the story of three very different girls, who all find themselves living in Paris, together, as they try to live their own lives and make themselves famous (at least for two of them). There’s Dionne Summers, Detroit-native and uber-competitive super-model, Cece Bouvier, a wannabe fashionista with the style, determination and creativity to actually make it… if someone will give her a shot, and Alyson Wakefield, a shy Manc who wants to be a businesswoman, but ends up working in a bar. As the girls’ lives changes and some of their dreams come true, it starts a war between the three of them that may never end…

I thoroughly enjoyed Diva. I found each girl to be so fascinating that the novel never dulled. Yes, I did get a bit tired of diva Dionne, but every book needs a diva and she fit the role perfectly. Cece was by far my favourite character, although at the beginning I had expected it to be Alyson. But, no. It was Cece who captured me. With her intensity, her spirit, her determination, but also with her fragility. Alyson was a brilliant character, too, although I wasn’t a big fan of the Phillipe part of the novel. Each girl had their ups and downs and it was so, so interesting to see how they made their way out of the downs and conversely, how the ups affected them, too.

Duffy is a very talented writer, and she certainly knows how to write a book that’s captivating and hard to stop reading. I found Diva to be well-paced, well-written and to just be an overall excellent read. It’s not necessary to read the prequel short story (although it is nice to!) and you’ll find the novel definitely isn’t your normal run-of-the-mill Chick Lit with big surprises occurring in the last quarter of the novel. It was shocking, actually, what occurred, and you better be sitting down whilst you read it. I thorougly recommend the novel and I can’t wait for Duffy #3.