Godina izdanja: 2003
ISBN: 978-0-330-43273-7
Jezik: Engleski
Autor: Strani

Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination by Helen Fielding

Publisher: ‎ Picador
Publication date: ‎ 7 Nov. 2003
Edition: ‎ Main Market
Language: ‎ English
Print length: ‎ 352 pages
‎Item weight: ‎ 419 g
Dimensions: ‎ 13 x 2.8 x 19.7 cm

From the white heat of Miami to the implants of LA, the glittering waters of the Caribbean to the deserts of Arabia, Olivia Joules pits herself against the forces of terror armed only with a hatpin, razor sharp wits and a very special underwired bra. Is it possible that the alluring and powerful Pierre Ferramo, with his impeccable taste and unimaginable wealth, is actually a major terrorist, bent on the western world`s destruction? Or is it all just a product of Olivia Joules` overactive imagination? Join Olivia in her heart-stopping and hilarious quest to save the world in this witty, contemporary and utterly unputdownable thriller.

Where do you go after Bridget Jones? Creator Helen Fielding`s response has been to go somewhere completely different. Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination, Fielding`s fourth novel, is a spy-thriller whose sassy heroine, the eponymous Joules, doesn`t fret about weight gain, laddering her tights or Chardonnay and fags in the manner of her predecessor. Oh no--Olivia, once plain old Rachel Pixley from Worksop, is a self-made, go-getting journalist for the Sunday Times and Elan magazine with, or so her colleagues at the ST maintain, `an overactive imagination` and an impeccable gift for languages. Both of these come in handy when Olivia is despatched to Miami to cover a face-cream launch, meets the enigmatic Pierre Ferramo, an international playboy, and finds herself on the scene of an al-Qaeda bomb attack. (Question: where, exactly, do Elsie and Edward rustle up that tray of tea from?)
Cue meetings with suitably disreputable people (wannabe film stars, Arab carpet vendors, spies, terrorists) in an array of exotic locales (LA, Honduras, Egypt) as Olivia goes on the trail of the terrorists and, utterly implausibly, is recruited to MI6 (they can`t get the staff nowadays). A ridiculous plot is not exactly a hanging offence in a spy-thriller, which is probably just as well here. Sadly, for Fielding, however, we do inhabit a post-Austin-Powers universe and Olivia, a walking digest of Susan Jeffers platitudes, is hard to take: seriously or otherwise. None of it is very funny, nor thrilling. Olivia is more Nancy Drew than Modesty Blaise or, crucially, Janet Evanovich`s Stephanie Plum.
Still, you can have great fun playing Bond-bingo with the clichés. Family wiped out in freak accident. Tick. Greasy henchmen. Tick. Gadgets. Tick. Charismatic al-Qaeda villain, who to Olivia`s amusement, admittedly, really does use the sentences: `It is a great delicacy in our land` and `Evidently, you are connoisseur of great beauty. As am I.` (Alas, `I expect you to die, Ms Joules` and `He`s inside the belly of that steel beast`, do not materialise.) Maybe there`s a clue in the title; perhaps the whole shebang is intended to be taken with a huge bag of Saxo. As Scott Rich, the CIA hunk, says to Olivia as the tale closes: `Oh don`t be silly, lovey. It`s just a figment of your overactive imagination.` If only. --Travis Elborough

Helen Fielding is the author of Bridget Jones`s Diary, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, and was part of the screenwriting team on the associated movies. Bridget Jones`s Baby: The Diaries is her sixth novel. She has two children and lives in London and Los Angeles.

O knjizi
„Olivia Joules“ Helen Filding duhovit je, brz i razigran roman koji spaja elemente špijunskog trilera, romantične komedije i satire savremenog medijskog sveta. Glavna junakinja, Olivija Džuls, slobodna je novinarka sklona preteranom zamišljanju, ali i neobičnoj hrabrosti: kada na jednom glamuroznom događaju upozna tajanstvenog zavodljivog muškarca, njena sumnja prerasta u uzbudljivu poteru koja je vodi od luksuznih hotela i egzotičnih destinacija do opasnih zavera, tajnih službi i gotovo filmskih avantura. Filding u ovom romanu koristi prepoznatljiv humor, ironičan pogled na svet slavnih, mode, novinarstva i globalne paranoje posle 11. septembra, ali umesto klasične junakinje romantične komedije stvara ženu koja pokušava da sopstvenu maštu pretvori u instinkt za preživljavanje. „Olivia Joules“ je roman za čitaoce koji vole britanski humor, inteligentnu zabavu, ženske junakinje sa manama i šarmom, kao i zaplete u kojima se svakodnevna nesigurnost pretvara u međunarodnu avanturu.
Biografija autorke
Helen Filding je britanska književnica, novinarka i scenaristkinja, rođena 1958. godine u Morliju, u Zapadnom Jorkširu. Studirala je englesku književnost na Univerzitetu u Oksfordu, a potom radila kao novinarka i televizijska autorka, između ostalog i za BBC. Književnu karijeru započela je romanom „Cause Celeb“, zasnovanim na iskustvima iz rada na humanitarnim i dokumentarnim projektima u Africi, ali svetsku slavu donela joj je „Dnevnik Bridžit Džouns“, roman nastao iz novinske kolumne koji je postao jedan od najpoznatijih književnih i filmskih fenomena savremene popularne kulture. Napisala je i nastavke „Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason“, „Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy“ i „Bridget Jones’s Baby: The Diaries“, a njeni romani prevedeni su na mnoge jezike i adaptirani za film. U njenom opusu posebno se prepoznaju britanska ironija, brz dijalog, komično razotkrivanje svakodnevnih nesigurnosti i sposobnost da od savremenih ženskih likova stvori junakinje koje su istovremeno smešne, ranjive, neposlušne i neodoljivo životne.
Tags: Helen Filding, Olivia Joules, Olivija Džuls, britanska književnost, savremeni roman, špijunski triler, romantična komedija, humor, novinarstvo, avantura, Bridžit Džouns.

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