Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Review: Confessions Of A Call Center Gal by Lisa Lim

Title: Confessions Of A Call Center Gal
Author: Lisa Lim
Source: Won in giveaway
Genre: Chick Lit
Buy: Amazon ~*~ Barnes & Noble
Add to your Goodreads shelf
Caution: May contain spoilers

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Bridget Jones's Diary meets The Office. Madison Lee is a fresh college grad, ready to take on the world of print media. But she has zero luck landing a job. Unemployment is at ten percent and on the rise. Desperate and left with no other options, she accepts a position as a service rep at a call center in Pocatello, Idaho. At the Lightning Speed call center in Spudsville, Maddy plunges into the wild and dysfunctional world of customer service where Sales is prided over Service and an eight hour shift is equivalent to eight hours of callers bashing her over the phone. Oh sure, the calls are bad. But Maddy manages to find humor on the phone and off the phone. And with all the salacious drama behind the calls, there is never a dull moment at the Lightning Speed call center.
 

Lately . . . Maddy has been pining for her smolderingly gorgeous co-worker Mika Harket. Now things are heating up on the phone--and elsewhere. Don't hang up on this novel. Working at a call center has never been this garish . . . or this delightful.

~synopsis from Goodreads

My Thoughts:

This book is a combination of Sex And The City and every chick lit book ever written. Which isn’t exactly my thing. I can take some chick lit and the like, but this was like an overload. There were a lot of innuendos and pop culture references throughout. For the most part, the references were not things I cared about. I appreciated the reference to George Michael and my beloved SNL, but the rest was just all over the place and everywhere. It became too much sometimes. I mean, it seemed like one fourth of the book relied mostly on jokes and references to pop culture.

Madison’s relationship with her best friend, Karsynn, was cute. They went through their ups and downs, but they still loved each other. The guy (her love interest), Mika, was a sweet guy. Her friend at the call center, Truong, was funny at times, although quite crude in some places.

The reality of customer service is a nightmare. It’s a lot like any job dealing with the public, even pharmacy. This is by far worse than my job though. I could almost believe that it’s not possible people could be so rude and vulgar, but then I realize I’m just fooling myself. There is a whole lot of swearing and sex talk. It’s more graphic in dialogue than in describing things actually happening.

I thought Confessions Of A Call Center Gal was okay, and I realize why I don’t go for much chick lit. I appreciated the customer service aspect in the sense that it thoroughly amused me how stupid and silly people are. Lisa Lim is a good writer, so if you enjoy chick lit and pop culture, this should be an enjoyable experience for you.


My Rating:

Pretty Good: Stay up until your bedtime

10 comments:

  1. I can so see myself enjoying this book. I love SATC and I've worked in a call center before. The sex and crude talk is the least of your worries! I get how it wouldn't be some people's cup of tea. I do think the cover is pretty cool though!

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    1. I think you would like this one actually. :) And it does have a pretty cool cover!

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  2. The only real chick lit book I've read is Something Blue by Emily Giffin and it was ridiculously addictive. I can see them getting really old really fast, though, so I try to pace myself.

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    1. I think it depends what the story is, because I've read a few others and liked them a lot. Maybe I'm too accustomed to YA. :P

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  3. I don't do a lot of chick-lit, either. Sophie Kinsella is about the only one I'll read, when I want a dose of cute. I'm glad you enjoyed this one, but I think I'm with you, I don't overly go for the chick-lit!

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    1. Yes, just like watching certain chick flicks, I can only take so much of them. Sometimes I just want a comedy or a drama. :)

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  4. This seems OK. I kind of want to read it because I used to work in a call centre, too, but I get that it's only a reasonably entertaining book and nothing amazing.

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    1. You're right, there's nothing wrong with a simply entertaining book. Sometimes you just need them! :)

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  5. Hi there Jessica,
    I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to read my book and thank you for writing this honest review. I appreciate it very much =)

    Kind Regards,
    Lisa (the author)

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    1. You're welcome! And thank you for stopping by my blog. :)

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Thank you for commenting and happy reading!