Wednesday 10 February 2016

Review: The Intern by Gabrielle Tozer

The Intern by Gabrielle Tozer
Publisher: Harper Collins AU
Publication Date: February 1st 2014
My rating: DNF 


Josie Browning dreams of having it all. A stellar academic record, an amazing career in journalism - and for her current crush to realise she actually exists. The only problem? Josie can’t get through twenty-four hours without embarrassing her sister Kat or her best friend Angel, let alone herself. Josie’s luck changes though when she lands an internship at the glossy fashion magazine Sash. A coveted columnist job is up for grabs, but Josie’s got some tough competition in the form of two other interns. Battle lines are drawn and Josie quickly learns that the magazine industry is far from easy, especially under the reign of powerful editor, Rae Swanson. From the lows of coffee-fetching and working 10-hour days, to the highs of mingling with celebrities, scoring endless free beauty products (plus falling for her cousin’s seriously gorgeous flatmate James) this is one year Josie will never forget. Totally fresh and funny, this debut novel from industry insider Gabrielle Tozer reveals just what is behind the seeming glamour and sparkle of the magazine industry.

The Intern was a book which I found myself eager to read after reading the blurb (it reminded me a lot of The Devil wears Prada, a book I enjoyed and loved the setting of) and seeing it pop up a lot of Aussie YA reader’s blogs. I was also in the mood for something light and fun and the fun aspect was totally there, I liked how Josie and the other two interns had to compete at the well known Sash magazine, especially as there was a cash prize up for grabs too. I was all behind Josie from the beginning to be successful, especially as her mum had to work so hard in order to provide for her and her sister. Also Josie was more down to earth that some of the staff at Sash, also in comparison to intern Ava, Josie was genuinely talented in her writing ability and also genuinely a nice person. Of course the comparisons to The Devil Wears Prada can be made, as Josie was a nobody before coming to Sash, she had no real sense of style in comparison to the other girls and of course she had a bitchy boss to deal with who had deadlines that needed to be met straight away and of course Josie was pushed to carry out tedious tasks initially. Like the Devil Wears Prada I was looking forward to Josie getting her moment to shine and show that she was a talented individual. So I’m glad when that moment came, because after with the hard slogging and running back and forth to Sash magazine, Josie deserved it.

However one of the reasons I had to DNF this book in the end was because Josie’s character was too young for my liking. Before going into The Intern I didn’t know that our MC would be 17 years old, yes I’ve read so many books with 17 year old MC’s in the past and not had a issue with them before, but being in Josie’s head just became really difficult at times, it’s not that she’s a whiny individual, but I just couldn’t bring myself to care about the things she was thinking about. Yes I was super curious to find out who would win the grand prize, and whether the massive doozy Josie found herself in would be revealed and whether she and James would finally get together. But that lack of connection with Josie and just the youngness of her character really made it difficult for me to continue with this story, which is a real shame, as I really had high hopes for this book. 


10 comments:

Nick said...

I'm sorry this didn't work for you, Jasprit. I struggle with books when I can't connect with the characters either, so I don't blame you for DNFing it.
I hope you have better luck with your next read!
Lovely review, Jasprit!

Lekeisha said...

Sorry you had to DNF this one.

Jenny said...

Hm. I think I would have trouble with this one too Jasprit - I always struggle with characters who read young maturity-wise, so I think Josie and I wouldn't hit it off all that well. Sorry it didn't work for you, hopefully whatever you pick up next is a winner:)

brandileigh2003 said...

Sorry to hear you didn't connect well with Josie.

Heidi@Rainy Day Ramblings said...

Well at least your were smart enough to abandon it rather than suffer through. I dont' think a seventeen year old works for this type of read either.

Shooting Stars Mag said...

I wouldn't have thought the MC would 17 actually - I tend to think of a slightly older college student when internships are involved.

Carina Olsen said...

Aw :\ I'm sorry this book was a bit disappointing Jasprit, and that you had to DNF it. But I'm glad you DNF it when you wanted to :D YAY. I'm never good at that :p But need to start DNFing more books that I don't like much, lol. Thank you for sharing your thoughts about this one. <3 It doesn't seem that good. But glad you didn't hate what you read, though :)

Keertana said...

Jasprit, I completely understand this problem! Sometimes I pick up a book with a MC who is 15 or 16 and just can't get into it whatsoever and abandon it because the POV is somehow so different and alien to me now that I'm older. And that's not the case with every MC who is young but the voices of some of them makes it really tough to continue. This has happened to me before so I'm sorry it happened with this one since it seemed to have a lot of promise. Thanks for such a honest and helpful review, though, Jasprit! :)

Ksenia said...

Oh, sorry to hear this book didn’t work for you, Jasprit. It’s hard to enjoy a story when you can’t connect with a main character. I’ve had the same problem before, when the character was too young. Great review! I hope your next book would be a winner!

Joy said...

I'm sorry this one didn't really meet your expectations, Jas. But I can see why. I think I would feel the same way about the seemingly immature state of mind of the character. And since I'm not really a fan of The Devil Wears Prada, I probably would've passed on this one, anyway.

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