'Sleeping Beauties' by Mavis Cheek (London, Faber&Faber 1996)
Tabitha's Beauty Parlour is a haven. The women who cross its portals enter
a perfumed world where never a harsh note is struck. So far the content. This book starts with a nice course of events and it gives you the urge to read on and see what happens next. But I think the book doesn't live up to your expectations later on. For instance the makeovers. Chloe must do 3 makeovers in order to get the approval of Tabitha. She wants to retire and be sure that Chloe is the right successor. So I expected to see Tabitha finding out what Chloe is up to, what she does to the clients and that she does not follow the Beauty Rules. A minor, second, point: I think that the consequences of one of the makeovers is a bit too hard to believe and a bit bizarre (the bee-woman). What is funny though (I want to finish with something positive, because it is in general a nice book) is the suburban speech and the used terms in beauty world. Every term is spelled with a capital as to stress the importance of the terms. And ofcourse Chloe: her sneaky remarks and tales not totally fit for the rules of Tabitha's Beauty Parlour. |