Cause Celeb (original 1994; edition 1999)

by Helen Fielding

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1,438	20	13,780	(3.07)	18
Cause Celeb - the critically acclaimed debut novel from a writer with a boundless grasp of the existential and the uproarious - has just landed in America. Deftly skewering the world of celebrity fundraising, Fielding has created an alternately comic and moving satire that straddles the glitter of media London and the horrors of an African refugee crisis. Rosie Richardson, a twenty-something literary puffette, is in a totally non-functional relationship with an unevolved but irresistible adult male - a hotshot TV presenter who plunges her into the glitzy, bitchy, inane lifestyle of London's It people. Disillusioned with the celebrity world, Rosie escapes to run a refugee camp in the African jungle. When famine strikes and a massive refugee influx heads for the camp, governments and agencies drag their heels. Bringing her former media savvy to the fore, realizing the only way to get food out fast is to bring celebrities first, Rosie turns to the life and man she fled to organize a star-studded emergency appeal from famine-racked Africa. Seamlessly bridging cataclysm and farce through the insights of a modern-day everywoman, Cause Celeb crackles with insight into fame, passion, and altruism in our time.… (more)

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Member:	snakelet
Title:	Cause Celeb
Authors:	Helen Fielding
Info:	Picador (1999), Paperback, 352 pages
Collections:	Your library
Rating:
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Cause Celeb by Helen Fielding (1994)

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This is gutsily written, and highly informative when it comes to the ins and outs of running a refugee camp, and the difficulty of raising awareness and money when people aren’t seen to be “starving enough”. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that tackles the subject with quite such zeal. It was an eye-opener. And yet the storyline back in London, where the narrator gets involved in an emotionally abusive relationship with a media personality and rubs noses with all sorts of flamboyant (and almost universally dislikeable) slebs, sits uncomfortably alongside it. Both were well written, but despite the fact that having the celebs come over and support an emergency appeal was a key part of the novel, the two strands of the story felt horribly jarring. Maybe it’s significant that there is a nostalgic feel to the London sections with the yuppie culture (at its height when the novel came out), and that only recently have questions started to be seriously posed about “white saviours” and the focus on celebrities by organisations like Comic Relief. Either way, an informative read but one that never felt quite like a rounded whole. (

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jayne_charles | Feb 16, 2020 |

This was a very quick and easy read about British aid workers in Africa. It was such an easy read I would recommend it to anyone, but especially to those who've worked in the non-profit international development or aid communities. (

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rlsova | Oct 29, 2019 |

Interesting book where famine relief work is juxtapositioned with true chick lit episodes. (

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wareagle78 | Feb 8, 2014 |

I actually liked this better than [b:Bridget Jones's Diary|227443|Bridget Jones's Diary|Helen Fielding|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51J5NZ2MJ4L._SL75_.jpg|3185154]. I believe it was a less-successful earlier novel that was republished after Bridget's success. The setting among relief workers in Africa is both unusual and lends a certain gravitas to what is, essentially, "chick lit." But good chick lit. (

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auntieknickers | Apr 3, 2013 |

My personal opinion is that Fielding's best work was Bridget Jones's Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, but this novel did offer an interesting perspective on the humanitarian crisis in Africa during the 1980's. If you've never read any of her other books, I'd suggest the Bridget books, but if you have and you like her style...go for it. (

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FireandIce | Apr 25, 2010 |

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Original publication date

1994

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Important places

Sudan

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Epigraph

Dedication

For my father, Michael Fielding

First words

It used to seem extraordinary to me that someone like Henry could actually exist, extraordinary that a person could be transported into an environment so alien to his own, and remain to utterly unaffected by his surroundings.

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Original language

English

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Cause Celeb

▾Book descriptions

Cause Celeb - the critically acclaimed debut novel from a writer with a boundless grasp of the existential and the uproarious - has just landed in America. Deftly skewering the world of celebrity fundraising, Fielding has created an alternately comic and moving satire that straddles the glitter of media London and the horrors of an African refugee crisis. Rosie Richardson, a twenty-something literary puffette, is in a totally non-functional relationship with an unevolved but irresistible adult male - a hotshot TV presenter who plunges her into the glitzy, bitchy, inane lifestyle of London's It people. Disillusioned with the celebrity world, Rosie escapes to run a refugee camp in the African jungle. When famine strikes and a massive refugee influx heads for the camp, governments and agencies drag their heels. Bringing her former media savvy to the fore, realizing the only way to get food out fast is to bring celebrities first, Rosie turns to the life and man she fled to organize a star-studded emergency appeal from famine-racked Africa. Seamlessly bridging cataclysm and farce through the insights of a modern-day everywoman, Cause Celeb crackles with insight into fame, passion, and altruism in our time.

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