The Diary of a Social Butterfly by Moni Mohsin

Themes: Contemporary, humour

The synopsis

This is the hugely entertaining journal of a socialite in Lahore. Pakistan may be making headlines – but Butterfly is set to conquer the world. ‘Everyone knows me. All of Lahore, all of Karachi, all of Isloo – oho, baba, Islamabad – half of Dubai, half of London and all of Khan Market and all the nice, nice bearers in Imperial Hotel also…No ball, no party, no dinner, no coffee morning, no funeral, no GT – Get-Together, baba – is complete without me.’ Meet Butterfly, Pakistan’s most lovable, silly, socialite. An avid party goer, inspired mis speller, and unwittingly acute observer of Pakistani high society, Butterfly is a woman like no other. In her world, SMS becomes S & M and people eat ‘three tiara cakes’ while shunning ‘do number ka maal’. ‘What cheeks!’ as she would say. As her country faces tribulations – from 9/11 to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto – Butterfly glides through her world, unfazed, untouched, and stopped short only by the chip in her manicure. Wicked, irreverent and hugely entertaining, “The Diary of a Social Butterfly” gives you a delicious glimpse into the parallel universe of the have-musts. 

The review

Unfortunately, this book was a disappointment when I expected to enjoy it since it reminded me of Crazy Rich Asians, which is one of my favourite books. But I found this book repetitive and not exceptionally well written. Since it is about the high society of Pakistan, it was full of cultural references and vocabulary that I didn’t know and understand. They were not explained and that element added to the English mistakes (that were echoing the character who thinks she is bilingual when she’s not) made the reading tedious.

I still got the main subject which is the denunciation of this type of people, who was totally debunked by the author. Almost all the characters (and the main one first) are ridiculous, obsessed with money and status, and totally disconnected from reality.

In brief: even though the idea of a diary was a good idea to immerse the reader in this superficial world, the book was spoiled by too many references left unexplained. The writing style was very repetitive and made me skim the book up to the end, which was quite abrupt.

My rating: 1,5/5

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