P.S. I Love You (Movie tie-in)(UK Edition)

Cecilia Ahern makes a splash with "PS, I Love You," a surprisingly charming debut about grief, love, family and struggling to move on with life. While Ahern needs to polish up her writing, she has plenty of raw talent, and a good grasp on her quirky characters.

Holly and Gerry were the perfect couple. Not sickening perfect, but perfect for one another. And so when Gerry dies of a brain tumor, Holly feels utterly lost and depressed, staying in her apartment and deteriorating. Finally she emerges from her cocoon, but still isn't ready to reembrace life. Despite the efforts of her family and friends, she can't move on.

Then she receives a package from beyond the grave: the List. Gerry wrote it before his death, leaving her instructions to do things like buy a bedside lamp, sing karaoke, and ends every note with "PS, I love you." Holly obeys the List -- sometimes happily, sometimes reluctantly -- and her new experiences help her to remember the past, while looking to the future.

"PS I Love You" is not your typical chick-lit. Sure, it has most of the usual trappings -- a young woman out in the world, the loud'n'lovable gay confidante, the outspoken best friend, the eccentric family complete with pink-haired baby sister. But there's no gooey love story with some new Hot Guy Du Jour, nor does it avoid the darker, more depressing experiences.

Ahern's writing is the sort that will be excellent when she gets a bit more writing experience. It's almost painfully awkward in places, the sort of thing that normally gets smoothed over by editors. But she has plenty of talent -- she makes the settings and characters come alive. And she knows how to mix grieving and humor, without making the humor less funny or the grief less heart-tugging.

Holly herself is a likable character, very true to life and sympathetic. Her family seems a little too bizarre at times, but weirdly enough, we all knows jerks, freaks and lovables like this. Worse, we're related to some of them. And Gerry himself, despite being dead, is one of the more intriguing personalities in the book even if he only appears in Holly's memory.

Ahern needs to work on her sometimes-awkward writing style, but her humorous, melancholy slice of chick-lit is a sweet read, especially for anyone who has had to say goodbye, and "PS I Love You."