New chapter for Katona
Sunday October 28 2007
She's a bit of a renaissance woman, that Kerry Katona: she started with music with Atomic Kitten, moved on to drama (seemingly endless marriages, miscarriages and stories of her scary childhood) and now with the publication of her first novel, is set to conquer the world of literature. And of course everyone is sneering that she didn't even read Tough Love, let alone write it but they're sort of missing the point. Any old reality TV chav can have their own perfume or clothing line but Kerry is now such a successful brand she can can put her name to really unlikely "projects" and still expect them to be a success (stay tuned for her opera, stage play and poetry anthology). You know she's probably going to outsell Anne Enright by a ratio of about 10:1.
Some people might find that fact depressing but they're probably the same people who complain that Kerry is famous for being famous. Well now she's done gone wrote a bewk, so cut her some slack. And the world of literature could use an injection of chav glamour, actually. You know if Kerry wins the Booker (hey, it could happen!) she won't be caught unawares, with a dodgy haircut (mentioning no recent winners in particular). She'd giggle and squeak and give a long and weepy Oscars-style acceptance speech.
And I for one am halfway through her tale of down-on their-luck models and wannabe WAGS and, for the most part, enjoying it immensely. There are no pictures, just so you know. And I really wish she hadn't layered it so densely with metaphor and allegory. Thinking gives me wrinkles
