This novel has a very interesting premise -- a young woman (unnamed), recently graduated from college and rolling through a succession of dead-end jobs reads the classic novel Treasure Island and decides to use it as the manual to re-invent her life, using the novel's Core Values: Boldness, Resolution, Independence, and Horn-Blowing. As I am always interested in stories that might inspire me to embark on my own life-changing adventure, I read with a notebook at my side; ready to write down any nuggets of wisdom I would come across.
Alas.
It's not that the protagonist does not pursue adventure. There's plenty of it, though mostly of the unintentional kind. And she is certainly motivated by those Core Values. But to me the motivation didn't lead to anything concrete and positive; and perhaps it's because I'm older and (ahem) more mature that I just became more and more frustrated with her and wanted to just yell GROW UP ALREADY. My attention quickly re-focused to the much more entertaining supporting cast of characters: her parents, older sister, her former boss, her best friend, her ex-boyfriend; many of them seemed to exemplify the qualities the main character was pursuing.
At least the book was fairly short (172 pages), and the writing incredibly witty, otherwise I probably would have given up on this book once my impression of the main character turned negative. Maybe I'm just not in the right age group to properly appreciate the heroine's efforts. Had this been my first Europa novel, I might have been somewhat put off by checking out their other titles; so if you have not read any Europa titles (and why haven't you) I would not recommend starting with this one.
