Everyone Worth Knowing
by Lauren Weisberger
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Book Reviews of Everyone Worth Knowing
Book Review: Easy read but annoying characters
Summary: 3 Stars
I have to admit that I actually like Lauren Weisberger's style. She writes a great prose and her books are highly enjoyable page-turners. The only problem I have with her novels is the characters and their motives. The moral seems to be far fetched and hypocritical. The heroine dutifully plays the part of a notorious play-boy's girlfriend letting him kiss her in front of cameras but then suddenly gets indignant when the pictures and stories actually make their way into tabloids. She applies for a job that requires her to work at parties on nights, holidays and week-ends (and probably is well paid too, though we hear nothing at all about the money) and then freaks out when the job interferes with her private life. She quits the job in the middle of the most important project just because there's a bit of a problem that she doesn't want to face and because she suddenly realizes that she doesn't like her co-workers. Let me remind us, that Bette didn't like anyone on her previous job in the bank too and after all, I'm not sure we're supposed to like or be friends with our colleagues. The romantic line breaks down into pieces when Sammy abruptly stops their developing relationship for whole four months simply because he's got a restaurant to open. Huh? No call during four months just because the guy is too busy with his business? I'd say that probably simply means that "he's not that into you" and then all the final scene of family and friends reunion seems as a far fetched and very unlikely happy end.
I think it's time for Ms. Weisberger to stop wasting her talent and come up with a real plot that will be worth knowing.
Book Review: Prada retread
Summary: 2 Stars
Bette Robinson is much less appealing than the heroine of Lauren Weisberger's previous bestseller The Devil Wears Prada. Strike one: she claims she just drifted into her high paying, overtime-demanding bank job. Right. Bored and cranky, she quits her bank job on impulse and to enjoy a period of feckless unemployment as a stress-free vacation (even though she lives in a doorman building in a safe neighborhood, which translates to expensive rent). Strike two - a normal person would worry about making ends meet. Then her uncle sets her up with a job with an event planner, which means she gets paid to party.
The event-planning job is the equivalent of the fashion magazine in "Prada". Like the heroine in Prada, Bette initially feels fat, frumpy, and clueless about her new milieu. However, unlike the Prada heroine, Bette doesn't seem to learn anything from her travails. Without giving spoilers (which is overly generous because the plot totally parallels that of "Prada", Bette never stops acting like a version of the entitlement crowd she sets herself apart from. And strike three: other than a winning boyfriend by the end, Bette doesn't seem to have had any character development at all. Bette, like the Prada girl, is Jewish. But in this book, Judaism is less of a brand than Louis Vuitton - it says less about the characters and informs their behavior less. I had to push myself to finish this book, although the last third had more interest for me.
Book Review: Easy, entertaining read
Summary: 3 Stars
While I have to admit, I'm with most of the other commenters in saying that, yes, this book was very predictable, and yes, this book was, essentially, a rewrite of The Devil Wears Prada, I still found it entertaining and had a hard time putting it down. I ended up finishing it in a week, sneaking reads at work, on break, and staying up way too late for my own good until I finished. I will say, though, as much as I like this author's style, the plot line will get very old if she continues to use it. I almost stopped feeling for Bette's plight, after a while, and the whole ending is pretty unrealistic. I can honestly say, if I was in Penelope's shoes, I'd have cut all ties with Bette, and if I was in Sammy's shoes, I'd have written her off as a flake well before he seemed to give up on her.
All in all, I really liked this book, but I enjoyed DWP much more, because it was fresh to me. Hadn't seen or heard of the movie, yet, and hadn't read this book, yet, either. If I'd read this one first, I imagine I'd have liked it better than DWP, but since it happened the other way around...well... *shrug*
If you liked DWP, you'll like this one, probably, but be warned, it's VERY similar and beyond predictable. Enjoy it for what it is, but don't be disappointed by the parallels--you've been warned ;)
Book Review: It's Devil Wears Prada but not as good.
Summary: 3 Stars
This book has exacly the same issues and plot structure as Devil Wears Prada. It is the "girl gets good job but loses herself" scenerio like we saw in her first book. I can't say it is horrible. I bought the audiobook and listened while I was cleaning and such. It kept my interest. It was fun.
The problem was that there was not much originality in this book. It is very much like Devil Wears Prada (DWP), just different names and she works in PR and not a magazine. There is not nearly as much conflict and tension between characters, which is what gave DWP it's fun. This book lacks a Miranda-like strong character. Therefore I am giving 3 starts because it is flat and totally predictable. The only antagonist is a weak minded character that only offers average problems (unlike Miranda who was the spine in DWP). The remaining characters do not grow and change, but are passive paricipants to their external world (characters who react because stuff happens to them vs. characters who create their circumstance).
I love my chick lit, but there needs to be something to make a book stand out from all the others. Weisberger's failure to reinvent herself results in a dissapointing book that falls into the shadow of DWP.
The fuel that made DWP succeed is not present in this book. Too Bad.
Book Review: Worth it only if you have a lot of time to kill
Summary: 2 Stars
This book is an OK use of your time if you enjoy silly, mindless, gossipy books about people you're glad you don't know in real life. And I do, sometimes. But there isn't a lot of depth here. All of the characters - and I do mean all of them - are shallow stereotypes. The lead character, Bette, is mind-numbingly boring. I wished, about halfway through the book, that we were following the story from the viewpoint of one of the "bad girls" that serve as Bette's enemies in the book - it would have been a lot more interesting that way. Bette is one of those protagonists who is basically in the story so that things can happen to her, she doesn't really DO anything. I have no idea why the bad girls target her for their ire or why the love interest wants to get involved with her, because she is sooooo boooooring. You never get a sense of who she is or what she wants, the story just kind of carries her along.
There's a whole subplot in the book about romance novels and in my opinion, Weisberger should stick to writing those. Even as "chick lit" this wasn't very good, but with a bit more hyperbole and some hot love scenes it would have been an EXCELLENT romance novel.