|
Loading... Valley of the Dolls (original 1966; edition 1997)by Jacqueline Susann
Work detailsValley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann (1966)
  tauruseducation | Jun 4, 2013 |  There was a lot of hoopla about this book when it came out. It wasn't an inaccurate account of some people's lives, then or now. (  ) bcrowl399 | May 15, 2013 | koeeoaddi | Apr 3, 2013 | I've been meaning to read this book for ages. I first heard about it in my early teenage years, probably in a biography of Courtney Love or something like that. Well, it's taken me nearly a decade but I finally got around to it, and I really wish I hadn't waited. Centering around the lives of three girls in the late 1940's through early 60's, Valley of the Dolls explores the word of celebrity and glamour in mid-century New York and Hollywood. Parts of each character are modeled on Jacqueline Susann's own life -- there's Anne, the naive suburban girl who comes to the big city as a secretary looking for true love and accidentally ends up as a spokesmodel; Neely, small-time Vaudeville kid turned huge movie star with an attitude (and drug addiction) to match; and Jennifer, who is absolutely gorgeous and loved around the world for her body, but is totally empty inside. Each of them find success and rise to the top... but that just makes it a harder fall to rock bottom. There's as much sex, drugs, and scandal as you would expect. It's also incredibly depressing at times -- I teared up more than once. Sure, it's a little bit trashy, but that just makes it more delicious. I can definitely see why this is considered a cult classic, and it's a new favorite of mine as well. (  ) agirlnamedfury | Mar 30, 2013 | One of the best popular novels of all time. Truly great for literary reasons. ( ) David_Cain | Dec 2, 2012 |
 Valley of the Dolls is a zipper-ripper that has been called trashy, tawdry, glitzy, lusty, sordid and seamy — and that's just the beginning of its appeal.
Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0802135196, Paperback)Sex and drugs and shlock and more--Jacqueline Susann's addictively entertaining trash classic about three showbiz girls clawing their way to the top and hitting bottom in New York City has it all. Though it's inspired by Susann's experience as a mid-century Broadway starlet who came heartbreakingly close to making it, but did not, and despite its reputation as THE roman á clef of the go-go 1960s, the novel turned out to be weirdly predictive of 1990s post-punk, post-feminist, post "riot grrrl" culture. Jackie Susann may not be a writer for the ages, but--alas!--she's still a writer for our times.(retrieved from Amazon Sat, 28 Aug 2010 08:05:30 -0400) Three gifted women battle for success in the New York entertainment world, where sex is a weapon and almost everyone depends on "dolls" (pills). (summary from another edition) |
 Google Books — Loading...Popular coversRatingAverage: (3.59)
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
)
Wikipedia in English (1)
2