How to Be a Hepburn in a Hilton World: The Art of Living with Style,…

How to Be a Hepburn in a Hilton World has some useful information, but just thinking about Audrey Hepburn, and Andy Rooney's "taped-up pseudo-Asian" eyes for his character in Breakfast at Tiffany's really turned me off of the book. ( )

Is it really possible for girls to maintain classic virtues when the news is full of attention seeking behaviour by sad starlets in g-strings, belly rings, shorter than short skirts and rehab? Author Christy abhors the current flock of ‘It Girls’ who are really letting the sisterhood down as ‘embarrassing, flippant and shallow.’ Where are the classy role models, the self-confident and graceful women we want our intelligent young women to emulate? Perhaps they need to look to classy iconic women like Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, and Jackie O. This book includes advice on finding your own glamorous style with tips on professional success and true love. Sections on diet, speech, work ethic, friends, relationships, manners, makeup and fashionable yet modest clothing, are intended to show modern women how they can be beautiful, intelligent and fun whilst retaining values and morals. Christy also stresses the need to find purpose and work hard towards life goals rather then expect to be handed things on a platter. Self-explanatory chapter titles include ‘Keep your chin up and your skirt down,’ ‘let him come calling’ and ‘choose your friends wisely.’ As Christy says, ‘Lets face it – it’s high time some extraordinary young women brought self-respect, intelligence, and true beauty back to the female gender’ (p. 5). Great for teenage girls and their mums too! ( )

Subtitle: The Art of Living with Style, Class, and Grace. ( )

The exact reading niche for this book is difficult to determine. Those who already want to live with intelligence and class like the classic strong Hollywood women from the 1940s and 1950s will be hard-pressed to find much new information here beyond the fashion advice (which is quite good). On the other hand, the partying "Stupid Girls" who most need this book probably won't be inclined to pick it up. Still, everyone gets tired of partying eventually. Hopefully this book will serve as a much-needed guide to women raised to a partying lifestyle by reality tv and the media instead of to use the freedoms our suffragette fore-mothers fought for to the best of our abilities.

For my full review, see: http://wp.me/pp7vL-rv ( )

Christy is no Hilton but she's certainly not a Hepburn, either. The book would be a great starter for a teenager but anyone older than 20 shouldn't waste their time. The quizzes that run through the book are fairly useless, if you need a quiz to tell you how much self-respect you have, you probably don't have a lot to begin with. She's also very critical and sometimes down-right nasty to the Hiltons of the world - a Hepburn certainly wouldn't do that. There is a LOT of emphasis on looks - and I don't mean learning to dress appropriately for the workplace or choosing casual clothes that flatter but 20 pages of a 200 page book dedicated to makeup.

This certainly isn't a book teaching the art of living with style, class, and grace. It's more of a conversation with a 15-year old girl. If you are looking for real guidance on acting with grace during awkward situations, hunt down The Fabulous Girl's Guide to Decorum. I'll keep this in my permanent collection but only because I like the cover. ( )