Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Anita Loos sank her literary fingernails into women who are vapid gold diggers by writing this novella from the point of view of a ditzy blonde, Lorelei Lee. She seems ditzy, that is, but her actions show she’s pretty smart about extracting money and jewels out of the men who come across her path. The book thus satirizes men as well, as even through the lens of Lorelei, we see that they have just one thing on their minds, even the 90 year old father of one of the men she’s seeing. It also gets a few jabs in at the movie world, which is interesting given her work at such an early age in the nascent industry. Edith Wharton called this “the greatest novel since Manon Lescaut,” and in 1925 the sharpness of its satire was probably show more particularly pointed and original. For me, reading the words of such an airhead grew tiring even with the book’s short length, though it finishes strong and has some funny moments. The comments she relays of her friend Dorothy in particular stand out, and reading the book evokes Jane Russell’s version of her in the 1953 film adaptation. show less

The satire here is so blunt and heavy it's absolutely numbing. Lorelei's misspellings, malapropisms and imbecilic intonation are completely OTT, making the book a tiring experience despite its brevity. Starting every single sentence with "so," or "I mean," for 200+ pages is actually an interesting experiment in punishment prose: I could only manage 20 or so pages at a time before tapping out. Our heroine's stay in England, where everyone is desperate to raise cash by flogging her their ancestral tat, is kinda funny. But the mockery of the French (lecherous and unhygienic) and Germans (sausage- and beer-guzzlers) falls lamentably flat. Satire demands restraint: Lorelei visiting "a gallery full of Kunst" is funny. Retreading the joke show more twenty times in 10 pages, not so much. As Froyd might say of this overrated flapper parody — cloche, but no cigar. Actually who am I kidding, he probably loved it like everybody else. show less

What a fun book! Lorelei Lee is a gold digger, ex-chorus girl, and a wannabe authoress who "seems to be thinking all the time." She is trying to improve her life by writing down these thoughts in a journal. Her writing is full of grammatical and spelling errors which made me smile, but her thinking is even more comical. Her male friend can't get married because of his wife, her books by Mr. Conrad "all seem to be about ocean travel," and she is convinced that "fate keeps happening." Paris may be "devine," but she can't be bothered to learn the language and "will leave it to those who can't do anything but talk French." Apparently, there is nothing much wrong with her, because in Vienna she meets with Dr. "Froyd" who tells her all she show more needs is to "cultivate a few inhibitions and get some sleep."

The book is filled with gullible men who shower Lorelei with flowers and, of course, diamonds. She firmly believes that "kissing your hand may make you feel very good but a diamond bracelet lasts forever." Diamonds are a girl's best friend in Lorelei's world. I enjoyed this book very much, but found that the more dishonest and scheming Lorelei got toward the end, the less appealing she was. show less

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a humorous novel written by Anita Loos and first published in 1925. Although many are familiar with the 1953 movie version starring Marilyn Monroe, the novel is a satire and was probably one of the first introductions of the ditzy blonde. Lorelei Lee is a fantastic character and the book is set up to read as her diary. We follow Lorelei as she travels from New York to London and Paris, entertaining and gathering gifts from her gentlemen friends along the way. Of course, the author has created a memorial character and one who is a lot smarter than her appearance would lead you to believe. Gold-digger Lorelei knows both her own worth and the worth of the expensive gifts she expects and receives from her show more admirers.

In Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Anita Loos cleverly pokes fun at class, religion, politics and culture. And as Lorelei goes about manipulating her gentlemen callers, her diary spares no one and is very funny. This is a very short novel or novella but it is crammed with memorable and highly quotable lines. Marilyn Monroe and her iconic performance in the movie immediately spring to mind when I read lines such as “Kissing your hand may make you feel very good, but a diamond bracelet lasts forever” .

I found this a light, delightful and entertaining story. show less

Stanford's "Another Look" Book Club got me to read Anita Loos comic masterpiece "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" in Kindle format since I was too embarrassed to put the actual book on my shelf. The Marilyn Monroe film version is wonderful in a very different way, placed in a 1950s context, while the book is pure 1920s flapper jazz age. The 1925 book is told in the voice of a young female con artist-grifter whose blythe spirit, sexy looks, and commercial cunning raise her out of a background of rape and violence into moneyed luxury and even marriage to a millionaire. But she is no ordinary gold-digger, she is writing this diary (with inspired malapropisms) as she travels to the Central of Europe and encounters Munchen with its High Brow Kunst show more and Half Brow beer. She encounters Dr. Froyde in Vienna, and he tells her she needs a few more inhibitions, and to get some sleep. While she writes she starts to script her life and writes herself a highly improbably happy ending worthy of Disney Hollywood: she marries a boring millionaire but links up with another low life to write movie "scenarios." Her Presbyterian husband underwrites the films and works as the censor to edit out the steamy scenes, something he enjoys doing. As Lorelei says it's all devine. It would seem like total fantasy except that at the same time Anita Loos was writing it, Clare Boothe (the other loose woman) lived the story in real life as a showgirl turned writer and married her first millionaire at age 20... show less

A very very very light but amusing book. In fact it was so light, I was surprised it did not float to the ceiling when I put it down! Easily read in an hour or two, and perfect for a time when you are slightly down and feel that your mood needs to be lightened.

This was a positively silly book and it almost embarrassed me to be reading it. Luckily, it was incredibly short (less than 200 pages) so I was able to get through it in one weekend. It is the journal of Lorelei Lee, a Midwest girl making her way in the New York City with gal pal Dorothy. Lorelei's idea of making her way is to see how many men she can charm into "educating" her with their wallets. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is Lorelei's diary from March 16th to July 10th and chronicles (complete with spelling and grammatical errors) her trip to Paris, France and Europe beyond all the while juggling many different male suitors. She starts nearly every sentence with "So" to the point where it got on my nerves the way someone says "like" all show more the time (and not the "like" on FaceBook, although that can get annoying as well). Lorelei uses shopping as her weapon and is quite good at it. I had a few laugh out loud moments. My recommendation is to find the 195 version. The illustrations are priceless. show less