Glitter Baby

GLITTER BABY is more saga than romance, a kind of book that doesn't get published often these days. As other reviewers have mentioned, Phillips starts us off from the mother’s POV and only switches over to Fleur after sixty pages or so, once she’s chronicles out heroine’s conception. Phillips sort of speed-walks us through Fleur’s childhood and teenage years, slowing down a bit when Fleur emerges as a sixteen-year-old supermodel.

I think the pacing of the book, skipping through the years as it does, covers a multitude of sins. Belinda, for example. The mother. With the book’s epic scope Phillips never has to stop and really dwell on the plausibility of Belinda’s character. We’re supposed to believe that she’s childlike, show more a perpetual innocent who’s also deeply manipulative and selfish. Belinda worships celebrities and has no regard for anyone else. The early chapters of the book make it hard to hate Belinda, although I got there eventually, but mostly I thought a real person who acted like she did would have to be either mentally handicapped or properly psychopathic. But Belinda isn’t presented as either.

Same with Alexi, whose complexities disappear into a sea of mustache-twirling. He’s a genuinely terrifying character but a lot of his attempts to sabotage Fleur can be written off as pranks. With his power and motivation, why does he hold back?

Jake, the romantic lead, suffers the most from Phillips’ skimming. We don’t get any real insight into his character until very late in the book. Up to a key turning point, it’s hard to understand who he is, what he wants, how he feels about Fleur or why. It doesn’t help that we see hardly anything of him in the first half of the book; he’s absent a lot more than he’s present. (It’s also hard to buy a character who’s a salt-of-the-earth manly man, a top-billing actor, and a Pulitzer prize winning playwright…)

The first scene we get with Fleur describes her as a rebel. Really wild and daring, a kid who flouts the rules and defies convention. I only started to get her as a character, and think she made sense, when I realized that first scene is an anomaly. After it’s over, Phillips introduces the real Fleur and she’s not a rebel at all. She’s conventional, staid almost, with a desperate need for approval. A born follower who has a very hard time achieving mental, emotional, and financial independence. That’s the essential story of the book and it’s well-told.

I picked up GLITTER BABY because I like star-studded romances. GLITTER BABY qualifies, what with Fleur’s celebrity and Jake’s acting, but Belinda’s presence alone leeches all the fun out of that; it’s impossible to moon over celebrities with her oozing around. And Fleur’s legal father spends most of the book trying to seduce her. The ick factor is really, really high.

Go ahead and pick it up if this sounds like your cup of tea; just know what you’re getting into. show less

This one started off a bit slow, but I quickly got into the story. This was a book that showcased Phillips' ability for character development. This was one of her earlier books so the plotting and writing wasn't as polished as it could be, but still very good storytelling.

One thing that I do like about Phillips is her focus on inter-generational stories. While Belinda was not the most likable of characters, she was sympathetic (at times), and I liked seeing the back story to how she got to where she was.

Fleur's story was riveting. A lovely coming-of-age story of a girl who becomes a woman by coming to terms with her past, and figuring out what she wants of her life, and getting out from the controlling clutches of her parents.

If you can make it through the first half of this, especially the first 15%, you'll enjoy the heroine's story in the second. The first 15% is all about the mother and how the heroine is conceived, it does play an important part in showcasing her mother's personality and the circumstances and players that shape the heroine's existence, but before you see the payoff in the second half, there is definitely a feeling of "what is the point?".

The second half is the redemption and finding her strength for the heroine. A blank canvas of a mother who wants to get her self-worth only from Hollywood stars and an old lecherous father (he is her step-father but not known to heroine until start of second half), emotionally damages Fleur (heroine) show more enough, that she runs away from her modeling and acting life to live obscurely and in hiding from her step-father, for a couple years. When she matures enough to gain her strength again, she starts to build a life for herself. The last quarter is Fleur building up her business and friendships and I really enjoyed her character and personality; she can be self-depreciating but also witty, strong, sassy, and fearless.

Her wit and sass really shine through in the relationship between her and the hero Jake, her co-star in her first movie. Jake has quite the background story with his PTSD from the Vietnam War but it is just about buried, until the end, in favor of the dramatics involving Fleur's mother and step-father. I loved when Fleur and Jake got to be the center of attention together, they were fun to read but I would guess their romance is only around 30% of this story. Jake was a hero I would have loved to have seen delved into more and given more page time.

This was kind of a mish mash of women's fiction and romance and until you read the last half, you can't really appreciate all the lecherous old men wanting adolescent women to make them feel young again, that you had to suffer through to fully understand what shaped Fleur's circumstances and give it emotional heft. Fleur and Jake were a pleasure but I'm not sure I was given enough of them to make up for having to read about Fleur's step-father's (he's around 70ish to her 19) dream of creating a perfect child with her because she was the child of Errol Flynn, his lecherous old friend in arms. show less

Glitter Baby är en gamaldags roman, på 80 talet gavs det ut många liknande böcker, om rikedom, skönhet, kändiskap, sex mm och antagligen gillar man sådana böcker eller så gör man inte det.
Så fast det inte är någon unik historia så ger jag den en 4 i betyg just för att jag gillar att drömma mig bort Hollywood historier lite då och då.
Det är ingen bra literatur, typisk tantsnusk, inget jag är stolt över att jag uppskattar lite då och då. Tror att denna bok och liknande böcker är främst nostalgi för mig. Det är dessa böcker jag läste som 12-13 åring.

I picked this book up thinking it would be a lighthearted chick lit. Don't be fooled by the title and sparkling cover. Yes, there are some steamy scenes, but they aren't what drive the book. This book chronicles the life of Fleur, a young girl turned lady who has been completely messed up by her delusional mother and conniving "father". There are not a lot of surprises with the twists and turns her life takes, you just know she's going to get screwed (not literally) repeatedly due to her parents. However, it's how the tale unfolds that is interesting. My heart broke for most of the twisted characters in the story. It wasn't what I had signed up for reading, but I had a hard time putting the book down because I was so drawn into Fleur's show more world. show less

There were parts I loathed--most of what Belinda did, and that creepster Alexi, and parts that I really enjoyed--the relationship between Jake and Fleur, Fleur's entire comeback. (Hey, I'm a huge sucker for a makeover...or, in this case, a re-makeover) And her web of friends was great.

I think this is a 3.5 star SEP.

This is the second book I've read about an illegitimate daughter of Errol Fylnn - the other was The Pirate's Daughter. He must have been prodigiously prolific. Fleur is the offspring of Flynn and one of the most unappealing, completely self-centered, mothers I've ever encountered in a book. Along with her mother's husband, Alexi, Belinda qualifies for a most disgusting parent award. But Fleur conquers all - and there is a lot to overcome - to find happiness in true Phillips fashion. A fun time (except for the parents from Hell) with good winning the day.