So far this book is like a martini topped with mini marshmallows. Update: I'm past the halfway point and the book is now a martini topped with marshmallows poured over a steaming pile of dog excrement. Update the second: I retract my earlier statement, as it is demeaning to the martini. Martinis are fabulous and should never be associated with dreck like this. It is, however, like marshmallow-dotted dog poopie, as it is cloyingly sweet, fluffy, and a real stinkeroo.Update the third: WARNING. I am not going to mark this review as spoilerific, because I'm assuming that after the above comments no one wants to read the book anyway. And if you do still plan to read this, well then, you're an idiot and deserve to be spoiled.Adriana, Leigh, and Emmy are best friends in New York who are about to turn thirty. Adriana is the wealthy daughter of a former supermodel (even though the term "supermodel" wasn't really coined until the nineties), has no job, lives in her parents' NY penthouse apartment, and sleeps with any man who looks at her. Not because she's insecure, mind you. She's just that beautiful. Leigh is a book editor with the perfect apartment and sportscaster boyfriend but she's suffering from panic attacks and some kind of strange OCD-like symptoms. Emmy is a serial monogamist who has just broken up with her boyfriend of 5 years.The girls decide to shake things up. Adriana pledges to settle down within a year, Emmy wants to whore it up all across the globe, and Leigh wants to do something (she just doesn't know what).The novel alternates between characters. Adriana whines about no one taking her seriously, Leigh whines about her job and her boyfriend, and Emmy whines both about wanting to have random sex and not thinking she can go through with having random sex.The biggest problem I have with this book, beyond the basic boring insipdness of the plot, is that Weisberger doesn't seem to know her characters. They are not only underdeveloped but they constantly contradict themselves. Adriana is oh-so-cool that men want her and women want to be her, yet she very uncooly gushes over Salma Hayek, "Brangelina," and, inexplicably for someone who doesn't want children, Angelina's son Maddox.Leigh isn't in love with her boyfriend (who later becomes her fiance) but Weisberger makes a point of telling us that while she doesn't want to have sex with him, she isn't repulsed by his touch, either. The significance of this revelation is never explained. When she later and very predictably has sex with one of the married authors she's editing, she feels exhilarated in one sentence and in the next, with no explanation for the mood change, is angry/shamed/insecure. She is so upset that the author is married, yet when it is revealed that he only married his wife so she could get her green card, she no longer cares that he has no plans to get a divorce.Emmy insists all over the place that she's ready to give up her monogamous ways and slut it up with at least one man from each continent (she travels for work) but this isn't really what she wants to do, nor is she very good at it. Later, one of the girls comments that Emmy has slept with every strange man she'd met over the past year, when in reality she only slept with three. She's also so unaware of herself that she can't figure out why she scares off a would-be one night stand by asking him if he wants children.It would have been much more interesting if Weisberger had given a reason for these inconsistencies, such as the characters having an internal struggle over doing what they want to do and doing what everyone expects of them. I suspect this was Weisberger's intention but she never really made it clear which version was the facade and which was the real girl, especially in Adriana's case.It also wasn't very believable that these girls were best friends. When Leigh calls Emmy to tell her of her engagement, she tells Emmy flat out that she doesn't think she's in love with her fiance but all Emmy wants to talk about is the proposal and the ring. A real best friend would have jumped all over it and told her friend that she shouldn't marry a man she doesn't love. It also isn't believable that Emmy and Adriana wouldn't confide their problems to each other.There are also huge holes in the action. The three girls go on vacation to Aruba, ostensibly to give Emmy the opportunity to sleep with someone, but the narrative ends just as she meets someone and jumps ahead several days, and the result of their Aruba trip is only mentioned in passing several pages later. The lengthy description of their flight to the island is utterly pointless.The ending is so contrived and predictable that one can only assume Weisberger was up against the deadline, couldn't figure out how to end it, and just wrapped everything up without any creativity whatsoever.I'm pretty pissed off that I paid for this book, and that I've contributed to its sales as it will surely be a best seller. I can only hope that people will begin to see that The Devil Wears Prada was an anomaly, and that Weisberger can't write interesting fiction.
I'd never read anything by Laura Weisberger before. I'd seen the movie "The Devil Wears Prada", and to be honest, that was pretty rubbish storyline-wise, but I thought hey, I'll give her a chance. So I saw this book, thought it might be a laugh. Gave it a go.One of the first things I noticed was that every time I picked it up, I wanted to put it back down again about a minute later. It was that unreadable, clearly. But I did get through it. Although I really wish I hadn't wasted my money on it.It had the potential to be quite a good book. You read the blurb, and think ok, this could be good. If a really good author had written it, it could be really good. But nope, it was written by this one. Then again, I bet the blurb for the Devil Wears Prada looked good as well.Adriana was quite honestly the most annoying person I've ever met. I was begging she would get pregnant or get an STD and maybe, just maybe, think "oh, maybe being a slut ISN'T the best way to spend your life as a 30+ year old". I thought that might've been what the author was going for, this woman you're meant to laugh at. But things continue to play out for her, and she soon becomes a columnist. Oh come on, a columnist! It's like the bloody Wag diaries all over again. And then a movie comes. Come on!I wanted to slap Emmy for being such a pushover. Seriously, she was absolutely pathetic. And Leigh... Leigh could have been a likeable character. Kind of someone you could relate to. But then she gets proposed to and doesn't have enough backbone to say "err, no, actually, I'm not ready". And has an embarrassing sex scene with some bloke she hates. And then you just want to slap her as well.Not only that, but the entire book promotes the idea that being a slut is the only way forward. It really isn't. It made Adriana look pathetic. Yes, querida, it did. I bet she'd be having sex with that bloody parrot given half a chance.It also has such pointless moments. Like when they randomly went on holiday very briefly. Smack bang in the middle of their working lives, for some reason, they just go on holiday, and you learn about the plane trip. And that's it, really. It just ends and suddenly, everything's back to normal. I'm sorry, but what? Why would this still be in here?The ending was appalling. It collapsed completely. Perhaps her editor saw it and thought "you better end this quickly... hurry up!"Speaking of editors, it's dead ironic that one of the characters was one, and was complaining about a book that was poorly written. But the funny thing was that she didn't have the guts to really tell him it was bad, because he was such an acclaimed author. This, to me, sounds like exactly what must have happened when this book was being published. Weisberger's editor didn't have the guts to tell her "umm, your book stinks" because she was so well known and loved after The Devil Wears Prada. So the gutless editor just let it get published, and the book went down.I guess my experience with Laura Weisberger hasn't had a good start. But if I see another book with a shoe on the front sitting on the bookshelf, I'm steering clear of that.I guess my review turned into a bit of a rant. Apologies for that.
What do You think about Chasing Harry Winston (2008)?
By page nine, I had already laughed out loud and at page 38, I already LOVED "Chasing Harry Winston" by Lauren Weisberger.It's the story of three best friends: Emmy, Adriana and Leigh and a year in which they plan to change their lives. Set in New York, focussing on dating and sex, you can't help but compare it to "Sex and the City" but it isn't a carbon copy nor are the similarities a bad thing.I found "Chasing Harry Winston" highly entertaining and incredibly easy to read. The characters are all likeable and the plot unfolds pleasantly. If you want a high-brow Pulitzer’s contender, then this isn't the book for you but if you want an easy, fun and fabulous Summer read, I highly recommend "Chasing Harry Winston".
—Liisa
Chasing Harry WinstonLauren WeisbergerPoco c'è da recensire, su questo libro.E' esattamente quello stesso tipo di lettura che o si ama, o si trova davvero brutta. Nel mio caso, ho trovato la trama intrecciata che ha come protagoniste tre amiche dai tempi del liceo, adesso alle prese con la fase della vita in cui ci si rende conto che l'età avanza e nulla si può fare per bloccare il tempo, Leigh, Emmy e Adriana, alquanto interessante. La caratterizzazione dei personaggi è ben resa, e come al solito lo stile di scrittura della Weisberger (nonostante condito qui e lì da parole meno gradevoli, ma che non stonano) non delude. Certamente, posso affermare che non sia il miglior romanzo in assoluto della scrittrice (in quanto io ho letteralmente amato dalla prima lettera all'ultima -e quindi divorato- "The Devil Wears Prada"- Il diavolo veste Prada, sempre farina del suo sacco), e non di certo è un grande della letteratura, ma personalmente ho goduto questo libro dall'inizio alla fine, semplicemente perchè l'ho preso con leggerezza, senza enormi aspettative e come una lettura più libera, distraente. Penso che il libro possa piacere, anche molto, se si ha un approccio meno "severo", ma più come una lettura da spiaggia. La mia recensione quindi gli dona tre stelline, perchè nel suo genere è discreto, nonostante non sia un grande romanzo.
—Melanie Efp
I read (and watched) "The Devil Wears Prada" several years ago and I liked it so when I came across this one, I decided to read it too.I didn't expect this to be a literary gem by any means, and in that respect it did not disappoint. I would definitely classify this as a mindless, quick "beach" read. Around page 66 I started to feel like I was losing brain cells yet at the same time, I couldn't seem to put it down either. Part of that was because I didn't want to start a book in 2012 and have it count towards my 2013 goals so I was trying to end the year with a clean slate. And part of it was because there were some ways in which I could actually relate to two of the three main characters."Chasing Harry Winston" is about three best friends living in NYC who are about to turn 30. Emmy has always dreamed of the perfect wedding, the perfect husband, the perfect children, the perfect life. Adriana, a trust fund baby and the daughter of a former Brazilian model, has never needed anything other than her looks to get through life. And Leigh has it all: the awesome apartment she saved up to buy herself, promising career with a prestigious publishing firm where she's on pace to become one of the youngest senior editors, and a boyfriend who worships her-who just happens to be the city's most popular sportscaster.The book starts with Emmy's boyfriend of 5 years leaving her for his 23-year-old personal trainer-whose services she paid for. Newly single, she decides to take the promotion her boss has been offering her which will allow her to travel around the world to scope out new menu ideas and locations so he can expand his restaurant business. During a conversation with Leigh and Adriana over drinks, it is decided that since she's only been with 3 men in her life, she needs to use her travels as the opportunity to stop seeing every man as husband material and just have a series of "affairs": one from each continent, except she gets a pass for Antarctica. This becomes a bet with Adriana, who vows to stop sleeping around and find a husband. They have a year to complete this challenge. Leigh wants to participate but her life is perfect so there's nothing she can think of to change in herself.Leigh's story was the one I was most fascinated with. I was curious to see if she would realize that her "perfect" life was really not so great after all-mainly, her relationship with Russell, whom she was dating because everyone else thought was wonderful and whom she did love but was clearly not in love with. She was also the one I could actually relate to-mostly because she's pretty neurotic about some things and because she worked hard to get where she was in life. Adriana made me glad I'm not a bored socialite but she was the one who seemed to grow up the most in the year of their challenge. I found Emmy's struggles of trying to be happy for those around her (Leigh getting engaged, her sister and brother-in-law having a baby) even though she was jealous they were getting the life she always dreamed of to be realistic. The book did have a cute, but tidy ending. The three girls didn't exactly end up with their idea of "happy ever after" but all three were clearly heading in that direction.The one thing I hate more than anything when I'm reading a book is obvious typos. I have to say they are much more glaring when one of the characters is supposed to be an editor! I also felt the pop culture references were way overdone. There was a lot of "name dropping," but in the form of companies vs people-to the extent I found myself wondering if "Us Weekly" was a paid sponsor. Overall, this was a quick, fluffy read and I'm glad I didn't devote more than a couple of days to it.
—Heather
