What do You think about How To Teach Filthy Rich Girls (2007)?
SO DIFFERENT FROM THE TV SHOW. Which is a good thing, because this was pretty terrible. And even though it was meant to be all moralistic about reverse snobbery, the book ended up being all reverse reverse snobbery. If that makes any sense. And Marcus was the biggest gay fairygodmother stereotype ever. There was a twisty bit at the very end that I liked, and I enjoyed all the fake SAT questions. But I do not think that is enough for me to give it more than one star. Also, I wanted to read Megan's article! I think it was a total copout that we didn't get to read that!
—Caitie
A young writer just out of college, living in New York City, can't get her foot in the door of any important journalistic/literary companies and resorts to working for the rich, the beautiful, the superficial. Is she in for a shock - that she may be better suited for the life of the rich and not of the starving writer?Sounds like The Devil Wears Prada.I actually didn't like The Devil Wears Prada that much. I do life Privileged (aka How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls).Megan is a much more relatable character than Andy was in TDWP. Megan is sure and confident, and is just under some pressure to impress a pair of twins that have to pass their SATs or bye-bye trust fund. Andy was lame, made excuses for the crazed boss who made inane demands, and was under some strange assumption that one year working as a gopher would get her in the door of The New Yorker. At least Megan tries to make lemonade of her situation by crafting the idea of writing an expose on the life of the rich and shameless. Undercover work... sounds kind of cool to me.I don't think Privileged is all that much of a literary masterpiece but it's a captivating read, kind of hurtling you to continue to the next chapter. (TDWP was too slow for me...) The language was simple, direct, and well, human. Zoey Dean writes the way a young college grad would speak and think. She portrayed the Baker twins as the vain, egotistical girls they were and at the same time didn't write them to point of exaggeration. They were 17, they were rich, they were written that way.We all know that it was a Cinderella story of sorts but what I liked was that the story wasn't a complete makeover. The twins may have learned about their true selves but that didn't mean they stopped living the life they'd been living. Even though Megan realizes her true potential and sees herself the way others see her, she didn't end up with everything all that easy (well, not until the last 5-10 pages).To be honest, I had no interest in this book ever. I happened to get a signed copy by the actors who play Megan and Will on the CW show based on the book. That was a pretty random but cool day.
—Kim
Gist of the story: Recent Yale graduate Megan Smith comes to Manhattan with big plans for a career in journalism and even bigger student loan debt: $75,000. When she flails at her trashy tabloid job, she's given an escape hatch: tutor seventeen-year-old identical twins Rose and Sage Baker--yes, the infamous Baker heiresses of Palm Beach, Florida, best known for their massive fortunes and their penchant for drunkenly flashing the paparazzi -- and get their SAT scores up enough to get into Duke. Impossible job -- yes. But if she succeeds, her student debts are history. Unfortunately for Megan, the Baker twins aren't about to curtail their busy social schedules for basic algebra. And they certainly aren't thrilled to have to sit down for a study session with dowdy Megan. Megan quickly discovers that if she's going to get her money, she'll have to learn her Pucci from her Prada. And if she can look the part, maybe, just maybe, she can teach the girls something along the way.Not badly written, but could not be more cliche. Girl struggles, gets a bunch of whirlwind and fabulous help, screws it all up by trying to be someone she's not, world comes crashing down, discovers her true self and gets friends and hot new boyfriend in the end.I think I'm officially done with chick-lit. There's just nothing out there that's any good or any different.It's okay. It's not the best, however, it is one of the better written chick-lit books out there. The idea - tutoring twin girls who make Paris Hilton, Nicole Richey, Lindsay Lohan, AND Britney Spears look like saintly nuns - is different, but the story isn't. It was like a more cheerful happier ending version of "The Nanny Diaries", which I don't find to be chick-lit. Give it a whirl if you need something light, but don't buy it, check it out from your library. This is the author's first adult novel. *yawn*
—Wendi
