Jacqueline Susann's Shadow Of The Dolls (2001) - Plot & Excerpts
This tedious, tame sequel to Valley of the Dolls arrives 35 years after the original publishing phenomenon. Claiming to be based on a first draft by Susann (1921–1974), it certainly is aptly titled, as it languishes deep in the shadow of the original. Susann capitalized on readers' hunger for gossip by giving her fictional characters aspects of real-life celebrities, creating a thrilling guess-who puzzler featuring composites of Judy Garland, Ethel Merman and Dean Martin. Neither guessing games nor drug use (the other thrill of the original) play much of a role in Rae Lawrence's novel. There's no sex either—not just by Susann standards, but even compared to a Regency romance. Seven times characters venture near a bed only to have the action abruptly skip over the deed with "Afterwards..." ("...he lit a cigarette"/ "...they turned the television back on"/ "...he brought her a fresh glass of water"). Fans of the rough and tumble, blunt but addictive prose and plotting of Susann's original will find this rambling series of episodes (there's not enough drive to pull them into anything resembling a plot) lacking. Neely, Anne and Lyon are all back (burdened with dull teenage kids), but the pseudonymous Lawrence has no idea what to do with them. Most of the notable events take place between chapters (Neely wins an Oscar for playing arch-rival Helen Lawson in a big-screen biopic, Anne and Lyon divorce, Neely aborts Lyon's child). Susann's original still packs a wallop; the sequel is a pulled punch.
If you haven't read "Valley" yet, or it's been a long time, read it again before reading this one...it makes it all the more fun.In 1966, Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls was a scandalous must-read that introduced us to ambitious, young, single women in New York City, a glamorous world of fame and drugs. Nearly 40 years later, Lawrence has adapted a first draft that Susann wrote before her death in 1974 to provide a sequel to the original story. Beginning in 1987, the novel opens with the words "Whatever happened to Anne Wells?" Fans of Valley of the Dolls will enjoy reading about Anne and Neely O'Hara and Lyon Burke and their teenage children although, surprisingly, the main characters are only ten years older than in the original book. The drugs have been updated to Percoset and Xanax, and plastic surgery is every woman's friend.
What do You think about Jacqueline Susann's Shadow Of The Dolls (2001)?
this is HILARIOUS! this author took "valley of the dolls" and presumably picked up where it left off...WHILE FASTFORWARDING ABOUT TWO DECADES AND THEN PRETENDING LIKE IT WAS CONSEQUENT!can you DO that? VOTD ended around the late 60s, and this book started up in the MID 80S! HOW DOES THIS WORK?!?!?! TIME WARP!anyway, the author sticks it to jackie susann's writing style, and i don't really believe anne would revert to her I CAN DO THIS...ON MY OWN AGAIN! WITH A CHILD! ways and start from scratch in NYC after leaving lyon, but whatev. it's fluff.TIME TO GO TAKE A DOLL!
—kristine
How I managed to not know there was a sequel to Valley of the Dolls, I'll never know. This follows the same characters years later and while it's interesting to go back and see what Anne, Neely and Lyon have been up to it just doesn't quite compare to Jacqueline Susann's original.It was written by Rae Lawrence from manuscripts and notes that Susann left behind after her death.The characters rang true but it was a little jarring to have the setting be a more current time rather than the 60's that the original was. There were very few references to the Jennifer North character, understandable since the character dies in the original but it still seemed like she was thrown in this time as an afterthought. Overall, it was ok but a little bit of a disappointment when compared to the original
—Lori
Really terribly written. Even though Valley of the Dolls is no literary masterpiece, at least Jacqueline Susann could vary her diction. Every quote in the novel is written 'he said', 'she said', 'he said'. Not to mention some odd punctuation choices made for a difficult read at times. It was a library book (luckily) so I don't have it in front of me to comment directly.Not only that, I just found some of the plot lines to be odd. I didn't like where Jennifer's story took her; maybe I'm a wuss, b
—Kate
