Bitch Goddess [Paperback]

Robert Rodi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 26, 2002

In Bitch Goddess, Robert Rodi turns his riotous wit on Hollywood sex and stardom. Told entirely through interviews, e-mails, fan magazine puff pieces, film reviews, shooting scripts, greeting cards, extortion notes, and court depositions, this is a hilarious account of the on-again, off-again career of Viola Chute, the B-grade sex symbol who slept her way to the middle-and slid downward from there.

After making a big comeback on a nighttime soap, Viola decides it's time to pen her memoirs. But when E. Manfred Harry, her ghostwriter, turns up some serious dirt, the bitch goddess fires him. The ever-resourceful Harry turns the book into an unauthorized tell-all biography, and Viola's star once again begins its descent...

Will she be asked back for a second season?
Will she make Celebrity Magazine's "Best-Dressed" list again this year?
Will her agent ever return her calls?


Praise for Robert Rodi:

"Rodi whips action around faster than Julia Child working up a souffle." (The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel)

"Irrestibly funny!" (Quentin Crisp)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rodi uses the checkered career of a B-movie bimbo as a vehicle to skewer the cult of celebrity in his latest novel, a typically raunchy romp that begins with actress Viola Chute dictating her memoirs to her ghost writer, E. Manfred Harry. Harry certainly has plenty of material to work with Chute's past includes a veritable conga line of schlock movies, former husbands and enough scandalous behavior to keep a posse of gossip columnists busy for a long time. But both the bio project and Chute's career go down the tubes when the prime-time soap opera diva gets fired after demanding a million dollars an episode, and the network replaces Chute with her arch-rival, Georgia Kirkby, a serious but pompous actress who also has a stage background. The beleaguered Chute is also busy fending off a lawsuit from a paparazzo, and when the actress cuts Harry loose, he gets hired by Kirkby to dig up enough dirt on Chute's past to ruin her. Rodi fleshes out his rather skimpy primary plot by telling his story exclusively through letters, e-mails, interviews and the like, a tactic that works for the most part, although as the subplots and secondary characters begin to pile up the book becomes a bit busy. But most of this is just an excuse for Rodi's over-the-top commentary on the excesses of Hollywood culture and our obsession with celebrities; although occasionally silly, there's plenty of juicy fun for those who like their movie heroes well done.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* The publisher should print a warning on this one: "DANGER: Reading this book in designated quiet spaces risks rousing the wrath of others with chuckles, giggles, belly laughs, and outright guffaws." Rodi stands the epistolary novel on its head, creating an effervescent cocktail of satire, mystery, and romance from an inspired assemblage of e-mail, recorded phone messages, transcriptions of taped interviews, newspaper clippings, theater and film reviews, Christmas cards, fan-magazine puffery, and scripts from The Winds of Wyndamville, a wildly popular Dallas cum Dynasty nighttime soaper. At the center of this collage is Viola Chute, a former B-movie sleaze queen currently riding new heights of fame because of her surprise success as Wyndamville's virtuous Grand Duchess Samantha. She has hired freelance writer E. Manfred Harry--call him Harry--to help with her memoirs, and the more he interviews her and tries to reconcile the snowballing discrepancies, the more she puts him off, making her an enigma wrapped in--not mystery, but faux ermine. Add to this a $10 million lawsuit from an injured papparazo, duelling divas, and a set of nude shots from Viola's past, and camp hilarity explodes off the page. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Plume; First Edition edition (February 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452283108
• ISBN-13: 978-0452283107
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #809,453 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert Rodi (b.1956) was born in Chicago, a town seething with literary and musical energy, and he has spent his life immersed in their currents. His first novels, which quickly gained him cult status, were deftly drawn satires of the city's gay scene. While continuing to write fiction (most recently, "The Sugarman Bootlegs") he's branched out into nonfiction, the better to share his enthusiasm for the world of canine agility (in "Dogged Pursuit") and all things Italian, specifically the great Tuscan horse race, the Palio ("Seven Seasons In Siena").

He also writes comic books for both Vertigo and Marvel, pens a self-described "guerilla lit-crit" blog about Jane Austen called "Bitch In a Bonnet", and covers the local performing arts scene for The Huffington Post. He's a performer himself, being an auxiliary member of Chicago's esteemed monologuist ensemble BoyGirlBoyGirl; he's also the front man for the fusion rock band 7th Kind (whose CD "Sea Monster" is available on Amazon).

For more information, visit his website, http://www.robertrodi.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars hysterically entertaining, March 27, 2002

By 

Page Turner "cubbydenne" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bitch Goddess (Paperback)

Robert Rodi is a master of his craft. Interesting style and sharp wit combine to make acid-tripping dogs and bitter back-stabbing actress antics a rollicking success in his latest novel.
I just have to say this books is genius. And, for the die-hard Rodi fan, you MUST check out his new comic-book series, CODENAME: KNOCKOUT which is sinfully delicious.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Need fun? Read this one!, June 5, 2003

By 

Dianna Johnston "Compulsive Reader" (Joplin, MO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bitch Goddess (Paperback)

When I started reading this book, I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. I guess I was sort of ho-hum about it. It was cute, funny and had a neat style to it, but there didn't seem to be anything special about it. Then, surprisingly, that all changed. Bitch Goddess really started to grow on me. Soon, I found myself reading it for hours just to find out what happened next.

Viola Chute is one memorable character! Author Robert Rodi has created this fabulous life for her, a former B-movie actress who has found a rise in her career through the nighttime soap opera, The Winds of Wyndamville. But there are a few years in Viola's life that are unaccounted for. Where was she between 1979 and 1982? There are no records, articles or interviews claiming a much-needed vacation or a few years spent at a spa retreat. And when anyone brings it up, Viola is the queen of changing the subject.

Mr. Harry is hired by Viola to ghostwrite her biography. While doing so, he becomes intrigued by the missing years and goes in search of the truth. And by this time, readers will be curious, too.

The story is told entirely in interviews, articles, answering machine messages, faxes, e-mails, and tape-recorded conversations between Mr. Harry and Viola. It was very easy to follow along with the style, and I think this aspect of the novel is what made it so much fun to read. This is my first try with a Robert Rodi book, and I'm thinking another one will be in order soon!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Funny Summer Reading if you can forgive the format, April 4, 2006

By 

E. Karas "Eric" (Chicago IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bitch Goddess (Paperback)

I haven't read a book in this format (e-mails, letters, cards etc) since the suspense book THE FAN years ago and it still doesnt work very well. :) It was frustrating at first and it took me a long time to get "into" the book.

I will give this a good review because as I kept reading I became more and more interseted in the escapades of the b movie actress Viola Chute and by the time all the "twists and turns" were revealed I laughed out loud at the resilience of her character. It was delicious satire.

The "Big secret" we keep waiting for ends up to be a real snoozer but I enjoyed the unraveling of the story none the less.

I still think PRINCESS PARAGON is his best book. (And not his most popular either)

If you have not read a Robert Rodi book before I would suggest starting with FAG HAG and PRICESS PARAGON. (I only thought DRAG QUEEN was not worth reading)

Enjoy but don't expect too much from this book.