Customer Reviews

Bought: A Novel

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bought- acquired in exchange for money or its equivalent; purchase.

Bought in this novel is the acquisition of a woman for the evening. The city is Hollywood, the acquisition is high-priced and bought for a variety of reasons. Some men want sex and variety that their wives will not give them. Some men do not want commitment. Some men want kinky sex. Some men want more than one woman at a time. And, on and on.

Emma is a young woman from a small town near LA. She has dreams of being a journalist and works for a magazine providing quotes from celebrities as they walk the line to a major event. It is boring and unsatisfying work and Emma wants more. She would be considered a beautiful woman anywhere but Hollywood. Here, she is just one of many and does not stand out. Like many, Emma brings family issues into her life. Her younger sister is the epitome of beauty and brains and Emma's family has always favored her.

Emma befriends several other would be journalist s and one introduces her to a bevy of beautiful women who show up at parties with a different man each time. Emma learns these women are women of the evening and instead of charging money they are given jewelry, clothes or their Amex card is paid off each month. Emma is fascinated by them and starts conversations with them. She realizes she has a big story here. One of her journalist friends introduces her to Jessica, the most beautiful of them all. Jessica opens up and tells Emma she will introduce her to the business.
Emma has entered a world she is unprepared for, sex, drugs and rock and roll. What she finds is not what she thought. She delves in deeper and her relationship with Jessica takes an interesting turn. The life of the rich and beautiful is not all it seems. Emma realizes she has come to a turn in the road and it is up to her which direction she takes.

'Bought' is an interesting journey through the life of those who take, An inside look into the world of money and a lifestyle we all think we want. This is a simplistic look at these lives, but it is well written and informative. Emma is a young woman with idealism on her side, is it enough?

Recommended. prisrob 05-30-09

Party Girl: A Novel

Emma Swanson is an "People magazine" type of reporter, standing at the press lines and hoping to make it in the Hollywood publication market with a feature article. When she lands a terrific scoop about "bought" women in Hollywood - they don't take money for their companionship, but laptops, jewelry, rent, etc. - she's sure to make it. All she has to do is infiltrate the land of those bought women and find out what really goes on there. Her plans go awry when she meets Jessica, the most "bought" of them all, and Danny, a sweetly optimistic Whole Foods employee with whom she forms an almost instant friendship.

I wanted to like this book - Anna David is a talented author, and there's nothing wrong her prose - but the plot didn't seem cohesive. I was drawn into the first few chapters, relating to Emma's desire to break out of the press line and into "real writing," her parents' belief that writing isn't a real job and her insecurities as a not-perfect woman in a world of plastic perfection. By about the middle of the book, however, the coincidences and plot jumps pick up. Emma is wooed from the magazine that is buying her piece with a promise of being the editor-in-chief of a brand-new LA magazine. After her first feature, she'll be editor-in-chief? Emma barely questions this, and seems surprised (then not surprised) when she realizes the slick start-up guy wants a little more than an editor.

Jessica's character seems mildly schizophrenic: sweet and caring, evil and plotting. It's hard to summarize her without giving away key plot points; I'll just say that her background doesn't quite fit with her character, and David doesn't make the connection between who she was and who she is.

Characters appear and disappear, sometimes sticking around for lengthy portions before going away to await the final few chapters (where we basically re-meet every person in the book). I found the end somewhat satisfying, in that it tied everything up, but also unsatisfying, in that the bow was just a little too neat.

I thought I would be irritated with all of the celebrity name-dropping, but it was actually fun to read about people you see on the red carpet and how they act "off-carpet." Emma's desperation and her sarcasm add a lot of substance to the dialogue.

As a character, Emma is likable, if a bit naive. She doesn't want the life her mother has - taking care of her family, art classes and gardening - but she isn't sure what she *does* want, besides independence. Her experiences with the world of bought women helps her - and us - to see that, in many ways, we're all "bought" to some degree, by our jobs, our lives, our experiences. When she tells Jessica "we're a lot alike," she means it, but they're alike in different ways: one cares, one wants.

Anna David is a novelist. And a journalist. And a 'relationship/sex/Life' guru-of-sorts.

She's very smart. She's got a great brain. (And a fabulous set of calves. LOL) And she's pretty talented.

But this novel just isn't very good.

I know; 'Ouch.'

I'm not sure what its biggest handicap is: the pitfalls of the genre (chick-lit) at its most pedestrian, or Ms David's workerlike execution. Maybe a little of both.

Here's the thing, and maybe it all comes down to this point: 'Bought' isn't very good storytelling. When you have good storytelling, the genre doesn't matter. Because that's the whole goal of a great book: the storytelling transcending the genre, taking the experience of reading the novel to a point where something resonates within the reader. It doesn't have to be Life-changing...but there has to be something that stirs. And for me, 'Bought' doesn't have it.

This is a story set against 'sex for exchange' in Hollywood. But when you take away the requisite 'chick stuff', the fashion labels, the status references...there's actually very little there.

Which isn't in itself a problem; there's nothing needing to be defended about the notion of a 'beach read'. Or a good hotdog. Or a chocolate sundae. However...

However, I don't believe that Ms David is content writing disposable fluff that clearly does not reflect either her intellect, her insight...or her innate talent.

I don't know that deep within Anna David there's a 'great' writer lurking. But I do know there's a 'better' writing dying to be given a chance. And 'Bought' was not that chance.

Personal rating: 6/10.

Bought will take you on a wild ride!
Anna David takes us into the world of women who trade sexual favors for gifts. But she was able to bring us into this world through the eyes of Emma, a writer and Jessica, one of these women.
The book will grip you from page 1 until the final letter of the final word. Anna spun the story using her unique writing style and helps brings the reader inside the minds of these women.
Finally we can look in the mirror and realize that we all do exactly the same things in our own way we all have been Bought and Sold

I urge everyone to read "Bought" by the Amazing Anna David !

Great book!

This book is so intelligent, but you don't just get that from reading it the first time. Once you put it down and think about the subject, you really start to realize what being "bought" really is.

Is Claire really any different from Jessica, other than it's more socially acceptable to be the married girl with a husband? While Claire gets the privy life of being the wife of a successful man, Jessica gets the same high-end lifestyle paid for by her clients.

Anna David really makes some fantastic and valid points in this book. It's a great summertime read, but also makes a social statement that everything is not as pretty as it seems from the outside.

Basically, everyone is "selling" something and it's just a matter if you want to sell yourself -- in any sense of selling.

I couldn't put it down and now I wish it were longer!

Bought is an excellent novel about the world of high class prostitution, and a reporter who falls into it. Trying to get her big break in the magazine biz, the Emma Swanson's world, and the world of high class prostitution start to blur. Anna David creates a great story, with real characters that you can feel for, and leaves you wanting more. A great read, thoroughly enjoyable by both men and women.

Anna David's second novel, Bought, has a secret weapon: a very mean girl named Jessica. Jessica, though ostensibly the antagonist to good girl Emma's journalist, is a riveting character worth you taking this book to the beach ASAP. While Emma's working on a story about "kept women," she encounters a whole other side of LA, where women don't have to struggle to make the rent because they have very generous sugar daddies to support them. What at first horrifies Emma very soon intrigues and she gets sucked far into their world, so far that she's ultimately has to ask herself how far she'd go for a job, for a guy.

Like she did with Party Girl, David's created a fast-paced, riveting read. Not everyone is what they seem, and Emma, though supposedly the "good girl," has to lie to her new pals and the guy she's just beginning to admit that she likes. David brings the same eye for social detail, from family pressure to the intricacies of sex and money, to Bought, making it full of players, cattiness, gossip, and drama. Jessica is thoroughly alluring in her lack of conscience, so much so that I almost wanted Emma to be seduced to the dark side. Deliciously dishy and occasionally over-the-top, written by a woman who clearly knows her LA women (and men).

When I first started reading this book it felt like I was reading a magazine article..I don't know if I got used to the book or the writing style changed into more of a story...I did find the book entertaining..Parts were a bit shocking and some things were laugh out loud funny..However the constant quoting got rather annoying..and the ending...what was that? She didn't have a relationship with her sister then all of a sudden she is the only one her sister can talk too? I also wish there was more information of why her sisters wedding was cancelled..I feel like the ending kind of left me hanging.. Otherwise I found it to be a good, quick read and I am going to read Party Girl as well...

I loved the thrilling story within Bought, just would pick Party Girl over this novel. I read this enticing book in about one day and can't wait to see what else Anna David comes out with.

Emma Swanson is a struggling writer-she has grand dreams to be a serious and well respected writer, but so far has been relegated to standing at the red carpet hoping to get sound bits from A-list actors. After being dumped for a woman who is drop dead gorgeous, Emma realizes that the girl is a kept woman. Thus, Emma finds her big story, so big that it might be the cover story in a future issue of her magazine, Substance. The girl, Jessica, ends up befriending Emma, and showing her the ins and outs of the prostitution industry.

I wouldn't say this is a great book, but it is one that made me think of how not only other perceive me, but how I project myself. After living in LA for two years, I've seen many of these kept women, and while I would not do what they do, it is an interesting perspective on a lifestyle that many women think they want. David does a good job of playing Emma and Jessica off each other. And while it is easy to hate Jessica for what she does and what she stands for, her character raises some interesting points about being confident, figuring out what you want in life and having the ambition to accomplish goals.