Chasing Harry Winston: A Novel (Hardcover)

by Lauren Weisberger (Author)
Key Phrases: New York, Jesse Chapman, Marie Claire (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Lily Rabe throws herself enthusiastically into her narration; she sounds like she's having a ball, and listeners will, too. Rabe especially has fun with over-the-top Brazilian sexpot Adriana, making melodramatic pronouncements and calling everyone querida in a sexy, throaty exotic accent. She's also great as Emmy, the marriage-and-family–obsessed member of the trio: Rabe's sobbing, outraged delivery of Emmy's rant about her boyfriend dumping her for his personal trainer is simultaneously touching and hilarious. Leigh is the straight man of the group, but Rabe's performance conveys her doubts about her engagement realistically and sympathetically. This fun audio brings out the best in the novel. A Simon & Schuster hardcover (Reviews, Apr. 7). (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Product Description
The bestselling author of The Devil Wears Prada and Everyone Worth Knowing returns with the story of three best friends who vow to change their entire lives...and change them fast.

Emmy is newly single, and not by choice. She was this close to the ring and the baby she's wanted her whole life when her boyfriend left her for his twenty-three-year-old personal trainer -- whose fees are paid by Emmy. With her plans for the perfect white wedding in the trash, Emmy is now ordering takeout for one. Her friends insist an around-the-world sex-fueled adventure will solve all her problems -- could they be right?

Leigh, a young star in the publishing business, is within striking distance of landing her dream job as senior editor and marrying her dream guy. And to top it all off, she has just purchased her dream apartment. Only when Leigh begins to edit the enfant terrible of the literary world, the brilliant and brooding Jesse Chapman, does she start to notice some cracks in her perfect life...

Adriana is the drop-dead-gorgeous daughter of a famous supermodel. She possesses the kind of feminine wiles made only in Brazil, and she never hesitates to use them. But she's about to turn thirty and -- as her mother keeps reminding her -- she won't have her pick of the men forever. Everyone knows beauty is ephemeral and there's always someone younger and prettier right around the corner. Suddenly she's wondering...does Mother know best?

These three very different girls have been best friends for a decade in the greatest city on earth. As they near thirty, they're looking toward their future...but despite all they've earned -- first-class travel, career promotions, invites to all the right parties, and luxuries small and large -- they're not quite sure they like what they see...

One Saturday night at the Waverly Inn, Adriana and Emmy make a pact: within a single year, each will drastically change her life. Leigh watches from the sidelines, not making any promises, but she'll soon discover she has the most to lose. Their friendship is forever, but everything else is on the table. Three best friends. Two resolutions. One year to pull it off.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (May 27, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743290119
• ISBN-13: 978-0743290111
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (163 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #17,487 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Terrible!, June 24, 2008

By	K. McMahon "avid reader" (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Do not waste your money, time, or effort on this piece of trash. I enjoyed Devil Wears Prada immensely and thought Everyone Worth Knowing was a decent effort as well. But this third novel by Lauren Weisberger had me groaning in agony. The characters are vapid and selfish, the story line thin to non-existent, and the writing is totally disjointed. There were points in the story where I thought I was missing pages in my books because, apparently, Weisberger and her editor forgot the meaning of the word "transition."

I also take issue with the fact that the three main female characters, who are approaching thirty, seem to be more jealous and catty than they are happy and excited when something goes well for one of them. Of course we all feel pangs of jealousy from time to time, but these young women did not one iota of emotional substance keeping them together. Nor did they have any friends besides each other. I guess that makes sense -- Who else would want to spend time with them?! I certainly wouldn't.

There is more I can say but most of it would be a repeat of what the other 1- and 2-star reviewers have already written. I am not even going to bother keeping this book around. I will donate it to a used book shop or the Salvation Army as soon as you can say "This book stinks!"

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Boring and empty, June 17, 2008

By	A. Shum - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is probably one of the worst books I've ever read. The plot, if you can call it that, went nowhere and the book just dragged on and on and on. I kept hoping it would get better but it never did. The characters were boring and so cliche. The story lacked any kind of depth or emotion and was just filled with superficial material. I've never written a review for a book, but it was so terrible I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

30 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hits and misses, June 4, 2008

By	K. Huff (New York, NY) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Having read so many bad reviews, I was surprised by Chasing Harry Winston. It's actually much better than I expected it to be.

After being dumped by her boyfriend of five years, baby-obsessed Emmy (a restaurateur) decides that she'll sleep with as many random men as possible. Tired of sleeping with many men in succession, ultra-glamorous, Brazilian Adriana decides to enter into a monogamous relationship and possibly get engaged. Leigh, a book editor, is tired of her life, despite a job she loves and a (seemingly) perfect boyfriend. One evening over dinner, two of the three decide to change their lives dramatically within the space of a year.

In Chasing Harry Winston, Weisberger dumps the format she adopted for her first two novels. In some ways, this is good, and gives Weisberger the chance to branch out a bit. This is no outsider-looking-in tale told from a whiney first-person perspective. There's no hellish boss, no glamorous fashion or PR industry. The characters in this novel are surprisingly more unique than those in Weisberger's other two books; with the exception of the perfect boyfriend, I definitely found myself relating to Leigh a little bit. However, the author doesn't seem to be able to create anything new--it seems like this plot has been seen before, most notably in Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City.

The characters, disturbingly, define themselves primarily by their relationships with men; their careers and the other parts of their personal lives repeatedly take backseats to boyfriends and fiancées. Adriana, despite her "tricks" for getting men to chase her, is really the one doing the chasing. It was tough, too, for me to believe the Leigh-Russell relationship. On the other hand, the predicament Leigh finds herself in is very understandable: you find yourself dating the "right" guy, so you feel bad about breaking up with him because you're scared. It's a dilemma I think many women can identify with.

For having reached the age of thirty, these women are very immature and shallow, and overly concerned with having the stress-and-anxiety-free, "perfect" lives that no New York woman I know has. It was also difficult for me to see why these three are friends--they're all so different, but Weisberger never explains to her readers why they were drawn to each other in the first place.

Somewhere in the plot, out of place, is a trip to the Caribbean, during which the girls find themselves in a dicey Curacao airport drinking suspect alcohol bought from a card table, and popping pills. It's pretty much the only funny part of the book. I get the feeling that this is something that really happened to Weisberger or someone she knows, and she felt she just had to put it in. But the scene just didn't belong in this novel.

Although not as funny, clever, or well-written as The Devil Wears Prada, there was much more emotional depth in Chasing Harry Winston than in Everyone Worth Knowing. Keep in mind, though, that Weisberger is pretty much a one-note author.