Customer Reviews

Citizen Girl

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(23)
2 star:		(38)
1 star:		(115)

 

 

I actually give it three and a half stars. At first, I had a hard time getting into it, as I had a hard time getting into The Nanny Diaires. The world of these heroines -- responsible WASP girls from private prep schools trying to do dubious good in New England -- isn't a world that I know, or that I have a lot of patience for. But I understand what they are trying to say. So I have to say that most of these reviews are WAY too harsh.

The problem with Citizen Girl isn't that its bad. The writing is just as short, psuedo-clever, and sparse on the details and descriptions as Nanny Diaries. But I think it's the subject matter probably makes even readers of (so-called) chick lit uncomfortable. It's about feminism, and how hard it is for an intelligent, well-meaning young woman to try to make a living out of making the world a better place for women. It's about how varied and twisted the meaning of "feminism" has become. It's about what happens when you just stand by and allow things that you don't agree with to happen just so that you can make money. Girl, the heroine in this book, puts up with a lot of crap with the hope of hopefully doing something positive in the end. The more insults and mistreatment that she puts up with, the more money that she makes. She's motivated both by her need to get a steady paycheck and by her wish to do something positive at the end of the day. She works for a horrible company and is relentlessly used, exploited, and insulted. The work that she does goes against everything (feminist) that she believes in, but she stays with it largely because she hopes that if she does the work the company will make good on its promise to make a HUGE charitable donation to a non-profit women's organization. Plus, the economy is bad and she needs a steady paycheck.

Most of the women that I know who read these types of books don't consider themselves feminists -- the word is scary and uncomfortable and somehow implies to them that feminism isn't feminine and that it means that they can't wear lip gloss or cook for their boyfriend. Honestly, this book doesn't do much to allay that silly misconception, but it puts all the types and stereotypes out there. For most of the characters in this book, feminism is more of a jargon and a marketing strategy than a cause. And Girl is expected to let everything slide and ignore the way that the world she's living in, working in, spending money in, is negatively impacting women. Honestly, it's a good point and a worthy discussion. But it isn't as glamourous a subject as rich ladies and their spoiled children.

I don't see what the other reviewers were so suprised about in the language. I found nothing offensive about the language at all, but I am an urban girl. I think the book could have been better written, but it didn't suck. And I say that as an actual feminist with a strong addiction to lip gloss.

I loved The Nanny Diaries, both for the style and the subject, and was eagerly looking forward to the authors' second book. I bought Citizen Girl without even reading a page, expecting to love it just as much. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. While Ms. McLaughlin and Ms. Krauss's unique style is intact, the writing and editing are somewhat less stellar than TND, and with a lot of unnecessary profanity added to the mix. (It's not that I am a prude--I've been known to cuss a blue streak when the situation warrants it--but the authors seem to be under the mistaken impression that lots of [...] and even a few [...] will give their writing "edge". It doesn't. It just makes the book sound like it was written by a teenager trying to shock someone.) The main character is unsymapathetic and rather annoying, as is her love interest. The plot is convoluted and weirdly dark. Maybe this actually is a good representation of a young woman trying to make her way in New York today, but I had trouble relating at all. I plan to return my copy of the book after plowing through about half of it, and then finally skipping to the end.

I read this book for the simple reason that I liked "The Nanny Diaries" and figured that it would be worth the read, even if it wasn't quite as good. I was tremendously incorrect. I don't know how this book even got published. The bland names, "Girl" "Guy", etc, made the characters far too one dimensional for me to become invested in the story. Also, there were a lot of elements that simply didn't fit into the story and were too over the top. The funny thing is, the over the top elements were incredible uninteresting and so they didn't even add excitement to the storyline. The sole reason that I kept reading the book to the end was that I had myself convinced that the story was gonna pick up and get exciting "any page now." That simply didn't happen. What a huge disappointment. The authors, their agent, their editor and their publisher were sorely misguided on this one.

I absolutely LOVED The Nanny Diaries and was thrilled to hear that Citizen Girl was coming out by the same authors. I bought the book and started reading, expecting great things...and was thoroughly disappointed. The plot is boring, the style of writing is suited more toward a younger crowd (15-17), and I found myself sitting there going, "This is ridiculous; this would NEVER happen in real life." So as excited as I was to read this book, the purchase wasn't worth it. Oh well...at least one of their novels is a keeper!

I picked up this book last night and was shocked to find the first 30 pages were about making xerox copies, collating, and getting yelled at my her obnoxious boss etc. Boring. Very boring. The main character whose name I can not even remember was too pathetic for readers to actually form a bond with. There were several books (off the top of my head) about young women starting out on the bottom rung of the corporate ladder and their struggles of working for nasty bosses, etc. but the protagonists in those books all had some guts and brains and were able to outsmart the establishment and their employers eventually. The protagonist in this book is a very meek, mousy, little character that is hard to like or to identify with. It is obvious these authors are not real writers and I read their book the Nanny Diaries a few years ago just for the dirt and not for their writing abilities, but this book is just horrible. I read 30 pages about xerox copying and put it away never to be picked up again.

One positive thing about this book: I fell sleep immediately after putting the book down. thank you authors for that - I've spent way too many sleepless nights on really well-written books by real authors that I could not put down, I needed some rest.

If you are curious to read this book, email me, I'll send it to you for free.

What a disappointment! I enjoyed reading the Nanny Diaries and couldn't really believe that this book was written by the same authors. I didn't like the naive heroine of the book, didn't like the story loaded with stereotypes and easy to predict. Forget about the language that is used! Sometimes I thought I woukd read the first writing attempt of a teenager. I had a tough time to get to page 120. I usually try to read every book to the end - couldn't do it here.

I regret the time and money wasted on this book.

By the end of Citizen Girl, I thought "This isn't a bad first novel." The problem is that Citizen Girl isn't McLaughlin & Krauss' first book. That book had an emotional rawness that left the reader believing the authors had lived the experiences depicted in its pages (thus making the "diary" part of that book's title extremely relevant). With Citizen Girl, that deep emotional connection is missing. Thus, the book seems like it was written by someone relaying second hand information instead of a personal experience.

There are some qualities in Citizen Girl that make it worth merit. McLaughlin & Krauss' sharp wit is still present (albeit infrequently), as is their empathy for the difficulties faced by women in today's society. But, without the emotional immediacy that made their first novel so memorable, Citizen Girl is far below what McLaughlin & Krauss are capable of producing.

It's a shame that Amazon doesn't allow reviewers to give no stars, because this book doesn't even deserve ONE.

Like most of the reviewers here, I read "The Nanny Diaries" and enjoyed it (although sometimes wanting to wring Nanny's neck for being such a doormat to the evil Mrs. X) even with the less-than satisfying ending, and was hoping that "Citizen Girl" would be as enjoyable.

Unfortunately, I couldn't have been more wrong.

Apparently, the authors' idea for their second book was to follow the same format as their first one - give the main characters 'generic' names (Girl, Guy, Buster, Manley), set most of the action in NYC, and have Girl/Nanny be taken advantage of during the entire course of the 'action'.

Shabbily written and VERY difficult to follow, with no real plot to speak of, a lot of retro-feminism mixed with soft and hard-core porn.

The only interesting part of the book was the opening chapter, then it was all downhill from there.

If you MUST read it, check it out from the library (even though it's a fairly new book, my library had plenty of copies available...THAT should have told me something - Nanny Diaries was on the hold waiting list for MONTHS). But you still might get upset anyway, depending on how valuable your free time is.

A great read and a must for cubicle dwellers, Girl really shows what its like out there for a lot of young women. I see myself here... including the swearing if I'm honest. The plot is rather intricate and you do need to follow closely at some points. But what I like about Citizen Girl is that it refuses easy answers and tidy conclusions. That's what makes it so good. I thought the writing was terrific--I loved the rapid fire prose. It's hilarious when you read it outloud.

I want my money, my time and my brain cells back. I am amazed that I was suckered into paying $14.00 for this embarrassing attempt. I was in such a state of shock after reading this book (not believing that it was truly as bad as I thought it to be) that I actually mailed it to my friend for her to read...just to see if she felt the same way. She just sent the book back with a note attached that read, "I can't believe I wasted hours of my life reading THIS!" Seriously, do NOT waste your time on this shallow, annoying, barely hanging together plotline. It hurt me to turn the page and I kept praying that somehow the book would get better. It didn't.