Customer Reviews

Coming Out

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(28)

 

 

Meet Olympia, a mother of four, full-time lawyer, devoted wife and daughter-in-law - As sympathetic a character as you can ask for. When she receives an invitation for her twin daughters to be presented at a debutante ball in high-society fashion, she nostalgically thinks back to her own coming out and what an experience it was. With great anticipation, Olympia excitedly resolves to provide the same to them. At this point, the story has some possibilities, and Danielle Steel has already gotten me to both sympathize (if not identify), with her heroine, and enjoy her ability to paint a narrative. I figure I'm getting into maybe a 4-star book.

The "conflict" in the story comes from one picket-toting daughter's rebellion and Olympia's current husband Harry's adamant refusal to get involved in elitist high-society. The plot "thickens" by way of a multitude of mundane crises, ranging from chickenpox to lost gloves, which of course can only be dealt with by Olympia. While these crises were realistic, they were not funny, and actually rather depressing. The end, in particular, was anticlimactic.

Complete with shallow and unchanging characters, devoid of any passion, and very little humor, we get the sense that Danielle Steel has decided to simply write realism rather than romance. The story seemed so realistic that I actually felt stressed out while reading it. I gave it two stars, because for all its faults, Danielle Steel is still a master wordsmith, and she did start off with a promising story. But what a disappointment from first impressions!

Another thing worth mentioning is that this latest book is very short, and in the hardcover goes for under 200 pages. Yet as I write this, I'm sitting down with a well-worn copy of one of her old classics, "The Ring", an enchanting novel that goes for just under 500 pages and at a smaller typeset. I guess it's nice to remind myself of just how good she used to be. But even if you collect everything by Ms. Steel, you would be wise to avoid this one. Let's just hope she recovers her old flair soon.

Oh, please, this book is just ridiculous and trite.

Here we have Olympia, the "perfect" modern woman, beautiful, a successful, high powered lawyer, who has the perfect job, gets to take every Friday off even (don't we all?), a perfect and wealthy husband who loves her dearly (but of course), two gorgeous twin teen-age daughters, one a "rebel" interested in protesting everything, the other a social butterfly (would you expect anything else?), a mother in law from heaven (An Auschwitz survivor - to bring a little pathos into the story) who she loves better than her own (dead) mother, (what other kind of mother in law could she be?) and a young, perfect son (naturally). Oh, did I leave anyone out? Let's see - she has her requisite ex-husband who naturally is an alcoholic and a complete jerk (hmm, nothing new there), with his silly new wife (well, did you expect her to be anything else?) , her one black friend (yes, keeping the story "real"), and oh yes, the real point of the "coming out" - not her beautiful twin daughter's coming out ball, but her eldest son admitting to her that he is gay, at the ball, of course, while she gazes up at him proudly with tears in her eyes. (let's bring the storyline right into today's headlines).

The book was so filled with cliches it was pathetic. From the husband taking a stand against going to the ball because it was against everything he believes in (while he is, naturally, fighting for the poor and downtrodden in his high powered legal job), to the ex-alcholic husband "playing the ponies" and living on his trust fund (has not worked in 15 years), to one of the twins getting a tattoo, which just almost destroys Olympia because the tattoo will show when the twin wears her dress to the ball, oh, but, handy survivor grandma to the rescue, who manages to sew a perfect stole by hand in one afternoon, after Olympia dashes around and naturally is able to find the material in the exact shade, weight and hue as the dress.

Of course this coming out ball is supposed to be for "WASP" society only, so the husband makes a stand by refusing to come to the ball. Olympia decides to make her own stand, by inviting her black friend and her husband, as well as her Auschwitz survivor mother in law, to the ball. In the days before the ball, the youngest son gets chicken pox, the mother in law falls down and breaks her ankle, one of the twins boyfriends breaks up with her, one of the twins loses a glove (chewed up by a friend's dog) and Olivia has to run out to buy a pair of manolo blahnik heels for her daughter. Oh, yes, and the twin's escort shows up to the ball with electric blue hair.

But, because Olympia is perfect, she manages to "fix" everything at the last minute . . did you expect anything less?

This book was just awful, and did not ring true at all. Each character was a cliche in themselves, way over the top. The premise of the story was ridiculous. . . I have read most of Danielle Steele's work, ok, so she is not Dostoyevsky, but her books were good for sitting down on a long afternoon with a nice cup of tea and reading a juicy and interesting story. This short book seemed like it was almost written because she had contractual obligations to fulfill. There was no passion, the sentences were short and stilted, and she seemed totally disinterested in her characters. Come on Danielle Steele, you can and have done a lot better than this!!!

Don't bother with this book. When I finished reading it I literally groaned, it was that bad.

I have been reading Danielle Steel book since the late 1980's, and it seem with each book, her writing get worst. Her early books were great, filled with romance, some far off place and over all great reads. In her latest book, Coming Out, Ms.Steel tells the story of a modern woman, who lets her daughters be present to society. This book had none of Ms.Steel's charm of earlier works. It like she wrote it for the pay check. If Ms. Steel wants to reclaim me as a fan, may she should go back and read some of earlier books any then maybe she will remember what made such a great writer.

I also have been a great fan of DS over the many years she's been writing books. However, I'm convinced that she can't possibly be writing these books any longer. They're terrible. And each time a new one comes out, I think I'll give it one more try. Then I complain about the book and vow "never again". Well, this time is the last--------this book was the worst.
As she's been doing lately, the stories are shallow. She repeats herself over and over again. Her sentence structure is awful. Her grammer is terrible. And did I say she repeats herself over and over and over. The story this time was about a "coming out" event for her twin daughters. Most of the story line was extremely predictible and very trite. Very boring and, as I said, terrible sentences and thoughts. I could write a book better than this one and I'm not an author.
Ok----I have said it all in past reviews and I won't digress------but this time I vow and will keep this vow--------no more Danielle Steel until she goes back to writing as she did in "Thurston House" and " Message from Nam". Until that time, I've given up on her entirely. Finally.

I just read this book, quite quickly in one afternoon. I think I've pretty much purchased and read every Danielle Steel book she's ever written as they used to be entertaining quick reads. I understand she has become an empire but must she also be a book writing factory. There is never much suprise as to how a DS book will end, the pleasure in reading them comes from the twist and turns, historical and geographical research she puts into her books. This book reads more like a short story as many of her other recent books. Definately not worth the hardcover price. Time to slow down and put out some quality work instead of quantity. This book was fluffy & dull.

Maybe Danielle Steele should consider retiring, because I think she's running out of good stories. The plot of this book was so dull. I can't believe she thought it was worth writing about. The whole books revolves around a coming out ball for two spoiled, rich teenager girls. Dull, dull, dull. If this is the biggest problem anyone has --whether to attend a ball--then you don't know what real problems are.

I've never been a Danielle Steele fan. This was an audiobook from the library, and I only checked it out because there wasn't anything else. After listening to this book, I remembered why I avoid this author. She's not a very good writer. Sure she has a following and can sell some books, but that doesn't mean she can write. After how many decades of writing, she still doesn't know about point of view. She's a headhopper in many of her scenes. She's an extremely passive writer. And she hasn't learned the most important rule about good writing: SHOW, DON'T TELL. Practically all of the book was telling, not showing.

Don't waste your time on this one!

Yet another VERY disappointing book by Danielle Steel. It's very short, that's the only good thing I can think of to say. The characters are so shallow. They don't even develop enough for you to like them. The storyline (if you can call it that) is so lame. Very predictable and repetitive (how many times do we hear the same argument with her daughters - over and over and over...). I could figure out the big secret of her son before I even got a third of the way through. If only she could write the way she did back when writing Message from Nam and that era. Those were good books. These newer ones (Impossible, etc.) shouldn't even be called books. What a waste of time! I keep reading her new stuff thinking she's bound to get better, but she never does, very disappointing.

When I stared reading Danielle Steele's novels, well over 20 years ago,they were amazing. The characters were larger than life, the dialog spot on, and the plots original and well thought out. I'm sorry to say that I was drawn to this novel because of its slick cover and interesting premise. After reading "Coming Out," I had the feeling the author was as bored writing it as I was reading it. In no way could this book have been written by the same author who wrote "The Ring."

I picked up this book at the library 2 days ago, hoping that THIS book will be the one to stand out. I have been a Danielle Steele fan for many years, but I have noticed that her books in the last 5 years or more have been mediocre at best. But I was hopeful with this one.
Well, I was disappointed again. The story line was ridiculous-do we really need to ponder whether it is morally right or wrong to attend a society event that is WASP only? If I was Olympia's husband, I would have slapped her! What an insult to Olympia's Jewish husband Harry-not to mention his family!
Any book that I read, I need to empathize with the Heroine/or Hero. There has to be something that I like about them. I didn't even like Olympia and the argumentative daughters, and I didn't even finish this book. What a waste of time!
If you are wanting to read a good book by Danielle Steele, read her really old ones. 'Zoya', 'The Ring', and 'Thurston House' to name a few. Until Danielle starts writing better, I won't even bother to pick up any of her new books.

I thought this was awful, just an excuse to get a book out. Very predictable and not much of a story. I read all her books and normally like them. Save your money.