Customer Reviews

Dirty Tricks

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Where do I begin? I read and reread the first four pages because the descriptive language took me back in time to the 1960s that I remember, as if I were walking down the street and observing these characters. The entire book is like this. The dialogue is priceless. Rita is gifted with the ability to write conversation as if it were happening right here, right now. The politics of the novel are intriguing, to say the least. The feminist issues pivotal, to say the least. But even if you are not necessarily focused on political and social issues, YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK. The characters are so well developed. The reader goes down memory lane of the 1960s. The relationships are both hysterical and "mind blowing."

Dear Rita Bleiman, my literary/political/feminist/theatrical heart cries out to you, "THANK YOU, THANK YOU. NOW, WRITE THE SEQUEL!"

And you reading this...."GET OFF THIS REVIEW AND ORDER THE BOOK!"

What do you get when you cross Bridget Jones with Molly Ivins? Gloria Warren, the outrageous narrator of Rita Bleiman's novel, Dirty Tricks.

A defensive, insecure misfit, Gloria straddles two worlds - each bizarre in their own way.

She lives with her girlhood friend, Veronica Lloyd (a former beauty queen) in a "swinging singles" apartment complex in Dallas, Texas, in the late sixties, where she is a spectacular social failure -- either ignored or detested by the young men looking to hook up. Veronica's girlfriends don't like her, either - they find her crude and embarrassing and make it clear they'd rather not have her tag along.

But Gloria's obsession is politics. She is most at home in the company of the whacky, hard drinking, (or just downright insane) activists and officeholders who people this environment.

So where do the dirty tricks come in? Everywhere! Everyone in the book is involved in schemes or pranks, even the narrator - actually, especially the narrator. Some of these pranks are as juvenile as calling the County Chairman repeatedly at five in the morning, or stealing a stash of campaign buttons from a political enemy, or hiring a transvestite to seduce a particularly vile womanizer. Then one of Gloria's "harmless jokes" crosses a line and ends up destroying some lives and getting her into some very hot water.

For all her flaws, Gloria is an endearing character. Actually, all of the nut cases in this book are charming.

Almost makes me want to live in Texas.

I am still wondering what Gloria Warren will do next and hoping that Rita Bleiman will take us on yet another journey into the world of power and politics. This was great romp of a read-- funny, not-so-funny and ultimately painfully honest about the forces that shape political players of all eras.

Rita's characters and dialogue reflect her strong playwright background; these are real people who are very believable. I won't reveal the ending, but let me say that just when I was wondering and worrying about Gloria, she did the right thing. Now I want more.

This was a really fun, easy read - VERY funny and with a surprising and hopeful ending. I want to know what happens next with Gloria.

I enjoyed reading Rita Bleiman's Dirty Tricks. I loved the story, cared very much about what would happen to Gloria, who was both poignant and funny at the same time. She is an amazing character, moving towards adulthood struggling with ambition and insecurity, naiveté and shrewdness, humanity and meanness! Bleiman's characters jump off the page. Especially memorable are Lance and Veronica and Chuck and Mary Jo and well, a lot of them. And of course Gloria. Ian and Vic are both good true-to-type portraits without being caricatures. We see all these characters through Gloria's eyes and also through their own words, and Bleiman has a terrific ear for dialogue. A really good read.

This book really kept me turning pages. It is Chick-Lit at it's best. I love the scenes! I enjoyed the humor so much I had to learn to read quietly at night because I kept waking my spouse up! I hope this author has another on the way. I can't wait to get my hands on it if she does.

Rita Bleiman's heroine Gloria may be plugged into Texas politics, but at heart she's just a not-yet-21-year-old girl who's trying in her own bumbling way to figure out how to live her personal life. When it comes to dirty tricks, she's both the perpetrator and the victim. One day she's the trickster, billing campaign contributors a dollar each for bowling points she never earned in a fund-raising competition. A few days later the trick is on Gloria, when a wealthy campaign contributor invites her to brunch, forcing her to make ladies' small talk with the wife of the politican she (Gloria) has been sleeping with.
What's so much fun about reading this book is that whether she's trickster or trickee, Gloria always manages to come up with a hilarious, self-deprecating analysis that inevitably leads her to another adventure--and another step in the direction of becoming a grown-up.

I almost never agree with the promotional blurbs on book jackets. I rarely, for example, laugh out loud while reading. But this really is a "laugh-out-loud novel," just as the promo promises. And the film rights will surely bring a bidding war, as one of her reviewers asserts. I can hardly wait to find out who will play Ian, Vic and, especially, Gloria. Ms. Bleiman's protagonist is delightfully witty and charmingly naive all at the same time. Her girlfriends are thoroughly believable as the anti-feminist women that Texas STILL produces in amazing numbers. The politicians are just the right blend of vapid egoism with tiny glimmers of public service and hidden reserves of character. And the sex is hot. What WOULD Gloria's nice Catholic mother think?

Great Book! I've been entertained over the past few days with Dirty Tricks. It is well written - and funny. The engaging characters remain true to life - in spite of their quirks. I felt as though I might encounter any of them at a political gathering, and, with Rita Bleiman's insight, I might even know whom to avoid and whom to engage.

The writing, the plot, and the characters held my interest. I was chuckling a good bit of the time, that is, when I wasn't examining upside-down Jefferson nickels (you'll need to read the book to understand the reference!)

This is one book where the sex is clean and only the politics is dirty!