The Gift Bag Chronicles [Abridged] [Audio CD]

Hilary De Vries (Author), Laura Hamilton (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2005

"The Gift Bag Chronicles" continues the outrageous misadventures of Hollywood girl-about-town Alex Davidson, who has moved up the ladder at her firm--formerly a mere publicist, she's now the head of 'event planning' division, which means she's a party planner.

And what goes on behind the scenes while the real stars (and the plastic surgeons who want to be treated like real stars) sip champagne, makes for the funniest, zingiest, sexiest story yet!

Editorial Reviews

Review

An all-the-angles-working film publicist seeks earthly happiness. Failing that, she throws a bunch of parties.

"In Hollywood," observes our protagonist, "you only fail upward." Perhaps so, but mess up a gift bag, and the prospects of becoming a bag lady loom large. Alex Davidson, whom we met in de Vries's So 5 Minutes Ago (2004), is now 36 and just a touch desperate to settle down again, though not so much that she'll turn off her cell phone. The worm has definitely turned, she realizes, when her opposite-coast mother asks her for tips on what to put in the gift bags she's getting together for her next party, the celebrity requirement that swag come with any appearance now having entered the general culture. Alex knows all about this; jetting her way east, she has to contend with a gift-bag crisis of epic proportions, for party-giver Jennifer, "a former exotic dancer and now bride-to-be of Jeffrey Hawker, the much-married, much-divorced star of the long-running sitcom Lovin' It,"is about to melt down over the fact that the gift-bag garters have a matte, not sateen, finish. Alex is having a meaningful something with a partner in her firm, the studly Charles, so that now she's "no longer the Emma-Thompson-lonely-spinster but a slutty Britney Spears wannabe stuck in a Woody Allen fantasy sequence with my Rittenhouse-Square-lunch-at-the-club mother." (Whew!) Alas, even in Hollywood, happy endings are hard to come by, and, meanwhile, there's yet another childish star to coddle. De Vries's storyline is a soufflÉ, but she has a sharp eye and a good ear, and she turns in wise observations on a town little known for wisdom: Why is it, she muses, that men can't close a deal, always leave something for someone else to pick up? When did it come to pass "that the only movies you see on planes are the losers?" Curious minds want to know.

The Day of the Locust it ain't–but de Vries's slight confection of... --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

About the Author

Hilary de Vries is an award-winning journalist and author who has covered Hollywood for more than a decade. She is a regular contributor to The New York Times and has written for Vogue, Rolling Stone, W, Vanity Fair and the Los Angeles Times. She lives in Los Angeles. This is her second novel.

Laura Hamilton is a two-time recipient of ALA Notable Recording Awards and numerous Publisher Weekly 'Listen Up' Awards for her audiobook narrations. Ms. Hamilton has also done video and radio voice-over work for such companies as AT&T Broadband, the Chicago Bulls, Busch Gardens and Chicago's world famous Field Museum. She lives in Chicago.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Listen & Live Audio, Inc.; Abridged edition (May 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593160550
• ISBN-13: 978-1593160555
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,483,275 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Escapist Fun, December 1, 2005

By 

Kristen (Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Gift Bag Chronicles: A Novel (Paperback)

The Gift Bag Chronicles provides a sometimes humorous account of Alex Davidson, Hollywood party planner. Most of us have probably read these types of novels before- Stressed out L.A. life, boyfriend troubles, difficult rich people who demand ridiculous things, so on and so on. De Vries' novel doesn't really take a unique approach to this theme, and I felt that a couple of the subplots were neglected a bit at the end. However, I take the book for what it is: Good escapist fun that's easy to read.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars so boring i couldn't get past the second chapter, October 18, 2005

By 

Veronica (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gift Bag Chronicles: A Novel (Paperback)

too many endless details and monotonous chatter and not enough story. if the book is about a party planner, why not start it at a party? i just didn't care about this woman or her boring life.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In the 'Bag', June 28, 2005

By 

Jo Strauss "Jo S." (Manhattan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gift Bag Chronicles: A Novel (Paperback)

I have learned to steer clear of trendy, chick-lit books, especially if they're set in showiz circles; I mean, that girl who wrote "The Devil Wears Prada" is nearly illiterate, and don't even get me startedon Plum Sykes' attempts at stringing together a sentence. BUT, despite the genre that "The Gift Bag Chronicles" may get lumped into, the bottom line is it's just a really good read. I found myself getting sooo sucked into the story of Alex and her 3000-miles-away-boyfriend Charles and how some guy who's utterly NOT her type (Oscar) slowly starts to work his way into her life. The thing is, It's sexy and fun and these people are not stupid and you won't be embarassed or ashamed after you've read it.