Jen-X: Jenny McCarthy's Open Book [Paperback]

Jenny McCarthy (Author), Neal Karlen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1997

Welcome inside the crazy world of Hollywood, sudden stardom, and rabid fandom in this heavily photographed, illustrated, and designed "diary". An intimate peek inside the mind of the woman People named as one of the 25 most intriguing of the year, Jenny McCarthy's Diary showcases Jenny's offbeat wit, skewed sensibility, and gentle wisdom -- traits that have already won her legions of fans and admirers.

The second of four daughters born to a housewife and steel plant foreman from Chicago's blue-collar South Side, Jenny McCarthy left college and made a cold-call to the offices of Playboy in the Windy City, becoming Playmate of the Year for 1994. From Singled Out to her highly-rated MTV sketch-comedy show to her upcoming Nbc sitcom, Jenny McCarthy is a star on the rise, with not a hint of an end in sight as to how high she'll go.

Vividly capturing all of the day-to-day drama, romance, heartbreak, action, and humor of being Jenny, and filled with loads of wild new photographs specially commissioned for this book, Jenny McCarthy's Diary, like the woman herself, is headed straight for the top.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This book will chat your ear off, one gal pal to another. Arranged like a high-spirited scrapbook of quips and rapidly dispensed disclosures, Jen-X is somewhat of a surprise. In this completely entertaining tell-all, Jenny McCarthy has indeed packaged herself as an open book. This is a tale enamored neither by ambition or success; it's a BH/AH memoir--before and after Hollywood--sometimes raucous, sometimes coolly self-assessing. It's loaded with brash magazine and MTV-style graphics, cute pictures raided from the family album, and zany cartoons of friends, freaks, and phobias.

Jenny McCarthy tells you about growing up on the South Side of Chicago, about dropping out of college, about her breast implants at the age of 18 ("I mean, isn't that the American dream? To purchase fine new breasts on credit?"). Her advice on dating ("Rule #1: Fart immediately") is nothing if not empirical; her lessons learned as a Playboy Bunny, candid without being self-pitying. She talks about her life with comic grit: "Instead of becoming a campus honey, I was a bratwurst queen who sold sausage sandwiches for minimum wage over the counter at a Polish delicatessen in the same neighborhood where I grew up as a friendless geek. At nineteen, I'd already been turned down by every modeling agency in Chicago...." If McCarthy weren't a celebrity, Jen-X would still be worth reading. It's pop culture chronicled through the eyes of a Gen-Xer--fresh, self-deprecating, and silly, like a fun-house mirror.

From Library Journal

Just in case you've ever wondered what it's like to be an upcoming TV star with a new NBC sitcom.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st edition (November 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060392339
• ISBN-13: 978-0060392338
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 6.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #597,392 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The book was a very pleasent surprise!, January 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Jen-X: Jenny McCarthy's Open Book (Paperback)

When my boyfriend gave me this book as a joke for my birthday, I didn't find it very amusing! You see, up to this point, I was one of the hopefully few "Jenny-haters" out there. But I decided to give the book the benefit of the doubt and give it a whirl, and I have to say that I was more than just pleasently surprised! Jenny McCarthy is not only very down-to-earth, but she's witty, hilarious, and quite frankly...normal! It was so refreshing to read that she isn't perfect after all - that she had acne, and stretch marks, and bad hair days, and bozo boyfriends. This book flys by, and I really didn't want to put it down. I am so glad I decided to read this book, not only because it was 100% entertainment, but because it gave me a chance to meet the "real" Jenny McCarthy. I loved it!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I laughed until I wanted to fart, November 29, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (Tallahassee, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jen-X: Jenny McCarthy's Open Book (Paperback)

I was not a big fan of Jenny McCarthy's until I thumbed throgh this book. I was laughing so much at the laundry mat, I had two people come up and ask what was so funny. This is an honest and bared all tale of life before, after and during Hollywood.
It just felt good. It felt good to know that someone could make it at age 24 and be so realistic about life and career choices. Jenny was the little engine that could, and I could not help to admire that.
This book also gave me a small insight to some of the real stories behind all of the trash that I see about celb's and their lives. Reading about both sides of a story always makes things come into perspective.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars jen-x rules, December 20, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Jen-X: Jenny McCarthy's Open Book (Paperback)

I think the book was one of the greatest books i have ever read. i could realate so much to her. she is my like idol and i was so happy when i found out she had a book coming out. i bought it the very first day i saw it at the mall. one day i hope i can meet her but i know that will never happen but all in all the book was really good~! i think everyone needs to buy this book and see just how much she is like anyone of us!!! well if your out there jenny mccarthy i just wanna say hi and maybe i will be lucky enough to see you one day! i love you! you are so cool! well people i have said enough, now you need to go get the book that i am raving about!please buy it! it will make me happy! well cya people! hope you read this jenny!!!! from: Your biggest fan in the world!!!!jenny h