Customer Reviews

Jewels of Tessa Kent

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Judith Krantz is an extremely skilled writer with that genuinely, authorly flair for creating subworlds on her own terms - a talent possessed by any writer worth reading, from Dickens to Agatha Christie, whatever the genre or actual literary merit of his or her output. I read The Jewels of Tessa Kent with as much enjoyment as all her other works, very little more or less, since she is if nothing else consistent and the predictability of her formula - if you like this sort of thing, as I do - is part of the attraction. She is very good at drawing a detailed and superficially convincing picture of a specialised environment or social situation - in this case, the worlds of film-making, auction houses and applied Catholicism - and, despite the superabundance of positives and superlatives in her novels (nobody is ever just slightly beautiful, or a little bit rich, or reasonably good at what they do) she always includes a couple of entertaining vignettes of nasty, obsessed characters. Unfortunately, however, her great weakness seems to be an inability to portray a convincing romantic relationship. Her heroines generally fall madly in reciprocated love at first sight and marry within a week, in a way that never seems remotely plausible.

Is it me, or are Judith Krantz novels becoming more tedious with the passage of time? Is my one guilty literary pleasure petering out? First, there was the unparalleled Cinderella-ism Scruples, a sample of rich excessiveness, indeed the book that gave hedonism a new name, for which thousands of readers rejoiced. Princess Daisy continued the pattern of Krantzism... outrageously beautiful heroines, both wicked and noble men, unyielding evil and brutishness by way of conflict, and the eventual emergence of the woman victorious... easily identifiable and tantalizingly reliable.

So what's happening? The Jewels of Tessa Kent didn't hit one resonant note. The Jewels of Tessa Kent, in fact, seemed to be a bit of fluff more along the lines of that old chestnut Danielle Steele (who I believe fully writes her books by tape recorder off of the top of her bouffant head) instead of a finely honed Krantz-terpiece. I remember feeling that way about Spring Collection and that other Krantz novel, the one with the photographers that was so insipid I can't even remember the title.

Frankly, the only good thing to come lately off of the pen of Judith Krantz is her autobiography, Confessions of a Nice Jewish Girl. Want to read some Krantz? Read THAT. Skip THIS.

At the beginning of this novel, Tessa Kent is but a 14-year-old extraordinarily beautiful girl whose mother lives only for the day when Tessa will become a movie star.

However due to a one-night indiscretion Tessa becomes pregnant and the family moves to another city. There, in secrecy, Tessa gives birth to a little girl (Maggie) whom her parents decide to raise as their own.

Tessa is still under twenty when she wins an Oscar for the best supporting actress and from then on her star continues to rise spectaculously.

Soon after she gets married her parents die in a car accident. Tessa's husband doesn't know her secret and so Maggie is brought up by a cold, unsympathetic couple (relatives of Tessa's husband).

Tessa becomes a widow in the meantime and, when Maggie is 18, she decides to tell her everything but Maggie finds out from another source and decides never to speak to her mother again.

A few years pass and special circumstances make Tessa desperately try to make peace with her daughter... if it's not already too late.

I must admit I am a big fan of Judith Krantz and I read all her novels. Every one of them is magic, glamorous and has some inner joy that willy-nilly rubs out on you.

The old magic is still here in this book, but not nearly as much as in the other novels.

Also there are far less people and secondary story lines, something I regret.

All in all, a book not to be missed!

Judith Krantz has turned into a formula writer with only one story to tell: that of a beautiful, yet somehow tragic heroine, who must overcome some kind of adversity to reach the top; marry one of the world's richest, most powerful men; go through another tragedy; and end her life surrounded by friends and family (and most usually, a second husband).

This is just too much of a good thing over and over and over again. I know Krantz is no Faulkner, but I've grown a bit tired of the same ole' story, no matter how the scenery changes.

Either quit or find a new framework for your stories! I won't be purchashing any Krantz books for a while, not even in paperback!

Reading about cancer in the book was really very upseting.We are surrounded by the desease , by hearing about it in our daily life. Although i have no personal experience, i was so touched by Tessa's situation, that i wish noone lived what she did when she found out.Pain doesn't hurt as much as the feeling of loss.

I really enjoyed this one! This one was very different from the others I have read(Scruples I&II, Princess Daisy,Til We Meet Again) I think this one was a lot more toned down then the others, it wasn't nearly as racy. haha. Anyways if you have enjoyed Judith's other books as much as I have, I would highly recommend this book for your next read!

A quick lite read. Less filling AND half the calories. Ultimately forced to skim quite a few tedious pages but I got through it. The entire segment dedicated to her daughter...the attempted reconciliation, the auction and most especially her daughter's romance are all written as after thoughts...simply a lot of underdeveloped fluff to beef up the page count. Were the books of my teenage years (Princess Daisy, I'll Take Manhatten) really so much better...or have I simply outgrown Judith Krantz all together? My verdict....a libary pick!

You always know what you will get with a Judith Krantz novel ... beautiful women, sexually charged teenagers, token lesbians, relationships where the woman gives up almost all for her man and who, of course, wouldn't love her anymore if he knew her deep dark secret ... and of course, a child named Daisy. Does Judith Krantz think the name Daisy is a good name? Also, it sends a message that it's better to die beautiful than to go to steps to possibly prolong life (and lose your hair) if you have cancer. While reading this book, I could have sworn I had read the same lines before in one of her earlier books. This book is junk food and candy -- quickly read, not too filling and just as soon forgotten.

For years, I have maintained the belief that novels written purely for entertainment value only are worthwhile - they serve, if you will, as an intermezzo to our reading of more literate, thought-provoking works. From nobel prize-winning Toni Morrison to the prolific intellegience of Joyce Carol Oates or our classic writers of yester-year such as Dickens and Thackery. Yet we have the likes of Steel, Susann and Krantz - all of whom display the ability to entertain and some, yes, with an aptitude for writing. Then why do I feel somewhat embarrassed when I take a Steel or Krantz novel up to the register for purchase? One doesn't want to admit to reading such books but here we are, we read. And as much as we do not want to like them we keep turning the pages to find out what happens. Judith Krantz's "The Jewels of Tessa Kent" is such a novel. I kept wanting to know what happens from the world of Ms. Krantz who I believe is a competent,decent writer - better then most in her literary genre. Ms. Krantz's novel focuses on Tessa Kent who at 14 gives birth to a daughter, Maggie. A disgrace to her religious parents and too young to be a mother, Tess's parents raise the child as their own leading others to believe that Maggie is Tessa's sister. The secret is maintained as Tessa enters the film industry becoming a major star. Tessa marries, never claiming Maggie as her daughter and, as events unforld, Tessa realizes that her lie must be turned into a truth. "The Jewels of Tessa Kent" is clearly a novel dealing with mothers and daughters and of reconciliation. Reconciliation of past, present and of family relationships. The novel fails only when Ms. Krantz decides to detail sexual encounters her characters have. I may sound prudish but I'm not. This novel has too much of a serious tone to cheeze it up by putting in sex, which is poorly written in an otherwise well-written novel, to please a mass marketed audience. Nevertheless, I recommend this novel and hope that Ms.Krantz in her next novel eliminates the overt scenes of sex if she is tackling a serious subject matter. "The Jewels of Tessa Kent" is entertaining, emotional and a nice after dinner treat.

it's entertaining, as good as any book by judith krantz, although not her best. a walk through mom-daughter relationships...