Customer Reviews

Last Night at Chateau Marmont: A Novel

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

My experience with this particular author is that I read "The Devil Wears Prada" quite a while ago and loved it from beginning to end. "Everyone Worth Knowing" felt like a retread to me and the enjoyment level dipped. The reviews were so negative about "Chasing Harry Winston" that I didn't even borrow it from the library. I am not sure what inspired me to pick this novel up, but I think I was in the frame of mind where I was looking for another TDWP-type book, so I went back to the source.

Brooke and Julian and are a Manhattan couple who dated for two years and have been married for five. She is a nutritionist working two jobs (totally 60 hours a week, minimum) to support the dreams of her talented, musician husband. When Sony comes to him with a recording contract and his career begins to take off (or maybe a better word would be skyrocket), the stresses and strains on the relationship quickly become apparent. Brooke has worked long and hard to develop her career and is trying to juggle the life she has created with the new reality of a husband who is never home, never knows where he is going to be, and becomes the center of a "machine" which makes him into a product to sell rather than the husband she loves.

The story really centers around Brooke and it is her skin we are living in. Julian is more absent than present through much of the story and we really only know what he is thinking and feeling by his conversations with Brooke. While much of the turmoil may have been able to be anticipated, the reality is much more intense and everything happens to quickly that they really don't have time to prepare. Co-workers, friends and family surround them and some are incredibly supportive and some continue the same patterns of self-absorption they have exhibited their whole lives (I pretty much wanted to smack Julian's mom throughout the novel).

Snappy dialogue, detailed descriptions of fabulous clothes, rich and famous people, and a peek into the lifestyles of the (newly) famous. A book that I finished in 24 hours since I couldn't put it down and had to find out what happened. The ending could have gone a couple of different ways and it wasn't until I got there that I knew for sure what the result would be.

Fun, fast, witty - I may have to go back and try "Chasing Harry Winston" after this.

Basic premise is: Lounge singer husband of ordinary young married NY couple (Julian and Brooke) gets discovered and goes big time; couple struggles with sudden fame and loss of ordinary status quo and the imbalance between his changing idea of lifetyle/career/relationship and her expectation that they should remain "normal."

Although I knew going in that this book was going to be a pretty light read, I still found some of the plot lines a little too much to swallow. Brooke blithely sends Julian off to become a major rock star while she putters around their NY apartment with the dog. Brooke nags Julian endlessly about how he's never home any more but then refuses to quit either of her part-time jobs when he asks her to in order for them to spend more time together. Brooke agonizes incessantly about Julian being around beautiful sexy young women, but makes excuses for her own weight gain and never seems willing to wear anything but sweat suits. Brooke pouts that Julian never takes her anywhere and then is miserable when she is expected to attend any of his entertainment-world social functions. By the last hundred pages, I just wanted the whining to end and didn't really care whether or not the marriage could or would be saved.

Not a total waste of time, but keep your expectations low.

Here is a quick rundown of what's wrong with this book:

1 .The writing is corny and simplistic. The editing was lacking too, as mentioned before there was an obvious error with the time difference between the east and west coast. I noticed it right away and I am not even from the United States.

2. Brooke is unlikeable. For years she works 2 jobs to support Julian. To our understanding she does so until he makes it because they need the money. So why is she complaining when he asks her to take a break? Isn't that what she was expecting? She complains that she never sees him anymore, well she married a musician, what did she think was going to happen? And what's wrong with taking a break and following your husband around? Why is he the one having to make sacrifices to see her? And seriously, who wouldn't say yes to taking a break from work to accompany their husband in glamorous locations around the world.

3. Because it's hard to like her, the author throws a semi cheating plot towards the end of the book to give readers an opportunity to really feel sorry for her. But then she avoids confrontation and decides to complain a lot more without even looking at the incriminating photos first. What??

4. The Nola character: it's hard to understand why Nola is such a loyal friend to Brooke. Brooke doesn't bring anything to their friendship except complains about her situation: even worse, a situation she is aware Nola is jealous of. Their friendship is not realistic and brings absolutely nothing to the book.

5. All of the characters lack depth. Give more relatable background information on your characters and people will like them. The author gives background information which has nothing to do with the present plot. It's like the author knows she should do that but doesn't know how to do it.

6. The over the top name dropping throughout the book made me cringe.

7. I got the impression the author didn't do any research on the sudden fame experience but rather just wrote what she imagined it to be

8. The book is boring. The interesting plot is Julian's experience of sudden fame however, the book only follows Brooke who stays behind.

9. By the end of it you don't care about finishing the book.

If you want a good book on the same subject, I strongly recommend `The year of living famously' by Laura Caldwell, a much more realistic and likeable story.

I met the author when she was in Denver for the Tattered Cover reading. After forcing myself to get through this book, I came away with the belieft that if she hadn't had the hit with her first book, The Devil Wears Prada, that the movie created, I suspect that that this book wouldn't have made it to print. The writing is so-so; the characters almost blah. In a word: boring. If it hadn't been inscribed, I would have returned the copy to the store for a refund.

Color me disappointed.

Judith Briles

I read this in one sitting... it was smart, funny, and entertaining and I found myself rooting for Julian and Brooke the whole time! I'm recommending it to all my girlfriends.

I loved Prada but hated this. Every step of the plot was absolutely predictable. Though the character of Brooke was likeable, Weisberger never offered us any new or particularly interesting insights. The final plot resolution happened so fast that I felt like the author just tired of the book and wrapped it up as neatly and as quickly as she possibly could. Or maybe she was trying to keep it under a certain length?

The idea behind the story (my husband becomes a famous rock star) was brilliant, but the execution was awful. The characters are really unlikeable and "Rook" and Julian weren't characters I would wish a happy ending to. They were both portrayed as these pathetic and weak people that won't stand up for themselves. The story dragged on and on and I was waiting (in vain) for something exciting to happen. The only time the story caught my interest was when the hotel scene happened, and then (like the rest of the book) it just faded into nothingness... Come on Lauren - i expected way more from you!!

The book sounded and started out interesting the first several chapters then it just slacked off. I got a little more than half way through it and then gave up on it. Once Julian does start to get recognition and his career takes off then it just gets dull. Brooke whines and complains about Julians career and how its affecting their lives. Blah blah blah. I also got tired of the name brand products and names of famous people being mentioned. This book is going to be totally dated in 5 plus years. I dont normally read books like this and dont think I want to read another one like it.

I didn't read The Devil Wears Prada but I wonder how that movie, which I thought cute, came from a writing style such as this book. It seemed very childish and immature and had absolutely no depth. I wasn't eager to get back to it, once I laid it down and didn't really care what happened, just wanted to finish it and get to a new book. This gave a new meaning to the expression "light reading"
I generally don't pay a lot of attention to the reviews, wish I had read them on this one though.

My wife somehow obtained an early copy and handed it to me to read over the weekend. I enjoyed very much. The characters are believable and likable, even when cast into the surreal world of mega-fame, and it's fun for the reader to root for them even while acting as precisely the voyeur that the characters are struggling with. Worthwhile.