Customer Reviews

The Millennium Girl

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Bodicea Lashley, the novel's main character, is a professional gold-digger who is searching for . . . something. Reading this book, I searched for something, as well. Some redeeming human characteristic. The self-titled Millenium Girl seems to have no real emotions, no dedication to any of the people in her life and no morals. I searched unsuccessfully for something to like about this 29-year-old child. However, you cannot actually hate the Millenium Girl, as she is completely devoid of personality. Like her everchanging hair color, she is a chameleon with no defining characteristics of her own. Bo does not deserve a "happily after ending", but she gets one. And the reader feels . . . nothing.

Three-Minute Princess, Travels With Men, Snake In Her Pants,Every Little Bit Helps: they're all friends of Bo, the heroine ofthis deliciously naughty and outrageous novel. Bo needs all the friends she can get. She's on The Tour - The Digger Tour. The aim of the Tour for Bo and all her friends is to secure a Walletman - a rich man who has plenty of money to spoil her with, and take her to Gstaad, Aspen, St Tropez and Marbella. Considering Bo has a bottom the size of a grapefruit (and men find it just about as irresistible) you think it would be a snip for her to successfully net a cashed-up older gent. And it would - but unfortunately for her, Bo gets snared by The Look of Love. This is a frank and very funny novel - and despite being set in ritzy apartments and exotic locales, has a lot to tell us about life and love.

While the title and introduction may present this book as a superficial read, a very important message is found in the end. I immensely enjoyed reading this book and was fascinated by the fact that the author is a man, who is a clever wordsmith and incredibly "in the know."

Golddigging Bodicea Lashley tells her story of living off of men's favors and shares her hard and fast rules for golddigging. She has defined an age window of between 20-30 years old to secure her future and land a man with big "bank."
Of particular fun are the Indian-American monikers Bodacia coins for the other golddiggers: Travels With Men; No Deposit, No Return; Operation: I Do; and Every Little Bit Helps. I enjoyed the smart relationship between Bodicea and her best friend Napoleon.
The tight plot for Millennium Girl gets an extra big thanks for not being predictable; Bodicea's ultimate fate is anybody's guess. Will she land her Walletman or overplay her hand? Felske does not tip us off.
Bodicea jumps off the page as one of the strongest and most sure-footed heroines I have seen in a long while. Felske creates a heroine with formidable savvy and wit. I was amazed at how well Felske channels the voice and perspective of a twenty-seven year old woman. Wow. I thought that the human interactions played out realistically...except for Bo's relationship with her sister and with Jasper at the end of the story.
I was going to give this story four stars: even though this book has a strong showing the ending is uneven and bumpy. But on reflection, Bodicea's luminescent hotel harangue puts this story over the top for me. There are moments of sheer brilliance in this story-- I look forward to reading Coerte Felske's backlist. I recently read Franzen's The Corrections. In comparison, The Millennium Girl came off as just more effortlessly brilliant to me and with better pacing.
This novel is similar to Jay McInerney's '80s timepiece Story of My Life. If you like one you'll enjoy the other.

I heard about this book through a blurb in a magazine and was immediately intrigued so I ordered it post-haste. It's been quite a while since I purchased a novel that made me sit, relax and concentrate on understanding the characters without judgement-let's face it- the bottom line of this book is about women who prey on wealthy men to take care of lavish lifestyles.That's always an uncomfortable evil to know exists in the world. But, it's out there all around us alive and thriving. I'm amazed that a man wrote this book and was able to get into the psyche of woman so deeply and with so much heart. His main character, Bo, is rich in texture, very believeable and living a lifestyle all of us woman at one time or another, in our "dark" place, has imagined living even though we know it's "bad". The style of writing is fluid, visual, funny, sharp and dreamy. I highly recommend this book if you're in the mood to sit back, relax and soak in a storyline that moves as quick as the Bullet Train in Europe! C.V.W.F.-You've got a brand-new fan-I can't wait to get into your two other books right away.

The very dapper Coerte V. W. Felske lives in New York City. He is the author of three novels: The Shallow Man, Word, and now, Millennium Girl. There has been no shortage of controversy surrounding the publication of his work, since Felske writes about subjects that are upsetting or morally objectionable. His first amusing novel, The Shallow Man, was about a man, Nick Laws, who was obsessed with models, and gave us the term "Modelizer." Right away, Felske's work seems destined to be filmed like authors like Nick Hornby and Chuck Palaniuk, who I think he somewhat resembles if any. His novels were a pleasant shock to me when I read them years ago. Felske was also good at coining terms and creating comic situations. He took his sharp observational skills and turned the focus on Hollywood and its hangers on, in his second novel, Word. Heyward Hoon is an unsuccessful screenwriter who gets hired by a producer to procure some women. Again, this wild and humorous look at what it takes to make it in movies is given the Felske touch. Both novels are now being made into films. His new novel, Millennium Girl, is mostly about gold diggers, and women who travel around the world in search of wealthy businessmen. Bodicea is a girl from a small town who is just about at the end of her window of opportunity, her twenties, and is desperate to marry a "walletman" before she turns thirty. Poignantly, Felske shows us a glimpse of this jetset world where people like to mix love and money. I talked to Coerte Felske recently in a cafe in Soho, where we talked about the entire buzz around his work.

AL: There is a certain sensationalism about your work. Are you ever worried that there isn't enough literary content?

CF: I think my books are, for the modern age, as literary as it gets. You can talk about the masters of old: I would guarantee that Doestoevsky or Fitzgerald, or anyone like that, wouldn't be writing like they did back then right now. It's much more of "sound bite-y" world. I don't think that I'm trying to adapt a style for that world, but I'm a product of it. There's so much more information being thrown at us. I wouldn't discount my books as being non-literary. If you look at today's writers, can you find someone who's delivering page for page the way I am? It's hard to find.

Run don't walk to buy this book! It's a must read for every girl that loves pashmina scarfs and watchng Sex In The City on Sunday nights. Coerte V.W. Felske is the best thing to come along since Hemingway got drunk and stopped writing. Enjoy, it's a page turner.....

This is a must-dashious read! There has never been a character more decietful, more greed driven, more manipulative than Bodecious Lashley.--And yet Coerte V.W. Felske gives us no other option but to fall in love with her! This book is sexy, funny, inspiring and heartfelt. If you haven't picked up a copy yet, do so. You won't regret reading about this spicy gold digger with a weakness for Prada.

After reading "Word" which I really enjoyed, I owed it to Felske to read this book. Not nearly as good but still a fascinating read of a "fast lane" life. Frankly, it was a little long and too much time was spent in describing elements of the "job" without getting to the plot line which rapidly comes together in the last part of the book.

The book is about girls of the "Golddigger" profession. It must be interesting research and leaves you wandering how true it is. Irregardless, Felske has something to say about life in the fast lane and I enjoy his novels. Not his best work and doesn't really attach the reader to the characters as well as "Word" but still an enjoyable "beach" read.

Was surprised to find this was written by a man. He did a good job at presenting a hip woman's psyche but who wants to spend several hours reading about a gold-digger and her self-involved life.