Customer Reviews

Silly Little Rich Girl

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Jimmy Gleacher offers readers a unique look at the life of a bi-polar female. Liza Davis was from an extremely dysfunctional home. Her mother's focus was on her professional life rather than her children. Daughter Jamie informed her mother of her plans to go to Africa with the Peace Corps. Her mother threw a temper tantrum. Jamie walked out never to return. After a month or more, Liza became very upset. She set out on a search to find Jamie. The reader follows her on the journey and witnesses her break down.
The plot of Silly Little Rich Girl has potential but needs a tad of work in the area of editing . There are several typographical errors. The plot is confusing. Gleacher weaves the story in and out. One chapter will take place along Liza's journey to find Jamie. The next chapter takes place in the hospital. I found the plot confusing and erratic; however, that was when I got it. Gleacher is demonstrating how the mind of a bi-polar works. A bi-polar mind rarely has a smooth flow. Bits and pieces of thoughts are invading the brain all at once. Before the person can grab on and focus on one thought, another bombards him or her. Where my first thought was that Gleacher lost focus on the plot, I now think he is brilliant. Few authors have ever been able to capture the erratic thinking of a bi-polar.

As she lies in the hospital Liza Davis reflects amusingly on the New York Post headlines that dubbed her and Lily Durfee as SILLY LITTLE RICH GIRLS doing an inane stunt to get attention. Liza muses that the media as always does what it does best rush to judgment without supporting facts.

Her hospitalization can be traced initially to when her older sister Jamie vanished after their business oriented mom ripped her for joining the Peace Corps instead of getting a real job. Missing her sibling, Liza, a student at Dartmouth, began writing letters to herself signed by her sister. Her mom pressures Liza to work on Wall St when she graduates when she wants to do is design clothing; which reminds her of her vanished sister. However, her quest to find her sibling, who reportedly never showed up in Africa, becomes her obsessed mission; reality is not an issue nor is danger as she travels the country in her pursuit.

This is a refreshing brisk family drama starring an intriguing college age student and her affluent anti-soccer Type A mom. Through their dysfunctional relationship the audience obtains a picture of Jamie and their younger brother Jack. The story line is fast-paced from the moment Jamie disappears and never slows down as Lily lands in one troubled situation after another culminating in the media flip flops re an abduction and hospitalization. SILLY LITTLE RICH GIRL is a philosophical intense yet often humorous character study of a family of four with one kitchen chair currently empty though the table is set to include her.

Harriet Klausner

It's only April but this is the best book I've read so far for 2009. It's original, funny, edgy, and smart. Loved it.

Silly Little Rich Girls is a short, short novel that packs a lot of story. Taut writing and interesting characters take readers for a walk on the wild side with Liza who sets out cross country to find her missing sister and takes her bipolar-pocked mind along for the ride. An ironic look at American culture and obsessions and a fascinating peek into mental illness, Silly Little Rich Girls is satisfying on several levels and horrifying on a few, too. R-rated with a scene of disturbing sexuality and several references to the same scene, and a smattering of F-Bombs, I'd recommend that those looking for uplifting family entertainment look elsewhere. But for those of you who find character studies and mental illness fascinating, Silly Little Rich Girls could be just the summer read you're looking for.

The rich are America's royalty, but even royalty must sometimes deal with the underclass. "Silly Little Rich Girl" is a novel following spoiled brat Liza Davis as she walks into the real world. When her career on Wallstreet doesn't go as planned, she soon finds herself traveling all over the United States. Author Jimmy Gleacher doesn't pull punches as Liza's tale rips on American culture both high and low. "Silly Little Rich Girl" is a fine novel that will entertain many a reader.

Jimmy Gleacher's 'Silly Little Rich Girl' had me hooked from the get-go. Written in a fast-paced urgent tone, Gleacher's protagonist Liza is a take-no-prisoners heroine who has you rooting for her from page one. Her profoundly sad journey to find her sister is marked by moments of triumph and hilarity. Gleacher is so skillful at melding humor and drama, he will have you laughing and crying at the same time. "Silly Little Rich Girl" is a book that you will not forget for a long, long time.

Heartfelt and funny. A journey in which Liza learns about the importance of finding herself and the value of family. Offbeat and witty!!

An entertaining read I couldn't put down. I raced through each chapter feeling compelled to find out what Liza's next move would be. A wild adventure that made me laugh and want more all along the way. I can't wait for the sequel!

At 142 pages, Silly Little Rich Girl is more of a novella than a full novel. Author Jimmy Gleacher offers a story that is certainly quirky and at times amusing, but one that it is also somewhat disjointed and disorganized.

Throughout the book, main character Liza Davis speaks to her sister, Jamie. The reader is forced to piece together the plot, which is made all the more confusing by Gleacher's clumsy shifting between present-day, which has Liza in the hospital after a failed kidnapping attempt, to her search for her sister over the past year. Yes, Jamie has been missing: she stormed out of their mother's New York City apartment following an argument, and no one has seen or heard from her since. After she sees a random magazine ad featuring a college classmate of Jamie's, Liza becomes convinced that Jamie must be in one of several US cities mentioned in the ad, and so she takes off on a bizarre cross-country trip to try to find her sister.

If all this sounds a bit odd, that's because it truly is. Eventually, we learn that Liza has been suffering from a mental illness, which accounts at least in part for some of her experiences, but by the story's conclusion (which seemed rather slow in coming despite the book's short length), many things were left unexplained. On the one hand, Gleacher writes well, but on the other, his book could have used more judicious editing, not only in terms of improving the plot but also to correct some outright errors (e.g., when Liza's medications are listed, one of the drug names is spelled in several different ways, and the list of medications appears differently in the beginning versus the end of the book).

Readers who enjoy quirky, off-beat stories might like this book, but I didn't find much to hold my interest here.

Gleacher does an impressive job of writing as a female! His detailed, jarring transitions remind me of great filmmaking, where the director intends to leave you dizzy and stunned. As the tale unfolds, Gleacher divulges information painting an empathetic (yet not sappy) character struggling with mental illness on a cross country voyage. The Minnie Mouse imagery alone will leave you scarred. It drips with insanity. In a good way.