Customer Reviews

The Starter Wife

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(27)

 

 

Because she is a real-life "Wife Of," Gigi Levangie Grazer has been hailed as the "on the inside" Hollywood chick-litter. Inexplicably, it turns out, because "The Starter Wife" is full of the vapid, name-dropping superficiality that any housewife from Nebraska could dream up.

Gracie is a "Wife Of" -- wealthy, toned, dyed and perfectly preserved, and married to a Hollywood heavyweight with one kid. Until Kenny hits midlife crisis -- he dresses loudly, gets an earring, and then tells Gracie that he wants a divorce. In the dizzying whirlwind of divorce, Gracie finds out that he's having an affair with Britney Spears (presumably in the months before she started slumming it with Kevin Whatsisface).

A concerned pal lends Gracie her Malibu house, so the newly-divorced can get her bearings and life back on track. And as she wanders the California beaches with her gay pal and married neurotic friend, Gracie finds herself desired by not just one but two men -- a handsome homeless man, and Kenny's dissatisfied has-it-all boss. Can she become more than Kenny's "starter wife"?

Okay, it has a different plot -- one that Shar Jackson might find emotional satisfaction in, admittedly. But the core of "The Starter Wife" is yet another thin plot, with a moronic heroine and lots of name-dropping. It's even worse that much of Grazer's name-dropping is out of date -- since this book went to press, Brad and Jen have broken up. So no one's worried about them procreating.

Grazer's lack of inspiration shows through in the storyline itself, which meanders aimlessly between Hollywood-expose cliches and middle-aged-woman-reinvents-self cliches. The writing meanders as well, as if the author is desperately trying to fill up space. Grazer even has the excruciating taste to name Gracie's gay pal "Will." It's not witty or cute, just embarrassing.

Perhaps the biggest flaw is that Gracie -- the wronged Wife Of-turned-Starter Wife -- is a pill. Despite the men going gaga over her, the supposedly smart Gracie comes across as a bitter airhead, obsessed with age even when she's feeling good about herself. Kenny is a cliche of the Selfish Ex, while Will is a cliche of the Lovable Gay Pal. Only Lou, a tired mogul who wants to know what people really think of him, comes across as a real person.

With more Hollywood tale-telling and absurd cliches, Gigi Levangie Grazer slumps even further in her sophomore effort. Sure it's just a fluff book, but it's really bad fluff.

At what point do you keep reading after a character has totally turned you off? I kept thinking that as I plodded through "Starter Wife," pulled along by the witty dialogue and exotic/horrifying setting but disgusted by the main character. Gracie (does she really need a gay boyfriend named Will?) is a whiny, self-absorbed, zero of a character, who pitilessly judges everyone around her while falling into lockstep with the values she supposedly loathes. She sticks around with a jerk until he dumps her, then immediately starts shopping for Jerk No. 2. "Maneater" had a shallow, materialistic heroine as well, but dang, she was a lot of fun. Gracie is obsessed with her age to a point way beyond funny -- into the realm of the truly pathetic, and her character's insecurities seem to track uncomfortably close to the author's, judging by the recent NYT Mag article. Not half as fun as "Maneater," and not half as insightful about Hollywood as anything by Bruce Wagner. Save your money and buy yourself some Botox instead.

Because she is a real-life "Wife Of," Gigi Levangie Grazer has been hailed as the "on the inside" Hollywood chick-litter. Inexplicably, it turns out, because "The Starter Wife" is full of the vapid, name-dropping superficiality that any housewife from Nebraska could dream up.

Gracie is a "Wife Of" -- wealthy, toned, dyed and perfectly preserved, and married to a Hollywood heavyweight with one kid. Until Kenny hits midlife crisis -- he dresses loudly, gets an earring, and then tells Gracie that he wants a divorce. In the dizzying whirlwind of divorce, Gracie finds out that he's having an affair with Britney Spears (presumably in the months before she started slumming it with Kevin Whatsisface).

A concerned pal lends Gracie her Malibu house, so the newly-divorced can get her bearings and life back on track. And as she wanders the California beaches with her gay pal and married neurotic friend, Gracie finds herself desired by not just one but two men -- a handsome homeless man, and Kenny's dissatisfied has-it-all boss. Can she become more than Kenny's "starter wife"?

Okay, it has a different plot -- one that Shar Jackson might find emotional satisfaction in, admittedly. But the core of "The Starter Wife" is yet another thin plot, with a moronic heroine and lots of name-dropping. It's even worse that much of Grazer's name-dropping is out of date -- since this book went to press, Brad and Jen have broken up. So no one's worried about them procreating.

Grazer's lack of inspiration shows through in the storyline itself, which meanders aimlessly between Hollywood-expose cliches and middle-aged-woman-reinvents-self cliches. The writing meanders as well, as if the author is desperately trying to fill up space. Grazer even has the excruciating taste to name Gracie's gay pal "Will." It's not witty or cute, just embarrassing.

Perhaps the biggest flaw is that Gracie -- the wronged Wife Of-turned-Starter Wife -- is a pill. Despite the men going gaga over her, the supposedly smart Gracie comes across as a bitter airhead, obsessed with age even when she's feeling good about herself. Kenny is a cliche of the Selfish Ex, while Will is a cliche of the Lovable Gay Pal. Only Lou, a tired mogul who wants to know what people really think of him, comes across as a real person.

With more Hollywood tale-telling and absurd cliches, Gigi Levangie Grazer slumps even further in her sophomore effort. Sure it's just a fluff book, but it's really BAD fluff.

I wanted to like this book. The first 150 pages or so are like indulging in a slightly more literary version of the tabloids. It's kind of weird, though, because the book is totally fictional...and she's using real names.

I like the parts where she's fighting with her soon-to-be ex--and there's a funny section on exclusive parties attended only by Hollywood A Listers and their wives. The book is also fun, for a while, for those of us who live in LA--you know where everything is, and you can knowingly smile when she mentions that La Cienega is the accepted border to Westside LA. That wears out by page 150, and the book becomes and insipid romance novel.

I only finished reading the Starter Wife because (1) The first 150 pages were decent, and I kept thinking it might pick up again; and (2) I can't stand to drop a book I've started. The book doesn't pick back up--and the only reason I found myself laughing past p. 150 was because it was ridiculous.

I just finished reading The Starter Wife and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was an often hilarious laugh out loud read and I recommend it for a quick summer read. Some of the negative reviews on here surprise me. I haven't read a lot of chick lit, but I recently finished The Devil Wears Prada and I found The Starter Wife to be far superior. I plan to read some Bruce Wagner soon so I'll see how that compares. Granted, as one reviewer commented, the 2nd half of the book was a tad unrealistic, but isn't that what fiction is about -- to suspend reality for the reader and sometimes have a happy ending? Most of the books I read are serious/heavy fare (just finished Fall on your Knees and A Fine Balance recently) and it was refreshing and somewhat more relaxing to read a funny smart book. I tend to get very involved in whatever I'm reading so it was nice to finish a book and not feel depressed!

Self-sufficient girl (children's book author) Gracie meets boy (Hollywood exec.) Kenny. Girl marries Boy and waxes (not philosophical), pedicures, implants and straightens and colors her way through almost ten years of marriage. Boy leaves Girl to increase the population of the male mid-life crisis-er. Girl grows up (sort of)?

Right up until the end, Levangie Grazer is on an eccentric and witty roll. Gracie is the queen of the acerbic and flippant one liner. Statements that quite literally had me laughing aloud.

What's a girl to do when she gets dumped via cell phone? (This is grim, though not as dour or provocative as Carrie Bradshaw's infamous post-it-note). Why you carb-out, entrust your scandalmonger friends (a lovely, oh so stereotypical trio, the reader doesn't {or shouldn't} feel cheated by) with your outlandish uncertainties and fall in love with a homeless guy!

The dialogue is shamelessly lit-lite...but it's also gleefully stabbing and clever. Gracie is a one-dimensional character with brilliant dimensions. Kenny barely makes it into the dimished dimensional, non-media magnet set.

The Starter Wife had me fused to its pages until the last two chapters when Grazer pulls the typical tactic of tying up the lose threads. Why start being typical here? I would have loved for those threads to not only remain undone but to have frayed even more and I sense Grazer could have effortlessly pulled this off, if she hadn't backed off.
Well, maybe one can hope for an alternative ending when the paperback comes out?
Still, this was great fun and so worth the ride.

Middle-aged Gracie is a typical Hollywood wife, right down to her botox injections and designer wardrobe. When her husband dumps her after almost ten years of marriage, Gracie finds herself without love, without friends, and most importantly, without status. (But at least she's still got the money!)

Actually, most of what I know is from the dust jacket since this book was too torturous to finish. The plot is predictable and uninteresting and is littered with so much name-dropping that sometimes it's hard to follow. The characters are taken straight from Stereotype 101 and are so badly written that they're impossible to relate to. The writing is ponderous and lumbers along awkwardly, lacking polish, wit, or interest. Especially irritating is Grazer's insistence on using Gracie's name as much as possible. For example:

"Gracie thought about it; they'd never been to marriage counseling. Gracie had gone to counseling in the beginning of their marriage - there were many issues to overcome. More or less her personality issues - the fact that Gracie had too much personality. Gracie said and did pretty much what Gracie pleased, in the beginning. Before Gracie learned The Way of the Wife" (p 38).

I lost interest after about 20 pages, plowed my way through 40 more, then gave up. It's very obvious that this is a poorly-veiled autobiography (Grazer/Gracie) and that as a Hollywood wife, Grazer DOES have the connections and clout her protagonist lacks or this book would never have been published.

Definitely not worth your time!

The Starter Wife is a delicious read - a fun and heartfelt fairy tale for the grown up crowd. More sophisticated than Grazer's last novel, Maneater, but just as yummy.

Gracie has it all, or so it seems. That's until her mentally vapid semi-famous Hollywood exec hubby realizes that she'll never put him on the cover of Us Magazine - so really now, what good is she? Never mind her nine years of hosting parties, inane conversations, being dieted, waxed, sanded, pummeled, pricked and plucked for him, oh, and raising their daughter. If she were a truly devoted Wife Of she'd have learned how to play the Hollywood game and done right by him. So obviously -- she has to go -- and fast. Time for her to be cruised. By cell phone, of course. (Cruised = divorce before year 10 when CA alimoney kicks in.) A pre-Kev Britney -- now that'll put him on the cover of Us!

Kicked to the curb with their daughter, Gracie seeks refuge with a friend in Malibu. Her high maintenance lifestyle gone, along with all the friends that a Wife Of loses when she becomes The Starter Wife, Gracie must reclaim her true self and move beyond the anger and betrayal. The local supply of eligible bachelors is anorexic, so Gracie ends up hanging with the "wrong" people in Malibu - the inappropriate, and the have-nots. Will Gracie find love? Will it be with the King of Hollywood - the manly boss of her ex (revenge is so sweet), or the mysterious steely-eyed stranger who saves her from the surf, or maybe he of the bumpity bump blanket on the beach?

The book is so enjoyable in part due to the easy to empathize with Gracie. Her insecurities and way of looking at life are endearing, her plight is universal, and her friends are hilarious.

Gigi Grazer's sharp, witty writing eviscerates the ridiculous of Hollywood with the precision of a 90210 surgeon in this funny and telling novel. My only issue? Who are wives number one through eleven?! Do tell!

This is the first book of Grazer's that I read and I found it to be entertaining. I actually did find her to be likeable, although a terrible mother! But quirky likeable and there were parts that I found to be laugh out loud funny. Her off the wall end-of-story romance is funny, but unbelievable. But-hey! Isn't that what reading is sometimes about? Not a deep and meaningful book but not a waste of money either.

Books like The Starter Wife don't promise more than they deliver, so the fact that I found this book to be a bit shallow and contrived didn't come as a big surprise.

That said, this is a pretty silly book. The author didn't seem to know if she was writing a scathing social commentary on Hollywood and marital pecking orders, or a morality tale on the evils of materialism, or a fairy tale. Some of the characters seemed incredibly one-dimensional -- think gay decorator and shallow ex-husbands.

When the book began, I thought I was reading a gripping account of a middle-age woman getting skewered by divorce and finding herself, in the style of First Wives Club. Instead I got a stew of coincidences and attempts at satire.

If I try to be generous, I can imagine this book as a sort of Tales of the City for the new millennium, set in LA instead of San Francisco.

Ultimately, though, it just kind of falls apart by the end. If you're interested in Hollywood lifestyles, or middle-age women or divorce, it could be worth a read. Grazer writes cleanly, in a conversational style with cultural references that make the book timely and fun.

But if you think you'll find something profound, The Starter Wife will surely disappoint.