When Rona Jaffe’s superb page-turner was first published in 1958, it changed contemporary fiction forever. Some readers were shocked, but millions more were electrified when they saw themselves reflected in its story of five young employees of a New York publishing company. Almost sixty years later, The Best of Everything remains touchingly—and sometimes hilariously—true to the personal and professional struggles women face in the city. There’s Ivy League Caroline, who dreams of graduating from the typing pool to an editor’s office; naïve country girl April, who within months of hitting town reinvents herself as the woman every man wants on his arm; and Gregg, the free-spirited actress with a secret yearning for domesticity. Jaffe follows their adventures with intelligence, sympathy, and prose as sharp as a paper cut.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
A classic of its kind. The dialogue is real, the people are real. [It has] the shock of authenticity. -- Saturday Review
About the Author
Rona Jaffe is the New York Times bestselling author of the internationally acclaimed novels The Road Taken, The Cousins, Family Secrets, and Five Women, as well as the classic bestsellers Class Reunion and The Best of Everything. She is the founder of the Rona Jaffe Foundation, which presents a national literary award to promising female writers.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
56 of 59 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I believe this is Jaffe's very first novel and, to my mind, also the best. Great literature? No...but character-driven, engrossing, emotionally involving and very, very juicy. Quite dated (takes place in the early 50s) but still a steamy and believably accurate account of what transpired for women venturing out on their own at the time...the brilliant, driven, heartbroken college grad; the sweet hayseed who loses her innocence; the "bad girl" who pursues an acting career only to lose everything over a cruel mentor; a single mom who exudes quiet strength & dignity and an absolutely provincial chick from the Bronx who smugly pursues her housewife destiny and is none the worse for it. They all surface at a large, glitzy publishing house for a time and live with the rampant, blatant sexism that was typical for the times but seems horrifying today. An ultra-enjoyable read with memorable, fully fleshed-out characters.
33 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Ooooooh......this is one of those juicy summer reads that is so hard to put down. Diapers dragged the floor, salmonella dripped off thawing chicken breasts onto the counter and the phone rang out its throat as I eagerly read page after page of this middle-brow novel.
Joan Crawford is reponsible for me hunting this book down in Amazon.com's used book shop. I've seen the film of the same title many times, but it wasn't until my last viewing during a local Crawfordthon that I developed the itch the read the novel that inspired the movie. To my surprise, I loved the novel. The film was much campier (what movie with Ms. Crawford isn't?) than the novel, therefore less irritating to read than the movie is to watch. For one thing, Hollywood's presentation of the women in the film is much less rounded and tediously more condescending than in the novel. The "girls" in the movie dither and drivel and snivel far more than Jaffe wrote them doing.
What was eerie about the novel was the contemporary feel of the characters' difficulties in their lives. Remove some of the dated descriptions of New York, business tools, and sundry material goods, many of Jaffe's depictions of women entering adulthood in a male-oriented world of more than forty years ago could easily be written today. Sadly, many of the demoralizing situations that Jaffe's five women stumbled into are, with slight alterations, still perpetuated and experienced in these more enlightened times. I think this relevancy along with Jaffe's engrossing writing style are what make "The Best of Everything" such an enjoyable read. It is definitely worth the trouble it takes to get your hands on a copy.
Joan Crawford is reponsible for me hunting this book down in Amazon.com's used book shop. I've seen the film of the same title many times, but it wasn't until my last viewing during a local Crawfordthon that I developed the itch the read the novel that inspired the movie. To my surprise, I loved the novel. The film was much campier (what movie with Ms. Crawford isn't?) than the novel, therefore less irritating to read than the movie is to watch. For one thing, Hollywood's presentation of the women in the film is much less rounded and tediously more condescending than in the novel. The "girls" in the movie dither and drivel and snivel far more than Jaffe wrote them doing.
What was eerie about the novel was the contemporary feel of the characters' difficulties in their lives. Remove some of the dated descriptions of New York, business tools, and sundry material goods, many of Jaffe's depictions of women entering adulthood in a male-oriented world of more than forty years ago could easily be written today. Sadly, many of the demoralizing situations that Jaffe's five women stumbled into are, with slight alterations, still perpetuated and experienced in these more enlightened times. I think this relevancy along with Jaffe's engrossing writing style are what make "The Best of Everything" such an enjoyable read. It is definitely worth the trouble it takes to get your hands on a copy.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What a great book!!! I loved the girls, the time period, and even though I hate New York City...I loved it in this book! I also bought the movie, so as soon as I finished the book, I watched the 1958 movie version...also wonderful!
This book follows four girls through new jobs, new loves, lost loves, unwanted pregnancies, and death in 1953 New York. The pace of this book was excellent, and the characters were people you really come to care about. Seeing how there's so much to this book, I'm not even going to try to summarize it, but it was great!
I can't wait to get my hands on more of Ms. Jaffe's books! I've added all of them to my wish list and hope they'll be just as entertaining as this book was!
This book follows four girls through new jobs, new loves, lost loves, unwanted pregnancies, and death in 1953 New York. The pace of this book was excellent, and the characters were people you really come to care about. Seeing how there's so much to this book, I'm not even going to try to summarize it, but it was great!
I can't wait to get my hands on more of Ms. Jaffe's books! I've added all of them to my wish list and hope they'll be just as entertaining as this book was!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Jaffe's worst novel
Sometimes first novels are mediocre which for me is the case with "The Best of Everything". I tried to read it 3 times over the past 30+ years, but only finished reading it the... Read more
Published 11 months ago by C. Mathieu
over charging!
I am so excited to read this on my kindle, but will not purchase it so long as the kindle edition is more expensive than the paperback edition. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Melinda Byerley
the best book ever
I love Rona Jaffe's books but the best of everything was the best book so far I have ever read.
Published 13 months ago by tracy
Desperate Sex in the City
"You see them every morning at a quarter to nine, rushing out of the maw of the subway tunnel, filing out of Grand Central Station, crossing Lexington and Park and Madison and... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Jeffrey Swystun
great women's fiction
I read this book recently for the second time and loved it just as much. It is a story for all women, no matter what the reader's age may be. Read more
Published 16 months ago by maryann
ok but boring at times
This book was somewhat like Sex in the City, which I dont watch. A few parts were interesting but seemed to drag on too long.
Published on August 30, 2009 by CB
An Evocative and Resonant Novel..."The Best of Everything" remains...
I ordered this book when I noticed Don Draper reading it in Season 1 of Mad Men. From there I was nothing if not utterly blown away. Read more
Published on July 27, 2009 by Titilola
The Best of Everything
An excellent read for those that can look past the obvious norms and traditions of the 1950's and appreciate this book for its themes transcending every generation; ambition,... Read more
Published on May 10, 2009 by Charlene Freethy
"Mad Men" Era from the Female POV
If the end of the second season of "Mad Men" has left you hungry for more sexy drama from mid-twentieth century New York, reach for Rona Jaffe's first novel. Read more
Published on October 28, 2008 by Donna G. Storey
Alright.
Thought-provoking when it comes to the internal struggles of women in the 50a, but the language is dated to the point that it's annoying. Read more
Published on October 17, 2008 by J.
Inside This Book
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Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs):
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studio couch, comment sheet Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Mary Agnes, New York, Miss Farrow, John Cassaro, David Wilder Savage, Port Blair, Mike Rice, Sidney Carter, Barbara Lemont, April Morrison, Caroline Bender, Paul Landis, Dexter Key, New Year's Eve, Eddie Harris, Uncle Fred, Gregg Adams, Las Vegas, Alvin Wiggs, Amanda Farrow, America's Woman, Fifth Avenue, Bermuda Schwartz, Fabian Publications, Miss Bender New!
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studio couch, comment sheet Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Mary Agnes, New York, Miss Farrow, John Cassaro, David Wilder Savage, Port Blair, Mike Rice, Sidney Carter, Barbara Lemont, April Morrison, Caroline Bender, Paul Landis, Dexter Key, New Year's Eve, Eddie Harris, Uncle Fred, Gregg Adams, Las Vegas, Alvin Wiggs, Amanda Farrow, America's Woman, Fifth Avenue, Bermuda Schwartz, Fabian Publications, Miss Bender New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 5
books:
20
books
cite this book:
See all 20 books citing this book
- Family Secrets (Coronet Books) by Rona Jaffe in Front Matter
- Mr. Right Is Dead by Rona Jaffe in Front Matter
- Class Reunion by Rona Jaffe in Front Matter
- Kitty Foyle by Christopher Morley in Front Matter
- LAST CHANCE: A Novel by Rona jaffe in Front Matter
- Another Life: A Memoir of Other People by Michael Korda on page 51, page 147, and page 209
- Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight V. Swain on page 264, and Back Matter
- Terry McMillan: A Critical Companion (Critical Companions to Popular Contemporary Writers) by Paulette Richards on page 15, and page 123
- Bachelor Girl: The Secret History of Single Women in the Twentieth Century by Betsy Israel on page 206, and Back Matter
- Bachelor Girl: 100 Years of Breaking the Rules--a Social History of Living Single by Betsy Israel on page 206, and Back Matter
See all 20 books citing this book
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