Customer Reviews

The Truth About Diamonds: A Novel

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(30)

 

 

I'm willing to bet that the majority of us who read this book picked it up for one reason...to see how much dirt Nicole Richie would dish about her and her friends. If that's the reason, then you shouldn't have been too disappointed. It was a good effort on Nicole's part, but definitely not great literature, and classifying this as a fiction book is really pushing it.

While the writing is very juvenile, and there was hardly any plot to speak of, it wasn't an awful book. I do agree with another reviewer though who said the whole 'Nicole Richie as narrator of her friend Chloe Parker who really represents Nicole herself' was a bit confusing in the beginning. And while there are more flaws with the book than highlights, the story certainly keeps you entertained.

Overall, I recommend this for faithful tabloid readers, and fans of Nicole and Paris (I happen to be the former, NOT the latter), but don't expect literary genius. One of the best parts about this book was trying to figure out who each fictional character represented in real life, and if you're up on your tabloid gossip, it shouldn't be too hard. In the end, it was better than I expected, but I don't think she should continue to pursue a career in writing.

First of all, the author's name is in quotation marks because she and I and anyone else who wasted the time all know that she didn't write this book. She may have read over it and tried to add her two cents where she felt it necessary, but she did not write it and I want to see the log on her computer with the origin date before I will believe otherwise. This reading experience was like reading a bad Harlequin romance novel mixed with a bit of Us Weekly and topped off with a Jerry Springer "Final Thought." It was full of awful insipid celebrity banter (and I love my celebrity banter) circa 2004 that should have been on Access Hollywood instead of in print.

The characters in this novel are thinly veiled reproductions of the celebs she's out and about with every week on Entertainment Tonight. It doesn't take a high school degree to recognize Kelly Osbourne, Brandon Davis and *gasp* even Paris Hilton. The problem with this book isn't even that she steals from her own life for profit, but that she does it so poorly. I couldn't even finish this book it was so poorly written and the plot was so predicable. Take my advice, save yourself the trouble, and pick up a paperback Harlequin for $1.50. It's cheaper, and you'll finish with much more satisfaction.

This book and this "author" represent everything that is wrong with our dumb-as-bricks culture - rewarding people for being rich and stupid. How this was published when real authors are struggling just to get their work read is amazing. The publishing industry should be ashamed of itself.

Without insulting readers, anyone who picked up this book expecting litterature brilliance really needs to check themselves at the gate. It's Nicole Richie, trying to prove she is in Hollywood to serve a purpose. Now what that purpose may be is still rather unknown. Is she going to act? Will her singing career take off? Or will she be doing more novels such as this one? Well, if this is going to be her trade mark career choice she is doing well, but still has a ways to go.

We are taken into the LA club scene with Chloe Parker, a princess adopted into Rock Royalty. Things already start off pretty interesting with the uncanny comparisons to real Hollywood people. Chloe, already hooked on drugs, represents Nicole Richie before cleaning up her act. And because of her friendship with Simone Westlake, they are going to do some reality commercials for a make up company. Once again, things are spiced up with the Simone and Paris Hilton comparisons. The two hold lots of things in common: being a partying blonde with long legs, sex tapes, using the "n" word, being as blonde as it gets, having a pet chihuaha and using it as a toat bag rather than a living animal, and taking sayings from rappers/other people and using it as her own ("that's hot!") But it's things like that which really keep you interested and wanting more.

And like Nicole, Chloe enrolls in rehab. Of course she gets her act together and comes out clean. It's then she is starting to find love in the shape of her until-now-friend: DJ Ray. Now once again, this is comparable to Nicole Richie's real life fiancé Adam who is also a DJ. But of course with fame comes papazzi, and just about every magaizine (one in particular named Bitz!) is dead set on bringing her down. Will she over come this battle and find fame? Or will the tabloids ruin her and put her back in the dark hole she started in? Well, you'll just have to read the book for yourself.

Now writing wise, the book is very simplistic. But like I stated beforehand, it's Nicole Richie. Not Shakespeare. However, simplistic structure doesn't mean simplistic detail. Sometimes Nicole falls victim of using a tad too much detail on smaller things that are rather irrelavent to the story in its self. But she can keep things interesting with pop culture references to stuff such as celeberties, music, t.v. shows, and movies. Also, I did stumble across some typos that made me go "huh?" at first. However, this barely brings the book down.

Though The Truth About Diamonds is good, it's simplistic. Sometimes it makes you wonder is there a real plot? But then as the pages go on, you slowly become more a more interested. Over all it's a very quick read, myself having finished it two days. But durring those two days, I kept wondering what would happen to Cloe Parker, the messed up girl who I had grown very accustomed to. The book is surprsingly interesting and you should definitely check it out if you're ever in the mood for a quick book to speed read through.

It's like Nicole Richie wrote the book about herself but did not want to be responsible for her actions. She bashes on many of her so called friends in the novel and the text is boring. It took me forever to finish the book because I constantly was so bored. The story was about drugs, changing boyfriends, back stabbing friends, and partying. I thought it was going to have more substance than it did.

I absolutely adore "chick lit" and celebrity novels, I was so excited to finally read the book - yet, it left me extremely disappointed! The story has no substance whatsoever, the plot is inconsistent, basically it's like an 8th grader wrote it. I had no reading pleasure at all with this book. It was like reading the diary of a junior high brat who lives in California. And NOT an entertaining one at that. Ugh! A complete waste of time. Do yourself a huge favor and don't bother with this book!

First off, I am a fan of Nicole. I think she is an awesome person. I would have enjoyed this book even if I wasn't, though!

The story is simple enough. Chloe Parker is a club kid with a drug problem. She gets her own series of "reality commercials" with her friend Simone. It is about her struggle with fame, drugs, and romance.

"The Truth About Diamonds" is a quick read. It has a total of 224 pages. It didn't take me long at all to finish. I also found it to be a page-turner. I was very interested in what was going to happen next. Nicole's writing is very light and enjoyable. As an added bonus, there is a picture insert in the book with some great photos of Nicole.

One of the most interesting aspects of this story is that the narrator is Nicole Richie herself. I thought that was a very nice touch. The book is also filled with pop-culture references. Nicole mentions everything from Mean Girls to Desperate Housewives here. I also found it interesting to see which characters might be based on real people. A few of those comparisons are made quite obvious by the author.

If you are a fan of Nicole, or you just like to read a good story, buy this book! You won't be disappointed!

In closing, I want to say, give Nicole a chance. She is trying to make a name for herself, and I think she deserves it! Buy this book... What have you got to lose?

Fairly decent concept and storyline, some major writing flaws, the occasional clever analogy or turn of phrase ... Nicole is adorable, but a writer she's not. Yet, anyway. With a bit of study and a better editor (i.e. one who actually cares a little more about the book and a little less about exploiting fame for money) she could possibly turn out a decent beach read. My biggest complaint is the insertion of herself into the plot as the good-head-on-her-shoulders friend - a technique that could have been interesting but just felt self-indulgent.

I enjoyed this book mostly because I think Nicole has an entertaining and quirky wit- she uses many humorous comparisons
throughtout the book. It keeps the read simple, entertaining and conversational....but sometimes its too conversational, and you have to skip back a few sentences and pages and say, wait who/what is she talking about?
She writes the book as an outsider to a group of friends...particulary 2 named Chloe and Simone. She is defintely Chloe, and I think its very safe to assume Simone is Paris Hilton. I found it pretty cliche' and cheesy that she uses every opportunity to make the Chloe character SO fricking cool, hip and laid back...and Simone to be basically Satan. Her methods of making herself look good are just too obvious at times. But like I said before, her funny style of writing keeps one mildly entertained.
The book starts out pretty interesting, but the ending was TERRIBLE. In fact, the ending was probably one of the worst endings I have ever read. It reminded me of a movie that was pretty good until the producers ran out of ideas and abruptedly just ended the film. Even though the whole book is a whopping 200ish pages anyway, she literally wraps up the whole "story" in a couple vague very short chapters. The reader is left with no impression at the end of the book whatsoever. She needed work on this, because the story itself wasnt so bad. She did indeed have somewhat an exciting enough of a life to write about.

One thing that irritated me was her pretentious style of writing...I'm not sure WHO she thought would be target audience would be, but I'm sure it might be middle class young women. Also known as...people who arent millionaires. Several times in the book she scoffs at people who arent hip to certain designers, and laughs at a woman who wore "pajamas straight out of the Sears catalog" (and i quote). Wow, I could only wonder what her thoughts are on crazy people who only have enough money to buy second hand clothes? She's very quick to point out other's faux pas and gushes about what to order when eating at her favorite restaurants. I'm not sure who she thinks she is kidding here. Unless her equally cool celebrity compadres are buying this book of the shelf, she basically insults the reader...or is trying really hard to imnpress..

Then again, we all insulted ourselves to an extent when we got THIS wrapped up in young shallow pop culture...

I rarely ever give 5 stars but I really loved this book. It was like she was telling a story about herself but from a different perspective. If some of the areas of the book are true you can see why Nicole and Paris are no longer friends. You get a inside view inside the LA party scene.

I would really recommend you read this book.