Customer Reviews

Valley of the Dolls

5 star:		(114)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

If you're like me, you never read romance novels, never watch soap operas, and shun editorial trash like Cosmopolitan. But in this age of girl-power books (i.e. Bridget Jones, et al), "Valley Of The Dolls" has become popular once again, and a whole new crowd (the twentysomething female market)is now exposed to this cult classic.

And you know what? It's intriguing. It's captivating. Set back in the 50s, you heark back to the days of glamour girls, Hollywood pictures, and dapper leading men. In each chapter, Susann fleshes out the character portraits of 3 girls who made it big, rags-to-riches style: Anne--a model, Jennifer--a starlet, and Neely--a singer. I hate to admit it, but I was entranced by their stories of sex, scandal, and downward spiral into prescription drug addiction. It's drama about drama queens. I would ordinarily dismiss this book as trashy romance genre--but like others, i can't. Why? well, Susann wrote this book as a groundbreaker--It was written almost 50 years ago but the tales are so incredibly modern you'd think Susann was writing about modern-day life. She paved the way for the tell-all expose, the behind-the-scenes scandals, the agony and ecstasy, the poor problems of the rich and famous. It was "Dynasty" before "Dynasty" was even invented. It was a shocker, and it's tragic. You're not going to find much humor in this novel at all, especially being that the "Dolls" that the book revolves around are drugs. An added benefit of reading "Valley of the Dolls" is that it transports the reader back into the yesteryear; I feel like I'm in a black-and-white movie with Garbo and Monroe--Susann's detail for creating ambience are very much appreciated.

If you think this book is flimsy beach reading--it's not. It really gave way to a whole new genre. Sure, it's no Shakespeare--but make this the one exception. Although it may be G-rated compared to today's fiction fare, Susann's subtle flair for storytelling is surprisingly solid, with twists and turns to keep you on your feet.

Doesn't it seem like the best books are the ones that you've had on your wish list forever and just seemed to keep skipping over? I've had Jacqueline Susann's `VALLEY OF THE DOLLS' on my Amazon wish list for years and never got around to actually ordering it but I decided to start of the New Year with something different and this cult classic was just what the doctor ordered!

Anne, the wide-eyed girl from Lawrenceville escapes her doomed future as a housewife by moving to New York City in hopes of finding a life for herself. But no sooner than she arrives and gets settled in her new job and home does she end up on the cover of every newspaper and the talk of the town. But over the years Anne learns that the life she'd always dreamed of wasn't all that it was cracked up to be.

Neely is seventeen with all the enthusiasm her little body can handle. A performer in vaudeville since childhood Neely has what it takes to be a star. She is the ultimate triple threat she dances, sings like no other and can act too! Inevitably, by the age of twenty-one Neely becomes the biggest star around; unfortunately her ego grows just as big as her rising star. And with the help of her red, yellow and green "dolls" washed down with a little scotch nothing can stop her.

Jennifer has the face and the body to go far, however all she really wants is love. But unfortunately love doesn't pay the bills. And after a few failed marriages to some of Hollywood's most prominent players Jennifer realizes that her body is her ticket to stardom. Soon she becomes Europe's biggest star... because in Europe anything goes.

I absolutely could not put this book down. Originally it was the old school style that hooked me, I felt like I was watching an old movie with the 1960's dialogue such as "Hey, what's this, a gag?" or the regular use of the words geez and golly but soon I was sucked in by the lives of Anne, Neely and Jennifer as they each rose to stardom and fell just as easily.

Written in 1966, this book came out at the high season of wild love and sexual awakening in the US. It's all about three young women who go to New York starting just after World War II and who use their beautiful bodies to skyrocket to fame and fortune. They realize that the high life isn't all it's cracked up to be, as they use drugs, booze, sex to maintain their perfect worlds. Disaster results.

Valley of the Dolls is said by many to be the top selling fiction book of all time. Compared to many of the other over-sex-filled books that made this list, Valley of the Dolls is actually relatively tame. When the story begins in 1946, the main characters are all young and at different stages of innocence. You have Anne, a sweet 20 yr old Massachusetts girl who dreams of passionate love and family, after she has a career for herself. She's happy being a secretary. You have Neely, a sweet 17 year old vaudeville dancer / singer who works with her family and wants to be a showbiz girl while she finds a guy to marry and have kids with. And finally you have Jenny, who is 25 and whose mom pushes her to marry rich. She's the only non-virgin - she married a European noble in hopes of cash, but divorced him quickly when she found out he was actually poor.

So for the first 100 pages or so (out of 442), you just get setup. Anne is incredibly innocent, with parents who want her to simply marry a local boy and settle down. Neely is a young sparker, who leaps to every new challenge with energy and enthusiasm. Jenny is resolute in her aim to make money, keeping her body well oiled and cared for to reach her goals. The three become roommates as they each persue their goals. All three want to marry well, that is their end goal.

Ironically of course, when they draw close to their goals they find they want more. Neely does in fact marry the guy she chases after - but when she drags him out to Hollywood with her, she bores of him quickly and wants a divorce. Jenny marries a rich singer despite the objections of the singer's sister - but divorces him when he sleeps around and she realizes he has a genetic mental problem that would affect their kids. Anne turns down a millionare to stay with a writer she loves passionately - but he abandons her to focus on his writing efforts. She keeps pining after him even while she moves on to other affairs.

And so it goes. Anne becomes a cosmetics girl cover-girl, and of the three is the sanest. She sleeps with the boss and plans on marrying him in a while. She's not hooked on drugs. But Jenny and Neely are both addicted to uppers and downers by now. Neely has destroyed her career several times over by being a prima-donna. Her second husband divorces her and she never spends any time with her kids. Jenny finally finds a rich senator to love - and dreams of marrying him and having kids. But breast cancer and uterine issues hit, and she doesn't trust the senator to stay with her with these problems. Life unravels.

On one hand, the characters tend to be on the cardboardy side. There is the super-naive Anne, who believes at face value that the millionaire is poor, that the Ethel Merman-style Broadway Star is really sweet and kind, and so on. She clings to her belief in true, soulmate passionate love and lets go her hopes for family and home as a result. There's the fresh-faced Neely who claims she only wants a family and kids, and would quit her career to focus on the family - but as soon as she gets fame, she adores it. But she loses her fame because of her nose-up attitude and pill-taking. Jenny just keeps searching for a sugar daddy that can also give her kids, but just when she thinks things are set, his fascination with her body and her illness make it seem like a lost cause.

The guys are not much better. You have the rich my-way-or-the-highway millionaire. You have the playboy writer who runs off to be on his own. You have the sex-only-simpleton who does what he's told by his sister. You have countless guys who only want a mistress or a one-night-stand. And then you have a few father figures. You have very few real "partners" in life.

On the other hand, when you look at the other top sellers like the Carpetbaggers or God's Little Acre, this book has remarkably little sex. The virgins stay virgins for a long while, until they hook up with true loves. Yes, Jenny had a lesbian affair in Europe for the typical tittilation factor. Yes, you hear about Neely's second husband having homosexual lovers, but there is very little real sex talk. You know that Jenny trades sex for fur coats, but it's more about the fur coats than the sex. What is more the focus of the book is the way the womens' goals keep changing - and how they sabotage their own lives. Neely especially blames everyone else around her for her unhappiness, when it's pretty clear that it is her own warped focus that does it.

I can definitely see why this appealed to a 60s audience of women. They were all rebelling against the get-married-have-kids mantra, they wanted glamour and excitement. But they also knew that the choice was a risky one. The book clearly showed women who avoided the family-kids route and reached that glamour, and who were not really happy as a result. So on one hand, women got to fantasize about the cool prestigious New York restaurants, the Broadway hits, the rich boyfriends. But on the other hand, women saw the misery and pain involved in that high-profile life, and felt better about their own more quiet worlds.

For a more modern audience, it's a little more tough. This isn't the Carrie-Samantha New York smart single girls situation. All three girls long for a guy to solve their problems. Jenny wants a rich guy, and kids. Anne wants a loving guy, and kids. Neely just wants a family guy. The Sex-in-the-City girls get together, they support each other to become better, balanced individuals. It seems like the Valley threesome help each other to get pills, and rarely speak out against bad relationships. They only step in for an intervention when things are completely screwed up. They make completely bad decisions for themselves, with maybe only Anne being at least mostly-sane. This is more a warning about "the perils of high living" than a real story about the troubles of balancing family and career.

Sure, we can see traces of our own desires in the various women. We want romantic love, like Anne. We want financial stability, like Jenny. We want general family contentment, like Neely. But the women are very one-sided and simply not very bright. It's a real shame to say these are what women are like, or how women handle success. And of course, the fact that all are incredibly gorgeous and solely use their bodies to achieve their aims is not stirring. They're constantly praised by men for being sexy. That seems to be all that guys care about. The women spend their time oiling their breasts and putting on make-up and dressing fancy, to be the proper Arm Candy. If they get money, they turn it over to men to do the investing. Wouldn't want to worry their silly little heads about money.

So in general, I appreciate this was very liberating and educational for 60s women - but it is more cardboard and simplistic for modern times. I really do find a great comparison between this and the Sex-in-the-City crew. Both have sexy women in New York City. But in this book, the sexy women rely on sexy bodies to catch them a husband of their desired shape, and use pills and drinking and plastic surgery to get their aims. It is shown to be literally impossible to balance a family and a career. That may have been a lesson that Sixties women sadly accepted - but it's one we know it not true in modern times. And hopefully we know better than to focus on a hot body as the main way to find a long-lasting partner in life!

VALLEY OF THE DOLLS is more addictive than the pills that its heroines take. Sure, its trashy, but trash is by far the most entertaining form of literature. The story of three women's fame and descent into a miserable state of drug use and alchohol is entertaining all the way through. You learn to get to know the characters. You also get to love them, hate them, sympathize for them...its completely spellbinding. I looked forward to picking it up every night, and each night it was practically impossible to put it down ("COME ON..stop reading! You have to go to school tomorrow!") But I got to sleep easily, because each night after I reluctantly put the book down I would fondly recall what I had read. Its just fantastic...maybe I'll read it again. If you're a fan of the movie, I reccomend it even more. Its MUCH better than the film (which I LOVE). Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy, NOW!!!

This book was entertaining from the first few pages... it's long, but it doesn't seem tooooo long and doesn't drag on. It tracks the lives of three girls... and has ups and downs that the reader feels and experiences. Incredibly well written with not a slow moment. It seems timeless to me... of course, show business has changed, and drugs are easier to come by and more common.... this book appeals to people of all generations. ENJOY it over and over.

This is my favorite Jacqueline Susann. I first read all of her books back in the 70's, when their shock value was much greater than today. I picked up all three again when they were re-released and have thoroughly enjoyed them all over again. Susann is the bottom of the junk-trash novel and yet her stories are compelling and interesting. Maybe just for the lack of character all of her characters have.

Dolls starts in New York, where Anne, Neely, and Jennifer have all arrived to climb the ladder of fame and fortune. Anne takes a job with a theatrical attorney, and meets both Neely and Jennifer through her job. They become friends, and so begins their story. From New York to California to Paris, they all become successes and all have to deal with their own deamons. With Neely, it's her drive for success and her addition to drugs. With Jennifer, it's her greedy family and her conviction that her body is the only asset that she has. With Anne, it's her cold, sheltered childhood and her obsession with a self-centered egotistical man.

The other character I must mention is Helen, the Broadway star, who is professional and revered on-stage and a sniping, childlike, phony off-stage. She pulls Anne into her web briefly, but her hard edged tactics soon push Anne away. They reach amazing highs, fall into abyssmal lows, and all crash hard. Yet this book remains an amazing read, you can't put it down though your mouth is gaping open at the excessivness of it all. Plus, it is more enjoyable to this generation, I think, because of the very real environment of the area it was written in. Definately worth price, and don't feel guilty for enjoying it!!

When Jacqueline Susann saw the finished movie based upon her best-selling novel, she denounced it as a "piece of s**t!" Perhaps her hopes were a little too high as the book "Valley of the Dolls" (VOD) was called all sorts of things upon its initial release in 1966 (even by it's own editors); then again, one can see how Susann would have been disappointed as the movie is very different from the novel. The basic outline of the book and movie is the same - three young women, Anne, Neely and Jennifer, face the pressures and demands of fame as their stars rise - but that, and a smattering of dialogue here and there is about the only thing the book and film share.

VOD develops the friendships of the three women; how these characters grow to know one another is something the movie either failed to do or else the director let those scenes end up on the cutting room floor. We follow reserved Anne, self-destructive Neely and the beautiful, doomed Jennifer on a twenty year journey through their ups and downs, good relationships and bad and by the end, I felt as though I knew them.

The bad news about VOD is that despite having once been a scandalous shocker it hasn't aged well and is now a rather tame drama. In subsequent decades, writers like Jackie Collins and Judith Krantz pushed the literary limits further than Susann did but, quite honestly, even "Peyton Place", published ten years *before* Susann's novel, remains a page turning pleasure whereas "Dolls" just plods along. Part of VOD's weakness can be rested on the shoulders of Anne, a real cipher of a character. We spend a great deal of time on Anne's story and frankly, she isn't all that interesting. Neely and Jennifer are much more exciting character but Susann concludes Jennifer's story far too early (and believe me, you feel the loss once Jennifer exits the action) and dull, milquetoast Anne, with her 1,000 bad decisions, makes it to the very end.

The good news about this book is how Susann exposes the world of Hollywood, where the pressure to perform and stay thin can destroy a person. It's common knowledge that Neely O'Hara was most liked based in-part upon Judy Garland, though Susann, like a true professional, denied it. Sadly, conditions in Hollywood are still very similar though Neely's "dolls" have been replaced by obsessive dieting and anorexia. Susann also writes well about women's limited options in the era when the book takes place (1945-65) and the consciousness of the female characters anticipates the brewing women's movement.

Despite its shortcomings, "Dolls" is still a good summer beach read, and we're lucky it went back into print in 1997 after being unavailable for years. Read it, enjoy it ... but stay away from the dolls.

I absolutely adore this book! I read it in about four days because I just couldn't put it down!
I recommend this book to anyone that would go to the ends of the earth for love or fame.
All Neely, Jen and Anne want is love after all their fame they are lonely and they just want someone to love them unconditionally.
Valley of the Dolls is the ultimate 'love can kill you.' Kill not necesarilly in the death sense but in other ways too.
The character of Jennifer sometimes reminded me of Marilyn Monroe and Neely sometimes reminded me of Sylvia Plath.
This is one of the few books that has ever REALLY captured me and pulled me in. I was happy when something went right for one of the characters but towards the end I was so mad I wanted to rip the pages out.
I'm not selling this book well but it is an emotional rollercoaster. I recommend it to anyone that has loved and lost or who has ever considered playing the fame game.
Eye opening stuff.
Wonderful!
Unstoppable!

As wonderful and satisfying as the film version of "Valley of the Dolls" is, nothing can compare to the dizzying rise and utter destruction of Susann's three heroines found in this, the original source material. Here are all the delicious cat-fights, the bleary eyed, drug-induced bitchiness we have grown to love and expect from Jacki's novels. Here, too, is MORE MORE MORE of the tough-as-nails Helen Lawson, a portrait only glimpsed at in the cimematic version. When Helen gives the demure Anne a tour of her penthouse pad uttering the imortal line, "See that bed? It's eight feet wide," Suzann knows she's hooked us for the long haul.

A classic and necessary primer for all lovers of pure camp! Politically Correct? Suzann never heard the phrase in her life. Thank God.

I cannot BELIEVE it took me so long to read "Valley of the Dolls!" So many people have raved about the book to me, and I just dismissed it as another cult novel. I finally got around to reading it, though, and I was blown away. It was INCREDIBLY entertaining! The characters are fun, fresh, and easy to relate to. The story of three women struggling to find themselves in brutal New York City never gets dull for a second. It's a pretty long book, but I finished it very quickly because I never wanted to put it down. I highly recommend this book to everyone!