Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Sleazy "Washingtonienne", June 21, 2005
Jessica Cutler shocked the world with her sexy blog, detailing her not-so-nice antics as a Senate staffer. Apparently she's not one to let her fifteen minutes simply tick by -- now she has penned "The Washingtonienne," a sleazy and shallow roman a clef.
Jacqueline is a New York party girl, smart and sexy, but somewhat spoiled as well. So when her betrayed boyfriend throws her out of their Manhattan apartment, Jacqueline ends up crashing with a pal in Washington. Her goal? Get a fluff job so she can dress nicely and party. But with her sexy appeal on the fore, she gets a lot more than that.
In an "ugly" city with a lot of middle-aged men, Jacqueline finds that she is a much-desired commodity. She has a series of flings with powerful men who will pay her way, and chronicles her naughty adventures in an online blog. Starting to sound familiar? It gets even more so when she is finally busted, fired, and becomes the center of a media storm.
The sad thing about "The Washingtonienne" is that it could have easily been great. It could have been a naughty sleaze-romp, or a wicked satire about men, women and politics. Instead, it reads like a sex-mad little girl's diary, both immature and obnoxiously self-satisfied. "The lesson I learned was: You can get whatever you want for free by lying and cheating, and there are never any consequences," Jacqueline leers. Well, that about sums up the depth of the entire novel.
Cutler's writing ability is about average for a chick-lit writer, with a lot of lame witticisms and thin characters. Unfortunately, she shows a complete lack of actual inspiration by using her blog and life for the book, but not adding anything to it. We all know how it's going to end, and Cutler doesn't give it any twists to surprise us.
But the thing that really scuppers "Washingtonienne" is Cutler herself. Jacqueline is portrayed as a victim or as a strong woman -- depending on the situation -- and in the end she merely comes across as a sleazy, lazy, mocking brat. Yet Cutler expects us to take Jacqueline seriously, presumably because they are one and the same.
Capitalizing on her fifteen minutes, Jessica Cutler churns out her thin little roman a clef. Too bad she couldn't inject any wisdom or insights beyond "a sucker's born every minute."
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43 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Somewhere between a cautionary tale and a laugh riot, May 13, 2005
Imagine watching a train wreck, not being able to turn away, while still finding in it the underlying humor of the whole event. That's what it's like to listen to this brilliantly narrated audiobook.
Alternately presenting herself as a victum of self-destructive circumstances and a self-assured woman making her own choices about what to do with her body and mind, it's hard to pinpoint whether this story will come to the screen as a total comedy movie or slightly-comedic, self-discovery drama.
Please, don't misinterpret this speculation on how it will be show on screen as a slight. The story is told seemlessly-and whether it's to be taken as pure fiction or questionable nonfiction, or somewhere in between it's an interesting tale none the less.
One thing to bear in mind though, the main character is by no stretch of the imagination a role model. She's barely a sympathetic character at all, but the feeling of honesty this creates heightens the believability of the narrative.
If I was comparing this fictionalized autobiography to Neil Simon's brilliant works in the genre, it would barely merit a single star, but compared apples to apples against guilty-pleasure, scandal novels, it holds its own and then some - even if it does end with a slight note of self-discovery pontification.
All in all, if you've ever found yourself enjoying the guilty pleasure of Valley of the Dolls, Desperate Housewives or anything by Danielle Steele, this is one supposedly non-fiction tale that lives up to these fictional standards.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
But I Probably Won't Lend It to My Mom..., October 21, 2005
I'll preface my review with the caveat that this book isn't for everyone. If you prefer your protagonist to be virtuous, kind, and not the kind of girl who gets up in the morning to look for her underpants before heading home, you should keep browsing.
However, I greatly enjoyed Cutler's roman a clef. I love her conversational writer's voice - the tone she set on the first few pages drew me in immediately. The Washingtonienne felt less like reading a novel and more like having drinks and dish with your friend's slutty cousin on a wild night out. (On the one hand, you revel in the cousin's sleazy stories, but on the other, you're secretly glad she's not a part of your regular social circle.)
Although I don't advocate Jacqueline's lifestyle, I appreciate her character's level of self-awareness about it. At all times she's cognizant of her actions' consequences and makes no attempt to sugarcoat or rationalize her own bad behavior. For me, the dearth of Jackie's redeeming qualities (and her honesty about them) is exactly what made her so likeable.
Bottom line, although I wouldn't recommend this book to my Mom, I would to anyone looking for a frothy but engrossing read for the beach, treadmill, or train.
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