Customer Reviews

The Washingtonienne

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(27)

 

 

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."

Not only is this book horribly written, but it's just plain boring. Don't waste your time or your money. There is more hype surrounding the author than there is any worthwhile substance in the book. Must miss.

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.

Face it, on a moral level we have to hate Jacqueline, the not-so-fictional protagonist at the center of this sordid and utterly un-put-downable roman a clef. If you can stomach all that she represents, there's actually something to be learned beneath that unforgettable cover.
At the end of the book, Jacqueline's therapist asks her, "Why is it easier for you to believe that you're crazy than it is for you to admit you've done something wrong?"
(This after she has accepted money for sex, cheated on multiple partners--some married, spent nearly all her time in Washington drunk and/or high, and kept a blog mocking all her lovers which leaked to the public).
Jacqueline comes to this conclusion: "The lesson I learned was: You can get whatever you want for free by lying and cheating, and there are never any consequences."
So as you sit there reading, feeling both a thrill at her crazy adventures (sex across a conference room table is only the beginning) and disgust for the manner in which she's portrayed the female mind to the public, you can't help but ask YOURSELF: Is the author right? She's now rich, famous, published, and we all know she's not so far off from the character. And on an entertainment level, you've had a blast reading her book.
On the flip side, it's blatantly obvious that as messed up as Jacqueline is, all she really wants, deep down, is love. She's just so completely cynical that none of those poor guys ever had a chance, because she never gives anyone a chance. So while that cynicism did lead to a form of success, I'd bet a lot of money that the deeper she goes believing her own philosophy, the more and more true love will elude her.
And in the meantime, she can keep us entertained. You won't want to put The Washingtonienne down. After all, it's just a book.

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.

I really think this one should be titled, "Confessions of a Shameless Hussy." I bought it last week after reading a favorable review in a journal. Now that I'm finished, I must relay to prospective readers what a surprising joy it was. The author goes by Jacqueline in the novel, but it is undoubtedly her life described in these pages. In the beginning, I never thought I would like it as the author is a shallow, materialistic, alcoholic, whore; however, she openly admits to being all of these things which is exactly why the tale is strangely enjoyable. There is no self-righteousness in her. She denies nothing. These are ugly, masochistic events and we are blessed with a narrator who shouts "it's me! it's me!" rather than one who mutters "the horror." Cutler stands athwart the modern "I'm never bad; I'm never responsible" characters who are painfully all to familiar to us. I felt empathy for Jacqueline as it was refreshing to encounter a young lady who refuses to congratulate herself for the terrible choices that (she alone) has made. Gratefully, she never pretends her selfish drives are a smaller part of a fictional political struggle effecting all women.

As far as the sex is concerned, it's all quite matter-of-fact. This is no Penthouse Letters. Some of it is rather unusual, however. Cutler seems to have been an anal sex specialist who allowed her devotion to drugs to result in threesomes, and also in unique two person ways in which to inhale cocaine.

The best reason to admire The Washingtonienne is that it profoundly offends our politically correct sensibilities. Here is the sistahood, and guess what, it doesn't actually exist. These girls are not friends with one another; they are competitors who sabotage their peers whenever they can. There is no gloss or propaganda present. This is a cattyness which hisses rather than roars. It also makes great fun out of the "rah, rah, live for work" mentality. How many times do we hear how wonderful it is to find the job you always wanted? How fulfilled you'll be! The author and her friends know that work worship is a crock, and, unlike men, they have a way off the vocational treadmill. They don't want "careers;" they want the Cyndi Lauper video with girls having fun. The sexual allure of women makes this uniquely possible. In actuality, this book has more to say about female psychology than many of the textbooks out there.

It's not funny, irreverent, sexy, insightful, well-written, ironic, satirical, thoughtful, captivating, interesting, suprising, rewarding, provocative, intriguing or even set in type that has an interesting story at the end.

I think that the worst part about this book is that the author can't even keep her own characters or storyline straight. Even after you accept that you don't like the character but reserve any moral judgement... she doesn't even remember which person paid for her apartment and which one got her the job. I would recommend she read some Palahniuk to learn how to write a good story about characters the readers don't like. The least you could do for the guys that financed your 15 minutes is keep their stories straight. Geez lady, you're giving hookers a bad name.

When I heard that Sarah Jessica Parker was turning the novel The Washingtonienne into a TV series, I decided I definitely wanted to read it. It didn't know much about the scandal involving Jessica Cutler and the Washingtonienne blog; all I did know was that The Washingtonienne was semi-autobiographical and based on Cutler's real life.

Now that I have read it, I can definitely say that it is a light read. But the question really is, is it enjoyable? The short answer is no. On one hand, The Washingtonienne easy to read, and it definitely has its humorous moments. On the other hand, the scandals are absolutely disgusting and the main character is pretty repulsive. While I was reading it, I likened it to a train wreck; it gives you a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach, but you can't look away.

I think my main issue with the book was the main character and her lack of any sense of decorum. She has the ability to rationalize anything, and she spends pretty much the entire book drunk and high. The fact that she was basically functioning as a prostitute didn't seem to faze her in the least. The worst part was that Jackie seemed to delight in her exploits. She seemed almost proud of them.

I got the sense that The Washingtonienne was written in order to partly shock, and partly make the reader feel like Jackie was "cool," living on a different plane than most of us do. I'm not sure why I got this sense, but the main character's superior tone probably had something to do with it. I can say for certain that the book is shocking, but Jackie is so despicable that any redeeming qualities in the book are completely lost. I hope that the main character of the book was embellished, and is not too close to the author.

I really can't recommend this book to anyone unless (1) you are interested in the Washingtonienne scandal or (2) you want to read the book, despite this review, before the show comes out. All I can say about the show is that I really hope it is much better than the book, especially considering the other characters were pretty much as unlikeable as Jackie. [According to the Wikipedia entry about the show, the writers are taking the character of Jackie in a different direction from the book. Whew.]

So the author has pretty much renovated blog material into a novel, and she constantly name-drops designers and uses the *f* word a lot -- so what? I read it in a couple of sittings, was entertained, took a mental vacation from my unspectacular life in flyover country, and that's exactly what I expected when I picked up this book. As another reviewer has already stated: It is what it is. Worth the couple of hours if you're in the mood for something sexy, superficial, and stylish.