We're So Famous [Paperback]

Jaime Clarke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 7, 2001

A hilarious, unpredictable satire about three talentless girls, and their quest to become famous.

"If you haven't heard of us, your friends probably have. . . " So begins this pitch-perfect satire about Daisy, Paque, and Stella, three girls from Arizona who are hungry for fame. Styling themselves after their idols, Bananarama, they form a pop band called Masterful Johnson. It isn't long before Stella quits the band to head for LA and become an actress, where she ends up rooting through celebrity garbage, performing macabre dinner theater, and lusting after bad-boy rocker Brian Metro. Paque and Daisy, however, continue with the band. After a string of embarrassing misadventures-including a fashion show at the local mall where they share the stage with a ten-year-old exhibitionistic gymnast-they're about ready to call it quits. But when a senator's son and his friend are mysteriously murdered, Paque and Daisy, the last people to see the victims alive, become the prime suspects in the case. Cashing in on their sudden notoriety, they record an EP, entitled We're Masterful Johnson, and the adventure is only beginning. . .

Funny and clever, suffused with droll 80's nostalgia, We're So Famous, like the best satire, is fresh and compelling on the surface, and wicked underneath.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In its attempt to skewer our obsession with celebrity culture, this trifle of a tale about three teenage girls and their quest for fame and fortune only manages to injure itself. Narrated in three parts, the novel follows the exploits of Paque, Stella and Daisy, talentless teenagers from Phoenix, Ariz., with an overwhelming desire for fame. Obsessed with the British girl group Bananarama (Paque and Daisy are avid '80s aficionados), the two record an amateur single that gains notoriety when they are linked to a local murder case. But this plot line is abandoned, and their singing career goes nowhere following a disastrous live performance. Stella, a struggling actress living in Hollywood, works in a dinner theater reenacting celebrity deaths (her obsession) with her new boyfriend, an actor who can't get beyond failed television pilots. Paque and Daisy join her in Hollywood to work on a no-budget movie with a no-name director. Will Paque and Daisy hit the big time? Will Stella's stalking of bad-boy rocker Bryan Metro bear fruit? Will readers be at all amused by the book's incessant name-dropping, pop culture factoids and the postmodern trick of slipping screenplays and faux fan letters into the narrative? Not likely although those who find Nick Hornby and Bret Easton Ellis too challenging might be engaged for a moment or two. Satire needs to be smarter than its subject, and unfortunately this fable is neither wicked nor clever enough to wade out from the shallows it purports to spoof. (Apr. 9) Forecast: A blurb from Ellis probably won't do much to boost sales after the first 15 minutes, and it's hard to tell who the intended audience is: readers under 30 won't be familiar with much of the '80s arcana and those over 30 won't have the patience for the puerile protagonists.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Jaime Clarke pulls off a sympathetic act of sustained male imagination: entering the minds of innocent teenage girls dreaming of fame. A glibly surreal world where the only thing wanted is notoriety and all you really desire leads to celebrity and where stardom is the only point of reference. What's new about this novel is how unconsciously casual the characters drives are. This lust is as natural to them as being American--it's almost a birthright. Imagine Britney Spears narrating The Day of the Locust as a gentle fable and you'll get the idea." --Bret Easton Ellis

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (April 7, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582341133
• ISBN-13: 978-1582341132
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,826,321 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sweet fun full of 80's nostalgia, March 27, 2001

By 

"wopo" (South Bend, IN, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: We're So Famous (Paperback)

Well this book isn't going to enter some western literary canon but then again that doesn't seem to be its point. It's a light, fun confection, and for that worth its cover price and then some. Highly recommended for fans of eighties pop music (some of the arcane bits are really well done) and fans of pop culture in general, for whom this little book's references might work, as they did for me, like an old friend recalling good times.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not a serious book, but HILARIOUS, April 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: We're So Famous (Paperback)

The cover of this book intrigued me, as did the blurb by Ellis. And I wasn't disappointed. This book is really, really funny and Clarke has an inventive mind. The details will get you, and the story as a whole holds together pretty well. Sure, it's all pretty familiar stuff, but this is the first book that I know of that weaves together our collective celebrity conscience to show us how over-the-top we are when it comes to celebrities. I read it in one sitting and would recommend it to anyone who needs a laugh.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars don't bother, August 26, 2004

By 

ChickLitFan (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: We're So Famous (Paperback)

I got this book expecting a mindless beach read...what I got was bored to tears from a book that was entirely too mindless. The 80's nostalgia stuff was fun at first, but got old really quick.