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Ouch!


Lauren Weisberger’s third novel, Chasing Harry Winston, has been on my TBR list for a while now; I put it on hold from the library several months ago. It’s a novel about three friends who get together and make a pact to change their lives dramatically, all within the space of a year.

Well, the book was released yesterday and already it’s garnered some bad reviews.

From Entertainment Weekly: “There's something to disappoint everyone in Lauren Weisberger's flashy new novel, Chasing Harry Winston. Those who prefer to dismiss the author as a backstabbing ditz without a shred of talent will be sorry to hear her third book isn't entirely unamusing, with some saucy lines and one irresistible character. But anyone looking forward to a dishy beach read à la The Devil Wears Prada will be even sorrier to hear that the fluffy fun bits are lost in a blobby mess of a narrative… [it’s a] a gimmicky setup, but it gives Weisberger a structure — one that she promptly, foolishly ignores. The story lurches off in random directions: Emmy's sister becomes pregnant, the gals vacation in Curaçao, Leigh goes home for a tense dinner with her folks in Greenwich. The novel would be unreadable but for the briskly outrageous Adriana. Her sublime and outspoken confidence in her native Brazilian smarts about men borders on self-parody. Meticulous about her sexual rules, her waxing habits, and her weight, this witty young woman may be unapologetically shallow, but she has zero tolerance for what this book is full of: flab.”

Another reviewer on Amazon.com said: "this book has a pointless, tortuous plot, and absolutely no sense of who its cardboard characters are and what motivates them. In the end it's just a grim trudge though endless clichés. I didn't care about any of the characters, and the author evidently didn't care much either. The resolution to the feeble pact which gives the book its minimal narrative drive sort of fizzles out -- the ending is a complete non-event."

Yikes. And this is only day two!

Comments

Anonymous said…
Oh yeah, "Ouch" is a good word. Glad I'm not the author...lol!
Anonymous said…
"dishy beach read à la The Devil Wears Prada will be even sorrier to hear that the fluffy fun bits are lost in a blobby mess of a narrative"

This is bad news, as I'm looking forward to it as another dishy book.
Anonymous said…
I know, when it comes to movies, I usually don't agree with the critics. I'll be interested to see if you agree with them when it comes to this book. You're still going to read it, right?

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