| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Michael Korda, THE NEW YORKER
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a way to start off the New Year!,
By DevJohn01 (Somerset, NJ) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Valley of the Dolls (Virago Modern Classics) (Paperback)
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.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
not chick lit,
By
This review is from: Valley of the Dolls (Virago Modern Classics) (Paperback)
I'd always imagined this book to be chick lit (and I hate chick lit)from the past but I was really surprised. The tragedy is wise and insightful yet the book is easy to read and gripping. I found the book to be current and not at all outdated.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It's a man's world...,
By Countess Olenska "book worm" (london) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Valley of the Dolls (Virago Modern Classics) (Paperback)
Initially I found the book a little dull and thought it was just old-fashioned chick lit, but actually it's really good and addresses a lot of issues that women have to deal with today including careers, being financially independent, when to have children and how to protect a man's fragile ego if you earn more or have a better job than him.
Three women - Anne, Jennifer and Neely - meet up and become friends in New York in the mid-1940s and the book traces their friendship and their lives through the 1950s and 1960s. All the women work in the entertainment industry and go on to be really successful in their fields, but the success doesn't bring happiness and they all wind up relying on pills to keep them awake and thin, put them to sleep or simply to help them forget how lonely they are. Sadly, the men always seem to disappoint and this book paints a grim picutre of them, but I suppose that's how some women saw men in the 1950s and early 1960s. In Valley of the Dolls, the men are weak, vain, shallow and reluctant to commit or even be loyal to the women they profess to love. Most of the time they are more concerned with having a pretty, young and thin women hanging off their arms and off their every word than being with an equal. Even Lyon who is younger, more intelligent and has seen more of the world and should know a little better is just as bad. The book is a sad reminder that yet again, it's really hard for a woman to have it all - a good job, a good man and children. You can only get a couple of those at most but not all three! Anyway, it's a good book and very readable!
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
