While looking through the latest book releases in the amazon.com kindle top 100 list, I came across one from Lauren Weisberger called Last Night at Chateau Marmont. Weisberger is best known her bestseller, The Devil Wears Prada, and for Everyone Worth Knowing. The Devil Wears Prada was made into a hit movie. I don’t think the movie does the book justice because it makes Miranda Priestly, played by Meryl Streep, look a lot tamer than she is in the book. Chateau Marmont is #35 on the Kindle and Kindle DX top 100 list.
Chateau Marmont has received good reviews so far. I was surprised to find that even a guy posted a positive review for the novel, which is generally considered chick lit. It deals with the stress of new celebrity status. Julian is a budding musician who gets discovered by Sony, and his wife Brooke is a nutritionist. She has to work two jobs to support them. The story is told from the eyes of Brooke and her struggle with managing her jobs and Julian’s concert tours. Julian goes from laid back to fashion conscious with new designer clothes. He also gets chased by paparazzi and is caught in questionable circumstances with other women.
Many of you probably are the most familiar with The Devil Wears Prada. Weisberger worked for a tough boss at Vogue magazine, and turned her experience into a book. The Devil Wears Prada features Andrea Sachs, who gets a job at Runway magazine as an assistant to Miranda Priestly. Miranda’s demanding behavior is incredibly over the top, and literally ruins Andrea’s relationship with her boyfriend, family and friends.
Everyone Worth Knowing targets the PR market when the protagonist Bette Robinson scores a job as a gossip columnist. Her job involves staying up late, partying with celebrities and writing scandalous information about her friends.
All of Weisberger’s novels, including Chasing Harry Winston, are great beach reads. Chasing Harry Winston was not as strong as the others, but is still fun reading material. She writes with a lot of wit and humor in all of her novels, but her themes are very real. Having enough money to buy what you want comes at a great cost. Celebrity status can ruin even the strongest of marriages. Highly demanding jobs are common in the modern society, and often the employee’s relationship with family and friends suffer because of it.