I wanted to share with you the not-at-all-melodramatic blurb written on the inside cover of the book. Ha-hem.
From Broadway to Hollywood, this is one of the fastest-selling, most whispered-about novels ever. And no wonder! It reveals more about the secret, drug-filled, love-starved, sex-satiated, nightmare world of show business than any book ever published.
It is about the world where sex is a success weapon, where love is the smiling mask of hate, where slipping youth and fading beauty are ever-present spectres. It is a world where the magic tickets to peace or oblivion are "dolls" - the insider's word for pills - pep pills, sleeping pills, red pills, blue pills . . . and pills to chase the truth away.
VALLEY OF THE DOLLS is the story of three of the most exciting women you'll ever meet; women who were too tough or too talented not to reach the top . . . and unable to enjoy it once they were there!
ANNE WELLES: the icy New England beauty who melted for the wrong Mr Right . . . an Adonis famous for his infidelity.
NEELY O'HARA: the lovable kid from vaudeville who became a star and a monster.
JENNIFER NORTH: the blonde goddess who survived every betrayal committed against her magnificent body except the last.
Each of them was bred in the Babylons of Broadway and Hollywood. Each of them learned about making love, making money, and making believe. Each of them rode the crest of the wave. And each of them came finally to the Valley of the Dolls.
This novel - big, brilliant, savage and sensational - tells its inside story . . . the shockingly true story behind those headlines . . . knowingly, compellingly and intimately.
Don't miss it. And don't lend it to a friend. You'll never get it back.
Clearly Cat hasn't read the inside cover carefully enough.
I'm about 30 pages in and so far I've only met Anne and Neely - but I'm very intrigued as to what betrayals are due to be committed against Jennifer North's magnificent body. I am going to try to imagine myself a star of the book. Perhaps something like:
HATTIE CRISELL: the naive northerner who found her feet in the Big City - only to be brought to her knees by the cruel world of romance.
Or:
HATTIE CRISELL: the sensitive writer who made it big in digital media - but lost her soul along the way.
Or:
HATTIE CRISELL: the promising talent who got dragged into a world of after-work boozing in seedy London dives.
It's a work in progress.
By the way, gang - I'm in the process of planning a website for myself. Nothing exciting, just somewhere that will link to my blog etc, for work purposes. I have a very talented designer who is going to help me out but I think I'm going to go for something very simple. Having said that, it would be great to hear anyone's thoughts on what should go up there - whether I should go completely minimalistic or try something a little bit cleverer. Any ideas, stick 'em in the comments section. Thank you.
4 readers just couldn't let me have the last word:
I would like to borrow it after you please! It's sounds class. I'm especially interested in 'jennifer' the blonde!
I started reading this about a month ago and was enjoying it until about halfway through, it just got a bit dull. Gave it back to the library with a disappointed shake of the head...
I would, however, read all about after-work boozing in seedy London dives. But only if it had a crappy title like 'Dalston After Dark'.
x
inneskiadventures - I read your comment when my brain was feeling a bit muddy after two or three glasses of wine. I initially thought you were telling me that you'd started reading my blog a month ago but found it dull. I was crushed!
Anyway, was relieved to realise that I'd misunderstood you (although it would be a fair comment...). I never go to Dalston so the book would mostly likely be called Lost In Soho or something like that. When you finally move to London we should have a brainstorming meeting on this.
The book sounds better than the movie. Mainly, yes, Elizabethtaylorismygrandma is arguably the best three-post blog of all time. But if, in mid-July, one leaves another random unrelated comment below an author posting from February, is that really going to gee up the creator, or merely function as virtual cobwebs and tumbleweeds and make fresh shoots in the future less likely? It's so hard to know!
Get well btw. Everybody has emergency hurling and looming death this week. A Sunday lunch with my own favourite little toddling person was scuppered by her bug-stricken parents; the office I was in on Friday has been knocked out by a posse liver infection; the one I was last in last Wednesday now has its first official swine flu victim.
I'm well, sadly. Part of me badly wants swine flu now because it lets you stay indoors and avoid meetings and scare people without lifting a finger.
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