"50 years later, it's still spot on. The world's changed immensely but the climb to the top i still a though one"
Michael Kors
Title: Valley of the Dolls
Author: Jacqueline Susann
Published: June 30th 2016 by Virago Classics (50th anniversary Edition)
Blurb: Before Jackie Collins, Candace Bushnell and Lena Dunham, Jacqueline Susann held the world rapt with her tales of the private passions of Hollywood starlets, high-powered industrialists and the jet-set.
Valley of the Dolls took the world by storm when it was first published, fifty years ago. Never had a book been so frank about sex, drugs and show business. It is often sited as the bestselling novel of all time.
Dolls - red or black; capsules or tablets; washed down with vodka or swallowed straight. For Anne, Neely and Jennifer, it doesn't matter, as long as the pill bottle is within easy reach. These three beautiful women become best friends when they are young and in New York, struggling to make their names in the entertainment industry. Only when they reach the peak of their careers do they find there's nowhere left to go but down - to the Valley of the Dolls.
First of all I would like to thank the publisher for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*
Review: Before reading Valley of the Dools, I heard many times people referring to it as a timeless classic. And now that I've read it, I totally get it. This story was published exactly 50 years ago but reading it today you can easily relate to these girls as if they were your contemporaries. Well, I guess that nowadays they would be the new youtuber sensation or the hottest star in a Reality Show, but you get the picture: three young girls who dream of making it big and somehow manage to get to the top against all odds and once on the top everyone wants to be either them, their friend, their lover or their manager.
Obviously, the climb to the top is not easy and there are a lot of step-backs. This makes for an incredible dramatic story with many twits and unexpected surprises. It certainly read like a soap-opera with lots of affairs, fall-outs, cat fights, cheating, drugs and even some deaths. But one thing for sure, it holds your attention until the last page. You become involved in these girls (who through the story become mature women, although I'm not sure "mature" is the word to go in this case) and their lives and you want to know everything about them.
I can see where the great Jackie Collins got her inspiration as Valley of the Dolls is as action-packed and saucy as any of Jackie's. And I'm not surprise that Jacqueline Susann's books became such a huge success 50 years ago. She crossed all the lines and gave her readers something new and unexpected and I can only applaud her for it.
Rating: 4 stars
About the author
Do you want to find out which Valley of the Dolls doll you are?
I got Anne, who was definitely my favourite Doll, even if I would have loved for her to be a bit less Dame and more passionate!
