grammargirl (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
grammargirl) wrote2007-03-11 10:55 pm
grammargirl) wrote2007-03-11 10:55 pm
Entry tags:
Book Log: Valley of the Dolls, by Jacqueline Susann
I'm not sure exactly what I expected from this book. Some kind of 60s version of Go Ask Alice, maybe, the book that symbolized drug culture in the same way that Lady Chatterly's Lover once did for sex. I expected tawdryness and lots and lots of camp. And all of that is there, to a certain extent--the slang alone is hysterical--but much to my surprise, the characters were well fleshed out and interesting, and the tawdry stuff didn't really kick in until more than halfway through the book.
Valley of the Dolls is about Anne, Neely, and Jennifer, three girls who become best friends while trying to make it in post-WWII New York. Each, in her own way, becomes a phenomenal success, and each has to deal with the consequences of that success--mostly by ingesting a lot of barbiturates.
I think the most entertaining thing about this book is its utter datedness--everything from the slang I mentioned above (take one guess what it means to "put starch in his lob") to women's practically universal obsession with tricking some man into marrying them, to the hilarious ease with which the main character, Anne, arrives in New York and finds a room to rent and a plush job at a prestigious entertainment law firm, all in the space of her first day.
Valley of the Dolls is hardly great literature, but it made for excellent subway reading, and now I can say that I've read one of the iconic drug books of the 60s.
Valley of the Dolls is about Anne, Neely, and Jennifer, three girls who become best friends while trying to make it in post-WWII New York. Each, in her own way, becomes a phenomenal success, and each has to deal with the consequences of that success--mostly by ingesting a lot of barbiturates.
I think the most entertaining thing about this book is its utter datedness--everything from the slang I mentioned above (take one guess what it means to "put starch in his lob") to women's practically universal obsession with tricking some man into marrying them, to the hilarious ease with which the main character, Anne, arrives in New York and finds a room to rent and a plush job at a prestigious entertainment law firm, all in the space of her first day.
Valley of the Dolls is hardly great literature, but it made for excellent subway reading, and now I can say that I've read one of the iconic drug books of the 60s.