Resumo de Valley Of The Dolls - Jacqueline Susann

The book was the first of its genre by a female author to achieve thatdegree of commercial success, and led the way for other authors such as JackieCollins to depict, as fiction, the private lives of the real-life rich and famous.However, the characters don't turn out the way you think they will, andthe ending is absolutely perfect. The scene with Neely and the flushing the wighas to be one of my favorite parts in any book. Sex and drugs and shlock and more--Jacqueline Susann's addictivelyentertaining trash classic about three showbiz girls clawing their way to thetop and hitting bottom in New York City has it all. Though it's inspired bySusann's experience as a mid-century Broadway starlet who came heartbreakinglyclose to making it, but did not, and despite its reputation as THE roman á clefof the go-go 1960s, the novel turned out to be weirdly predictive of 1990spost-punk, post-feminist, post "riot grrrl" culture. Jackie Susannmay not be a writer for the ages, but--alas!--she's still a writer for our times.The book and film tell the story of three young women who meet when allare embarking on the beginning of their careers. The three women become fastfriends, and share a bond of ambition and the tendency to be involved with thewrong men.She too falls under the allure of the "dolls" and uses them toescape the reality of her relationship with her lover, who continues to haveaffairs after their marriage. Neely is given one more chance to straighten upand resume her career, but the attraction of the "dolls" is toostrong and she seems to spiral into a final decline.In the film, Anne manages to escape and abandons both her unfaithfullover and the "dolls" to return to New England; this "happyending" was cobbled together by studio demands for a happy ending, andnone of it is in the book, where Anne stays with Lyon after his affair withNeely and comes increasingly under the influence of the dolls. Writer HarlanEllison, who wrote the original screenplay, took his name off the projectbecause of the ending and the watering-down of his realistic adaptation of thestory.Much of the narrative is drawn from the author's experiences andobservations as a struggling actress in the Hollywood of the early forties. Setback in the 50s, you heark back to the days of glamour girls, Hollywoodpictures, and dapper leading men. She paved the way for the tell-all expose,the behind-the-scenes scandals, the agony and ecstasy, the poor problems of therich and famous. It was a shocker, and it's tragic. The basic outline of thebook and movie is the same - three young women, Anne, Neely and Jennifer, facethe pressures and demands of fame as their stars rise - but that, and asmattering of dialogue here and there is about the only thing the book and filmshare. The good news about this book is how Susann exposes the world of Hollywood,where the pressure to perform and stay thin can destroy a person. Susann alsowrites well about women's limited options in the era when the book takes place(1945-65) and the consciousness of the female characters anticipates thebrewing women's movement.Susann is the bottom of the junk-trash novel andyet her stories are compelling and interesting. Maybe just for the lack ofcharacter all of her characters have.Dolls starts in New York, where Anne, Neely, and Jennifer have allarrived to climb the ladder of fame and fortune. With Neely, it's her drive forsuccess and her addition to drugs. With Jennifer, it's her greedy family andher conviction that her body is the only asset that she has. Plus, it is moreenjoyable to this generation, I think, because of the very real environment ofthe area it was written in. It is better -- far better -- than the film. Beforeit was fashionable, Susann used the character of Anne Welles to explore onewoman's attempt to ignore the pressures to marry early and instead devoteherself to a career. And Jennifer North knows what she has and knows itsadvantages -- and limitations. But no sooner than shegets settledin her new job and home does she end up on the cover of every newspaper and thetalk of the town. But over the years Anne learns that the life she'd alwaysdreamed of wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. Jennifer has the face and the body to go far, however all she really wants islove.

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