Week 12: Chasing Harry Winston – Lauren Weisberger (304 pages)

I took another foray into the land of “chick-lit” this week. Sadly, I was not overly impressed with this trip. Sure this was enjoyable, on the surface – but these characters were not well-developed and just became a bit screechy as the book moved along. I cannot truly say I would want to be friends with any of the three main characters of this novel. Part of the fun of reading, for me, is determining whether I would actually like to hang out with the protagonist(s). This book failed to get me connected in that way.


Lauren Weisberger writes her third novel – after the fabulous “The Devil Wears Prada” and ‘Everyone Worth Knowing” basing it in her favorite city, NYC. The main characters are best friends from college. Leigh (book editor, engaged to an ESPN personality – but she is not happy), Emmy (serial dater, longs for a baby and a great man), Adriana (Paris Hilton of Brazil…dates the rich and famous). These ladies, feeling that they are in a rut, make a pact to each do something drastic in their lives in the coming year. I won’t spoil it for you – but the book follows them through the year and marks their progress.


Continuity was one of the problems I had with the book. Often, in the middle of a chapter, Ms. Weisberger would advance from present to past with just a paragraph change and a bad transition. That had a jarring effect on my enjoyment. I felt I had to read back a couple of sentences to ensure I had not missed something. Though – I had interest in the ladies of the novel – it was more to see if they would fail, rather than rooting for them to succeed. That’s never a good feeling! I don’t know if I can blame Ms. Weisberger completely, but having read “…Prada” and really loving that book – I had an expectation that this book would be as well-written and developed as her debut novel.


This is a good book for an airplane flight – just enjoyable enough to block out those passengers that are annoying you, but not too great for in-depth inspection. You may say it is only “chick-lit” what did I expect? As I said in week 5 http://whatdeejahisreading.blogspot.com/2010/02/week-5-good-in-bed-jennifer-weiner-375.html just because it falls into that category doesn’t mean it has to be mindless. Unfortunately – I cannot say that about this book.