Stage Fright Book

DNF on page 242.

From page 3, I knew I didn't really want to continue reading this. I knew even then that this book was going to receive a low rating from me. I bought this book for $2. My friend also bought a copy because we were going to buddy read it, and I started it, but then she hadn't yet so I was waiting for her to start and then we got busy with school and then she lost interest. I have been meaning to get back to it for a long time, since it's been on my currently reading shelf for over a year, probably closer to a year and a half. But the second time I started, I realized how horrible it is. I feel bad for calling it trashy, but that's what it is. Everyone is so shallow, mean, and the work environment is horrible. I wasn't really into it and wanted to quit immediately, but I didn't want to be that ruthless, so I stuck it out. I said it give it 50-100 pages, and if I still don't like it then I would wuit, but I didn't because I was still interested to see what happened. But basically all the characters are cardboard, not fleshed out well, and they are shallow and stuck up and rich. I didn't even really care about Karen. I finally decided to quit because It felt like I was taking forever to get through it and I had already wasted so much time on it.

Spoilers!

The majority of the female characters were the same, with slight variations. Allegra was basically like Vivian who was basically like Dagney, and a whole host of other characters. The only one I really liked was Trisha. Don't even get me started on what happened to her. She got fired for sending a letter to a higher-up in another department that she was interested in working at, rather than in publicity. She's showing drive and initiative, looking for advice on how to get there, trying to get in with the right people, but instead she gets chastised not once, but twice, for the only mistake that she made. I almost DNFed it right there, because everyone was so horrible to her. Everyone there is so mean, and basically abusive to one another because they are all competing for power. It is clearly a toxic work environment. Yes, the film business is probably fast paced and competitive, but that does not mean there are not nice people there, and that everyone has to be a power-hungry snob who is abusive to their coworkers.

I did not like Karen's relationship with Elliot, or what little I saw of it. I sort of skimmed the end to try to find out what happens, but I couldn't really make sense of it, so I stopped. He just seemed like a creepo to me, and it seemed like in his phone calls he was trying to use Karen's feelings for him to manipulate her into telling him things about Glorious. I especially didn't like how he knew so much about Karen, like her shoe size, and she went to meet him even though she didn't even know who he was. I wanted her to be with Robert more than him. I also though Hanratty was a creepo too, because he knew so much, it was like he was always watching them.

I really hated the fact that it was revealed that Karen got hired because of her breasts. Not because of her enthusiasm. And the fact that at first she is disgusted, but them laughs about it like it's funny, but that is not okay, and even though this book was written in 2005, I am not going to accept that it is okay, especially considering the fact that this is a thinly veiled story of the author's experience working at Miramax films, owned by the Weinsteins. I honestly considered not reading this at all when I read about this in other reviews, and that probably would have been the best course of action, especially considering how low the average rating is.