Reviews for 4 Blondes

The average rating for 4 Blondes based on 2 reviews is 1 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-04-17 00:00:00 John Farmer CW: eating disorders and fat shaming (so much weight shaming in general) **I will be including some quotes directly from the book, so please be advised as they will include some of that content warning. I'm just so confused and appalled by what I just read. I don't understand what Candace Bushnell was trying to say? The back of the book claims, "She chronicles the lives of four beautiful women [...] as they face turning points in which each must choose between her passions." I don't know what book they read to make that blurb, but what I read was a heap of self-absorbed drivel that relied heavily on stereotypes. I thought the first story was terrible but then the second and third one had me debating which was the worst. The fourth story just seemed like a last minute add-on (it's the shortest and least detailed). If the Sex and the City book is anything like this, it amazes me both that it was published AND that it was made into one of the most well-known television series of all time. Also, Candace Bushnell takes every opportunity to weight shame. Everyone is too fat and too thin all at once and there is just constant attention brought to how women look in these stories. I just don't understand what point Bushnell is trying to make. I don't doubt that vapid and self-absorbed women exist in the world, but why tell these stories? I just don't get it. This book doesn't feel like it has a point. I don't like any of the characters, but their unlikeability feels like it has nothing to say. I'm fine with unlikeable characters. I just want there to be a point. On top of that, the writing is terrible. There's no sense of movement in the narrative and it's awkward trying to follow exactly what the characters are doing at any given point. I'm going to include some quotes now just to illustrate the strangeness and awkwardness of the story, and also to bring to light some of the stereotyping and weight shaming. (Heed the content warning, please.) "Janey, who had a fat belly and fat thighs, was never able to distinguish herself. At fourteen, when she got her period, her mother said, 'Janey, you must be careful with boys. Boys like to take advantage of girls who are not pretty because boys know the girl is desperate for attention.'" p. 25 "Winnie still considers it part of her job to be the good-looking one in the relationship. Being good-looking is part of mastering the world. It is part of being perfect. (It is not about being beautiful. Beautiful women are self-indulgent. Beautiful women are stupid because they don't have to try.) She is five-seven and weighs 125 pounds. If she let herself go, let her body reach its natural weight, she'd probably weigh between 130 and 135 pounds. But she won't let herself go. (It's about control.) ... If she is two pounds overweight, she takes care of it. Taking care of herself is part of being a nice girl." p. 91 "I take off all my clothes and step on the scale; Weight, 117.5 pounds. Percentage fat, 13. GOOD. I've lost a quarter of a pound from the morning." p. 143 What is shocking to me is that this is from three different stories, which are about three different women. Why is there so much emphasis on this? None of the women seem happy. They all seem trapped and sad. Please just stay away from this book.

Review # 2 was written on 2007-02-26 00:00:00 Nathan Weber This book doesn't even deserve one star. This has to be one of the worst books that I've ever read in my life. I only kept reading it in the ridiculous (and futile) hope that it surely would have to get better at some point. Surely the women who came up with the idea for Sex in the City couldn't possibly suck THAT bad as an author. Well as it turns out, she can. Don't waste your time or anyone else's with this book. It's about 4 stupid women who make ridiculous choices and live lives consumed by selfishness and boredom. I wouldn't even let my dog read this book.