Everyone Worth Knowing

Soon after Bette Robinson quits her horrendous Manhattan banking job like the impulsive girl she's never been, the novelty of walking her four-pound dog around the unglamorous Murray Hill neighborhood wears as thin as the "What are you going to do with your life?" phone calls from her parents. Then Bette meets Kelly, head of Manhattan's hottest PR firm, and suddenly she has a brand-new job where the primary requirement is to see and be seen inside the VIP rooms of the city's most exclusive nightclubs. But when Bette begins appearing in a vicious new gossip column, she realizes that the line between her personal life and her professional life is...invisible.

Amazon.com Review
Lauren Weisberger, whose bestselling debut The Devil Wears Prada outed the vicious antics of the magazine industry elite, is back at it with Everyone Worth Knowing, another cautionary tale of sex, power, and fame. This time around, the PR industry is her target, and Prada fans will recognize similar themes throughout this entertaining, if at times overly dramatic, exposé.

Bette Robinson is a twentysomething Emory graduate who shunned her parents' hippie ideals in favor of a high-paying yet excruciatingly boring job at a prestigious investment bank. One day, after a particularly condescending exchange with her boss (who sends her daily inspirational e-mails), Bette walks out on her job in a huff. After a few weeks of sleeping late, watching Dr. Phil and entertaining her dog Millington, Bette's uncle scores her a job at an up-and-coming public relations firm, where her entire job seems to revolve around staying out late partying and providing fodder for clandestine gossip columns. What follows is one episode after another of Bette climbing up the social ladder at the expense of her friends, family, and the one guy who actually seems worth pursuing.

Weisberger is clever enough to turn seemingly outrageous circumstances into amusing anecdotes, like the tale of a woman who was close to suicide until she found out she was only 18 months away from scoring a highly coveted Birkin bag ("You simply cannot kill yourself when you're that close ... it's just not an option."). This wit, combined a hint of voyeurism that most of us can't deny, is what makes Everyone Worth Knowing a guilty pleasure that's well worth the indulgence. --Gisele Toueg

The Significant Seven with Lauren Weisberger
Lauren graciously agreed to answer the questions we like to ask every author.

Q: What book has had the most significant impact on your life?
A: Very tough question. For the first half of my life, it would definitely have to be Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume. I worshipped that book. Recently, I'd say that it was Empire Falls by Richard Russo. Even though there's not a tremendous amount of action, the characters are brilliant. It's a hauntingly realistic depiction of small-town America. And the place descriptions are so compelling that the book is compulsively page-turning.

Q: You are stranded on a desert island with only one book, one CD, and one DVD--what are they?
A: This is not the time for self-improvement, that's for sure--they'd all have to be 100% entertainment. For book it would have to be The Last of the California Girls, a random novel that I've read 2,000 times; for CD I would say Monster Ballads, the album of cheesy 80's love songs that I ordered from an 800-number, and for DVD, it would be Dirty Dancing, of course.

Q: What is the worst lie you've ever told?
A: That one's easy. It goes something like this: "Hi, (insert editor's name here)! Yes, of course, it's already finished. I'm just tweaking a few sentences, and I'll have the whole draft to you by Monday, latest."

Q: Describe the perfect writing environment.
A: For me, the best writing environments are all about deprivation and the removal of temptation. Therefore, anywhere on earth where there's no TV, no phone, no internet access, no friends, and no fridge is pretty much perfect.

Q: If you could write your own epitaph, what would it say?
A: I really don't want to think about this one, but if I HAVE to, I hope it would include a few keywords like "brilliant," "supremely talented," and "drop-dead gorgeous."

Q: Who is the one person living or dead that you would like to have dinner with?
A: I'm supposed to say Hemingway or Moses or Madonna, right? It'd probably just be my sister, Dana. We already have a lot of dinners together, so I know it's a guaranteed good laugh.

Q: If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
A: The ability to be invisible! It would make all my current spying/stalking/staring SO much easier.

---

Lauren Weisberger's List of Books You Should Read

so80s

Marjorie Morningstar

Kissing in Manhattan

Bright Lights, Big City

Glamorama

See more recommendations from Lauren Weisberger

---

Customers who bought this item also bought

• Chasing Harry Winston: A Novel
• Good in Bed
• Lipstick Jungle : A Novel
• Something Blue
• Baby Proof

---

All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Too Superficial!, 2008-12-15
From the author of The Devil wears Prada, this book does not seem to make it. It never takes off but rather superficially presents a story. One cannot identify with the characters but if you are looking for a fun superficial story, this might interest you.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

A Book on the Fence, 2008-12-11
Bette, an overworked piss-ant in the banking industry up and quits one day on a spur-of-the-moment whim. Not really knowing what she's going to do with herself, and after a few months of blissful unemployment the whole paying-rent issue rears its ugly head.

Finally Bette's semi-notable uncle calls in a favor and Bette finds herself flung into the mysterious world of A-list celebs, all-night clubbing, drugs, alcohol, and the outrageous gossip columns that are the lifeblood of NYC. As a new PR rep Bette struggles to keep her private life out of her work life and finds out along the way that even though she's not meant to be a banker, she might also not be meant to be in the limelight.

I have mixed feelings about "Everyone Worth Knowing." Yeah, it was a throwback to "Devil Wears Prada" and was essentially very similar in plotline with the endings almost identical, but despite the fact that "Everyone Worth Knowing" was so similar to its predecessor, I did like the book.

While not a page-turner, and despite the fact that the ending was pretty predictable, "Everyone Worth Knowing" had a cool vibe running throughout the whole thing that made me want to get to the end. Since it's not a very long or laborious read this was not hard in the least, and the book left me feeling satisfied if not jumping out of my chair to read more.

I don't feel that the fact that the storyline is predictable is as sinful as some of the reviewers of this book have said. It's pretty much a classic case of the one-note-wonder that is Lauren Weisberger. She writes about NYC, the nightlife, the atmosphere, and the relationships that result from it. Basically an un-slutty version of "Sex and the City," another one-note-wonder that gets acclaimed reviews.

I hate being on the fence about books. I want to either love them or despise them, but "Everyone Worth Knowing" was not one of these. I finished it, I didn't exalt in it, I didn't make any lasting relationships to the characters, but I did enjoy a glimpse into their world.

Overall this was a solid 3-star book. Not great, not unreadable or detestable, just...there. Basically if you've read "Devil Wears Prada" and liked it you might be disappointed with "Everyone Worth Knowing." If you're new to Lauren Weisberger's work you might find yourself in for a treat. A Catch-22 book if I ever read one.



0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

The Tome of Spoiled Entitlement (the Sequel), 2008-10-17
This is basically a derivative of The Devil Wears Prada, which read well because it is a thinly-veiled stab at Anna Wintour (a real person) and Vogue (a real magazine). A lot of people read Vogue and enjoy fashion, either directly, or from an armchair, so it's fun to watch them get lambasted, and because people are familiar with it, there's something relateable about The Devil Wears Prada.

But who wants to be a party planner? I kept on recalling that episode of Friends that Winona Rider guested on, where her character changed careers because she "wanted to help people," so she became a party planner. At least then, the whole idea was funny because it was done ironically. Not so with Everyone Worth Knowing. Lauren Weisberger paints the job like the most glamorous job in the world, and yet all the main character does is whine about how awful it is, and how it's killing her soul and messing up her social life, etc.

So, not only is it a derivative of The Devil Wears Prada, it's not even good. And when the main character isn't out partying, she's lazing about her apartment in sweatpants whining about how horrible her life is. Also, she wants to be a writer, and everyone tells her how she would be such a great writer, which is another retread of The Devil Wears Prada, and a bit Mary Sue-ish to boot.

Ergo, you're better off re-reading Prada rather than reading this book. Or better yet, see the Prada movie.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

fun chick-lit, 2008-10-11
I liked this better than The Devil Wears Prada. Yes, it's predictable but it's fun for a weekend of light reading. Bette is a party planner/publicist in NYC who is addicted to reading romance novels - how serious of a book can this be? Don't take this book as a piece of classic literature. Enjoy it for what it is and have fun!


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Blah, blah, Gucci, blah, bleh...I need an advil., 2008-10-06
I tried to like this book, but it was awful & disappointing and the author disappointed me as well. I just listened to the audio version from the library & heard it at work, so thankfully no money was spent. I should have known from the start where the story would end up.I willingly kept on listening, hoping that somehow it should get better, but I couldn't even make it to the end! It's basically the same "Devil Wears Prada" story with different names for the characters. There was no substance, no life & just a bunch of name drop babbling. The author clearly did not know how the NYC nightlife really was & wrote about it the way she was "imagining" it, making it sound SO cliché & Hollywood.(& I know this being a NYC & NJ transplant) There were also some racist stereotypical remarks that were messed up, not to mention, just plain wrong! Most of the characters in the story were annoying & frustrating, especially the main character because all she did was complain about how awful her fabulous life was. I just could not take a liking toward her. Read the book if you don't want to think, but beware, you might get a migraine from all the dead mindless words.

Price is accurate as of the date/time indicated. Prices and product availability are subject to change. Any price displayed on the Amazon website at the time of purchase will govern the sale of this product.