Social, Reviews, Novel, Girls', Dirty, Club
The Dirty Girls Social Club: A Novel

Meet the six unforgettable women who make up

The Dirty Girls Social Club

Lauren, the “caliente” columnist for the local Boston paper whose love life is making headlines… Sara, the perfect wife and mother who’s got it all but pays a high price… Elizabeth, the stunning black Latina whose TV anchor job conflicts with her intensely private personal life… Amber, the Valley girl who doesn’t speak Spanish but is fast becoming a huge rock star en Espanol… Rebecca, hyper-in-command in her glossy magazine world but clueless when it comes to men…and Usnavys, fabulous, larger than life, and at risk of falling head over five-inch Manolos in love….

No matter what happens to each of them, the Girls dish, dine, whine, and compare notes as they try to sort out the bumpy course of life and love. And what a wild ride it is!

The Dirty Girls Social Club closely resembles Terry McMillan's Waiting to Exhale: a handful of young women seek real love and job satisfaction. Unlike McMillan, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez has completely thrown out any literary pretensions whatsoever, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Dirty Girls is a fun, easy, ultimately charming read, not least because the girls themselves are so appealing. Six Latina women become fast friends at Boston University and thereafter meet as a group every few months. Now in their late twenties, they're each on the cusp of the life they want. The novel is narrated in turn by each woman. Feisty Lauren has a column at the Boston Globe, but can't help falling for losers; ghetto-elegant Usnavys is trying to find a man to match her own earning power and expensive tastes; uptight Rebecca is a successful magazine publisher and an unsuccessful wife; beautiful TV anchor Elizabeth has a secret; Sara leads a Martha-Stewart-perfect life as a homemaker; and Amber is a hopeful rock musician in L.A.

The novel works because Valdes-Rodriguez has compassion for her characters; each is faulted, but none is culpable. She also has an eye for the telling detail, as when Rebecca tries to befriend her white husband's stuffy family: "His sister took step classes with me and we shopped for clothes together on Newbury Street and went to the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum one afternoon with Au Bon Pain sandwiches in our handbags." Something about those sandwiches makes the whole enterprise seem more poignant. On the down side, Valdes-Rodriguez is so eager to make things work out for her ladies, her writing sometimes beggars belief. Men actually say things like "Swear to me you're happily married, and I'll stop pursuing you." Yes, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez is, in fact, the Latina Terry McMillan. That is, if McMillan were a slighty guiltier pleasure. --Claire Dederer









List Price: $ 7.99



Price: $ 3.50

Other posts like this, by keyword:

Social:

Psychopathology: A Competency-Based Assessment Model for Social Workers ...
Party, State, and Society in the Russian Civil War: Explorations in Social History ...
The Social Production of Indifference ...
Social Security: The Phony Crisis ...
A Quantitative Tour of the Social Sciences Reviews ...
I applied for a job as a mystery shopper Im now being asked why do you want to become a mystery shopper? ...
Constructing the Field: Ethnographic Fieldwork in the Contemporary World (European Association of Social Anthropologists) ...
Social Media University ...
Ages, Generations and the Social Contract: The Demographic Challenges Facing the Welfare State Reviews ...
Power Friending: Demystifying Social Media to Grow Your Business Reviews ...
Reviews:

HOBBY, GLADYS LOUNSBURY (1910-1993): An entry from Gale’s World of Microbiology and Immunology Reviews ...
The 2009 Import and Export Market for Iron or Steel Nails, Tacks, and Staples Excluding Staples in Strips for Office Use and Articles with C ...
Making Creativity Accountable: How Successful Advertisers Manage Their Television and Print Reviews ...
Introduction to Laser Diode-Pumped Solid State Lasers (SPIE Tutorial Texts in Optical Engineering Vol. TT53) Reviews ...
The Art Of Date Selection : Personal Date Selection For Personal Activities and Endeavours Reviews ...
Family-Style Meals at the Hali’imaile General Store Reviews ...
Naturally Curious: A Photographic Field Guide and Month-by-Month Journey Through the Fields, Woods, and Marshes of New England Reviews ...
The TOON Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics Reviews ...
Angels Dance And Angels Die: The Tragic Romance of Pamela and Jim Morrison Reviews ...
Joan of Arc and Spirituality (New Middle Ages) Reviews ...
Novel:

Sex Pistols: The Graphic Novel ...
Dead Shot (A Sniper Novel) ...
Her Punishment! – An Erotic Novel (erotica) Reviews ...
The Proving Trail: A Novel ...
Romance of the Snob Squad ...
A House Is Not a Home: A B-Boy Blues Novel ...
Winter’s Bone: A Novel ...
From First Draft To Finished Novel: A Writer’s Guide To Cohesive Story Building Reviews ...
Swine Not?: A Novel Pig Tale ...
A Woman Called Sage: A Novel ...
Girls':

Track: Nature Coast boys, Gulf girls win at Gator Distance Carnival ...
What are some cool horror movies without slutty girls and college kids? ...
Blue Jean Baby: One Girl’s Trip Through The 1960s L.A. Music Scene ...
Ten Girls Who Made History (Lightkeepers) ...
1994 GIRLS OF OUTLAW BIKER ISSUE 13 LOADED WITH HOT NUDE BIKER CHICKS SCOOTER PIES! ...
California Girls! (Baby-Sitters Club Super Special, 5) ...
The 2009-2014 Outlook for Women’s, Girls’, and Infants’ Knit Shirts and Blouses Made in Knitting Mills in India ...
The 2009-2014 Outlook for Women’s, Girls’, and Infants’ Knit Nightwear and Robes Made in Knitting Mills in Japan ...
Mean Girls All Grown Up: Surviving Catty and Conniving Women ...
Brown Bag Ideas From Many Cultures Reviews ...
Dirty:

Henderson students take to Web to air dirty laundry: Topix site puts end to bullying, notifies high school officials ...
Q&A: literature? ...
Mean Chicks, Cliques, And Dirty Tricks: A Real Girl’s Guide to Getting Through the Day with Smarts and Style ...
Dirty Rotten Tendrils: A Flower Shop Mystery ...
Dirty Girls: Erotica for Women ...
How to Write a Dirty Story: Reading, Writing, and Publishing Erotica ...
Club:

COMPUTER / ELECTRONICS BOOK CLUB ...
Claudia Gets Her Guy (Baby-Sitters Club Friends Forever #7) ...
California Girls! (Baby-Sitters Club Super Special, 5) ...
Divine Justice (Camel Club) ...
Club Alley presents Sven Anderson & Janet Tenaj ...
The Bride’s Prerogative: Fergus, Idaho, Becomes Home to Three Mysteries Ending in Romances (Ladies’ Shooting Club) ...
Occult Audio Tapes (Teaching 700 Club Counselors, to Misiter to those involved in the occult.) Reviews ...
Occult Audio Tapes (Teaching 700 Club Counselors, to Misiter to those involved in the occult.) Reviews ...
Report from the Front Lines: Job Hunters and Career Counselors Tell You How to Have a Successful Search (Five O’Clock Club) ...
North Mississippi Radio Control Club soars ...