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__niii__'s review
informative
medium-paced
2.5
The book was quite repetitive at the beginning. Personally I did not like the structure and pacing of the book. By the end I was skimming as I had lost interest. It is very informative about the VIP culture. This was my first time learning about it and the book is good at explaining the relationships and dynamics. I also liked the fact that the author is objective when needed but never judgemental of the subjects of her study. Do give it a try if you’re interested in the dynamics of power in the VIP night life culture.
vriddhibaby's review
2.0
Frustratingly redundant. As a girl who’s familiar with working in nightlife and the nature of these promoter-party circuits from experience, her review as myopic and made something that could have been so fascinating like reading vintage stock reports on milk gallon sales.
At times it feels like the author can’t pick a tone: it switches from an academic almost journal-like tone to a juicy tell-all type memoir. What other reviewers are saying about this book is right, the points and even on some of the sentences in this book repeat over and over again. Every chapter comes to the same conclusion as the previous one even with some new research, and I even argue that there are many points and veins of investigation she is missing. The book weirdly misses ethnography of the interest providing many scopes of background, feeling weirdly enough with a whole book full of repetition and field work that I still do not have a complete or vivid picture of the luxury nightlife scene. The author would have benefited a lot more from either being more omniscient with the people she follows around (mind you, from the POV of one of the models in a promoter group) or leaning into the memoir type aspect with her observations followed by concrete sociological explanations. This boils down to style and being a good writer imo. Otherwise, she should have stuck to just either making this an op-Ed article or a report in the American Sociological Review. The redundancy is so egregious that the chapters kind of just blend into each other but this was almost a DNF.
My other major critique is the perspective. It’s strange, as a sociologist, at least vaguely aware of the macrocosms of race and fetishization, that the women in this book are reduced to either objects or nuisances. The commentary she could have made on desirability and nightlife shaping some of the sociological phenomenons she’s familiar with for women is lost when it could have been the most pungent one. While I’m not the biggest fan of Emrata’s rudimentary understandings of feminism, her book My Body exists as the foil to this book and details what women in the industry go through, stretched to their limits. The author speaks about the women in these promoter circles all as Alix Earles and Bella Hadids, but with a little exploration details examples that border on human trafficking or how these promoters make a quick buck off of common women on the street who fit modelesque ideals. Women who don’t meet the standards of these promoters the author coddles are degraded and desecrated by them. Any questions of human trafficking to the promoters are quickly averted to promote their failing music careers (?). Billionaires in these VIP party circuits are interviewed and describe the women they meet in club sections to cheat on their wives with as unintelligent and flat, never caring once to investigate the true depth of these women as people by actually interviewing a select few that make up a promoter’s routine going out group. This makes the data asymmetric. With how much care the author takes to learning more about billionaires and club promoters, this doesn’t openly read as a satirical exposé either. More than anything, I think seeing what women in the industry, money made out of their desire their existences as decorations, are experiencing would have made this book so interesting.
At times it feels like the author can’t pick a tone: it switches from an academic almost journal-like tone to a juicy tell-all type memoir. What other reviewers are saying about this book is right, the points and even on some of the sentences in this book repeat over and over again. Every chapter comes to the same conclusion as the previous one even with some new research, and I even argue that there are many points and veins of investigation she is missing. The book weirdly misses ethnography of the interest providing many scopes of background, feeling weirdly enough with a whole book full of repetition and field work that I still do not have a complete or vivid picture of the luxury nightlife scene. The author would have benefited a lot more from either being more omniscient with the people she follows around (mind you, from the POV of one of the models in a promoter group) or leaning into the memoir type aspect with her observations followed by concrete sociological explanations. This boils down to style and being a good writer imo. Otherwise, she should have stuck to just either making this an op-Ed article or a report in the American Sociological Review. The redundancy is so egregious that the chapters kind of just blend into each other but this was almost a DNF.
My other major critique is the perspective. It’s strange, as a sociologist, at least vaguely aware of the macrocosms of race and fetishization, that the women in this book are reduced to either objects or nuisances. The commentary she could have made on desirability and nightlife shaping some of the sociological phenomenons she’s familiar with for women is lost when it could have been the most pungent one. While I’m not the biggest fan of Emrata’s rudimentary understandings of feminism, her book My Body exists as the foil to this book and details what women in the industry go through, stretched to their limits. The author speaks about the women in these promoter circles all as Alix Earles and Bella Hadids, but with a little exploration details examples that border on human trafficking or how these promoters make a quick buck off of common women on the street who fit modelesque ideals. Women who don’t meet the standards of these promoters the author coddles are degraded and desecrated by them. Any questions of human trafficking to the promoters are quickly averted to promote their failing music careers (?). Billionaires in these VIP party circuits are interviewed and describe the women they meet in club sections to cheat on their wives with as unintelligent and flat, never caring once to investigate the true depth of these women as people by actually interviewing a select few that make up a promoter’s routine going out group. This makes the data asymmetric. With how much care the author takes to learning more about billionaires and club promoters, this doesn’t openly read as a satirical exposé either. More than anything, I think seeing what women in the industry, money made out of their desire their existences as decorations, are experiencing would have made this book so interesting.
niniane's review
4.5
Interesting book about:
- models who are barely paid, and thus go out with promoters to have dinner and club with wealthy men for free food at top restaurants. They need to be white, 5'9" or taller, wear 4" platform heels, and be thin.
- promoters (mostly men) who flirt and perform emotional labor & errands to get tables of models. They get 20% kickback, which comes out to $800 to $2,000 a night.
- wealthy men who want a "potlatch" (impressing people by wasting a lot of money such as buying champagne for $500 or $1,000 and then splashing it on people). The club creates a festive and surprising environment by having all these models, so the men feel like it is a crazy night and become willing to blow thousands of dollars.
It was interesting how the promoters have so much access to these wealthy men, so they think that they will make deals with them and eventually become wealthy themselves.
The blend between friendship and profit was interesting.
- models who are barely paid, and thus go out with promoters to have dinner and club with wealthy men for free food at top restaurants. They need to be white, 5'9" or taller, wear 4" platform heels, and be thin.
- promoters (mostly men) who flirt and perform emotional labor & errands to get tables of models. They get 20% kickback, which comes out to $800 to $2,000 a night.
- wealthy men who want a "potlatch" (impressing people by wasting a lot of money such as buying champagne for $500 or $1,000 and then splashing it on people). The club creates a festive and surprising environment by having all these models, so the men feel like it is a crazy night and become willing to blow thousands of dollars.
It was interesting how the promoters have so much access to these wealthy men, so they think that they will make deals with them and eventually become wealthy themselves.
The blend between friendship and profit was interesting.
jamesthesnake's review
4.0
Love to insight to the club life with interludes of sociology research, very interesting!
bootman's review
5.0
I’m torn on this book. I’ve been really interested in sociological research in the realm of the wealthy and elite. This book is really interesting, but I think I didn’t like it as much because it was a lot of conversations and storytelling with minimal sociology. Don’t get me wrong, Ashley Mears is an awesome writer, but I was looking for something with more ties to social theory. There’s quite a bit in here, but you’ll go pages and pages and pages before touching on it inbetween stories, conversations, and regular commentary from the author.
What’s fascinating about this book is how beautiful women are used as a sign of status in the world of the wealthy. And when I say beautiful women, I mean models. It’s not my personal taste but it’s what’s seen as the pinnacle of beauty. Mears spends time with club promotors whose job it is to find the most beautiful women and just bring them to clubs and on trips to party so rich men can look cool.
Where the book is interesting is just seeing how these women are treated by the promotors as well as by the wealthy men. They’re treated like things, and they aren’t treated well. Meanwhile, the promotors almost act like pimps, and they have the personalities you’d expect, but they don’t seem to understand that they’ll never be the wealthy people they think they’ll be.
Overall, aside from being torn on the book, I’m still torn on how bad we’re supposed to feel for the women. On a human level, I feel terrible for them. Nobody should be treated this way. But in a world where so many are suffering and so many women are used and abused and don’t have the privilege these women have, it’s hard to put this on my priority list. Pretty privilege is a thing, and although the women aren’t treated well, they also seem extremely aware of the transactional nature of their position.
Based on something completely outside of their control (their genetics and how they look), they get to travel the world and party. They get experiences that 90% of people can only dream of. So, although I do have sympathy for them, I don’t think we need to start a non-profit organization and use resources when there are so many people suffering in the world.
Anywho, I can go on about this forever. But, if you’re interested in the topic and don’t mind a sociological book with like 70-80% storytelling compared to social theory, check it out. It’ll give you insight into the lives of the wealthy and how they signal status by using other human beings.
What’s fascinating about this book is how beautiful women are used as a sign of status in the world of the wealthy. And when I say beautiful women, I mean models. It’s not my personal taste but it’s what’s seen as the pinnacle of beauty. Mears spends time with club promotors whose job it is to find the most beautiful women and just bring them to clubs and on trips to party so rich men can look cool.
Where the book is interesting is just seeing how these women are treated by the promotors as well as by the wealthy men. They’re treated like things, and they aren’t treated well. Meanwhile, the promotors almost act like pimps, and they have the personalities you’d expect, but they don’t seem to understand that they’ll never be the wealthy people they think they’ll be.
Overall, aside from being torn on the book, I’m still torn on how bad we’re supposed to feel for the women. On a human level, I feel terrible for them. Nobody should be treated this way. But in a world where so many are suffering and so many women are used and abused and don’t have the privilege these women have, it’s hard to put this on my priority list. Pretty privilege is a thing, and although the women aren’t treated well, they also seem extremely aware of the transactional nature of their position.
Based on something completely outside of their control (their genetics and how they look), they get to travel the world and party. They get experiences that 90% of people can only dream of. So, although I do have sympathy for them, I don’t think we need to start a non-profit organization and use resources when there are so many people suffering in the world.
Anywho, I can go on about this forever. But, if you’re interested in the topic and don’t mind a sociological book with like 70-80% storytelling compared to social theory, check it out. It’ll give you insight into the lives of the wealthy and how they signal status by using other human beings.