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A review by sandlynn
Gorgeous by Paul Rudnick
2.0
I thought I knew what Gorgeous by Paul Rudnick was about before I read it. The bare bones of the story I expected is there, but the tone and twist given to this story was very surprising. I’m also surprised that this is considered young adult fiction. In any event, Gorgeous was published in 2013. I came across it at the National Book Festival where the author was probably making an appearance.
This story follows 18 year old Becky Randle who is a new high school graduate, works in a grocery store, and lives with her somewhat shut-in mom in a trailer park in a small town in Missouri. She was raised solely by her mom, no dad was in the picture, and it’s clear her mother had a past, but she doesn’t talk about it. Another significant issue was that Becky’s mom was very overweight which didn’t bother Becky but, sadly, made for gossip and derision from some people in their lives. Shortly after the story begins, Becky’s mom passes away. As Becky’s cleaning out the trailer and trying to decide what she’s going to do with her life, Becky stumbles upon a shoe box from a fancy designer — something they could never afford — but all that’s inside the box is a phone number with the name, Tom. Just by chance, the fancy designer’s name on the box is Tom Kelly. Becky doesn’t hesitate to call the number, wondering if this will reveal something about her mother’s past. Eventually, it does, but first, the person on the other end of the line invites Becky to come to New York to meet with the famous fashion icon Tom Kelly.
This should’ve tipped me off that this story was going to take a decidedly different route because Becky heads to New York where Tom Kelly meets with her, reveals a bit about his connection to her mother, and then offers Becky the opportunity to become the most beautiful woman who ever lived. He would create three dresses for her, which would *magically* change her appearance, and then introduce her to the world, giving her opportunities for fame and fortune she would never have had back in Missouri. What happens when Becky agrees and is turned into the fabulous Rebecca Randle morphs right into parody as Rudnick satirizes fame, the fashion industry, Hollywood, the worship of beauty over substance and countless other topics of which we are all familiar in this shallow, consumer, fame-worshipping society. Along the way, Becky/Rebecca is wined and dined, romanced by the most famous young man in the world, but also learns about her mother, her father, and what her true worth is.
As I mentioned, this story caught me by surprise. Initially, this book was a cover buy for me as the edition I have is striking in design and color, but I thought the premise sounded promising as well. What I didn’t expect was for the book to be so over-the-top in terms of how it satirizes and parodies wealth, fame, and beauty. The Tom Kelly character is clearly a Calvin Klein or Tommy Hilfiger type person and you could probably find real life doppelgängers for some of the rest of the “cast”. Considering these sophisticated references and wit, I was surprised this was published by Scholastic. I think you’d have to be a more sophisticated teenager to get many of the references, but maybe I’m under estimating today’s teens.
Another thing I didn’t expect was that this book is fully in the fantasy world. Things happen that are not, in any way, reality based and, frankly, after I finished the story, I realized you had to suspend a lot of disbelief. There are huge holes in the plot once one thinks about it, so I guess the solution is not to think too hard. For instance, once we learn about Tom Kelly, I had to wonder how Becky did not know what really happened in his life since she and her mother were such massive consumers of pop culture. This part of the plot would also have to mean that so many people not in Tom Kelly’s immediate world would have had to have been equally blind, dumb, or “enchanted”. Although once the enchantment was over, I don’t know how everyone made sense of what happened.
As for the characters, to be honest Rebecca Randle was the least interesting — which probably was purposeful since her beauty didn’t demand that she be so. Becky, herself, as well as her best friend, and most everyone else kept my attention much more. I think that’s one reason I found a chunk of the book a bit ho hum. Once the enchantment is over and events come back to earth, the story flew by a lot faster — which reminds me of another plot point I couldn’t quite grasp involving Tom’s “deal” with Becky. Anyway, even though I finished the story and enjoyed parts of it — especially hearing about what really happened to Becky’s “family” and other people in their lives — this wasn’t the book for me. The ending should’ve been satisfying, but wasn’t due to so many questions left unanswered along the way. I’d give it about a C/C-.
This story follows 18 year old Becky Randle who is a new high school graduate, works in a grocery store, and lives with her somewhat shut-in mom in a trailer park in a small town in Missouri. She was raised solely by her mom, no dad was in the picture, and it’s clear her mother had a past, but she doesn’t talk about it. Another significant issue was that Becky’s mom was very overweight which didn’t bother Becky but, sadly, made for gossip and derision from some people in their lives. Shortly after the story begins, Becky’s mom passes away. As Becky’s cleaning out the trailer and trying to decide what she’s going to do with her life, Becky stumbles upon a shoe box from a fancy designer — something they could never afford — but all that’s inside the box is a phone number with the name, Tom. Just by chance, the fancy designer’s name on the box is Tom Kelly. Becky doesn’t hesitate to call the number, wondering if this will reveal something about her mother’s past. Eventually, it does, but first, the person on the other end of the line invites Becky to come to New York to meet with the famous fashion icon Tom Kelly.
This should’ve tipped me off that this story was going to take a decidedly different route because Becky heads to New York where Tom Kelly meets with her, reveals a bit about his connection to her mother, and then offers Becky the opportunity to become the most beautiful woman who ever lived. He would create three dresses for her, which would *magically* change her appearance, and then introduce her to the world, giving her opportunities for fame and fortune she would never have had back in Missouri. What happens when Becky agrees and is turned into the fabulous Rebecca Randle morphs right into parody as Rudnick satirizes fame, the fashion industry, Hollywood, the worship of beauty over substance and countless other topics of which we are all familiar in this shallow, consumer, fame-worshipping society. Along the way, Becky/Rebecca is wined and dined, romanced by the most famous young man in the world, but also learns about her mother, her father, and what her true worth is.
As I mentioned, this story caught me by surprise. Initially, this book was a cover buy for me as the edition I have is striking in design and color, but I thought the premise sounded promising as well. What I didn’t expect was for the book to be so over-the-top in terms of how it satirizes and parodies wealth, fame, and beauty. The Tom Kelly character is clearly a Calvin Klein or Tommy Hilfiger type person and you could probably find real life doppelgängers for some of the rest of the “cast”. Considering these sophisticated references and wit, I was surprised this was published by Scholastic. I think you’d have to be a more sophisticated teenager to get many of the references, but maybe I’m under estimating today’s teens.
Another thing I didn’t expect was that this book is fully in the fantasy world. Things happen that are not, in any way, reality based and, frankly, after I finished the story, I realized you had to suspend a lot of disbelief. There are huge holes in the plot once one thinks about it, so I guess the solution is not to think too hard. For instance, once we learn about Tom Kelly, I had to wonder how Becky did not know what really happened in his life since she and her mother were such massive consumers of pop culture. This part of the plot would also have to mean that so many people not in Tom Kelly’s immediate world would have had to have been equally blind, dumb, or “enchanted”. Although once the enchantment was over, I don’t know how everyone made sense of what happened.
As for the characters, to be honest Rebecca Randle was the least interesting — which probably was purposeful since her beauty didn’t demand that she be so. Becky, herself, as well as her best friend, and most everyone else kept my attention much more. I think that’s one reason I found a chunk of the book a bit ho hum. Once the enchantment is over and events come back to earth, the story flew by a lot faster — which reminds me of another plot point I couldn’t quite grasp involving Tom’s “deal” with Becky. Anyway, even though I finished the story and enjoyed parts of it — especially hearing about what really happened to Becky’s “family” and other people in their lives — this wasn’t the book for me. The ending should’ve been satisfying, but wasn’t due to so many questions left unanswered along the way. I’d give it about a C/C-.