Last night at Chateau Marmont

This book reminded me of why I don't often read Chick Lit. I must be missing part of the x chromosome that is supposed to find this stuff interesting.

I loathed the main character; she is so whiny and childish. Brooke acts more like a teenaged girl than a grown woman. Perhaps if the author had spent more time establishing her credibility--demonstrating her to be a level-headed, mature, and loving person--then she may have been a more sympathetic character. However, I found myself almost rooting for her marriage to fail, so her husband would be free to be with a grown-up.

Although Julian's behaviour is questionable, we see this through Brooke's point-of-view, and since the author hasn't effectively established her credibility, we realize that her point-of-view may not be entirely accurate. Also, she immediately starts sulking and being jealous and defensive. It's not as if she had to put up with years and years of this. She gives Julian no time to get control of things or figure things out. Yes, he is on the road. Oh, boo hoo. He calls her frequently. He invites her to everything, but she doesn't want to miss work (fair enough), but is hurt because he goes. What? Grow the frick up. What does she want? It seems what she really wants is for him to go back to being an underemployed, struggling musician so that their lives don't have to change at all.

I can't imagine what she would have done if she'd married, say, a soldier, who had to be stationed overseas for months on end. There would have been no end to the tantrums, I'm sure.

The publicity would certainly be challenging, but Brooke seems to be weirdly two-faced about it when it comes to her own husband. She seems to be aware, early on, that the stuff printed in the gossip rags is often manufactured or manipulated, but she immediately buys it when it applies to Julian, and freaks out about it, even when she hasn't yet seen the pictures or spoken with him about it. Huh?

Therefore, it is difficult to condone her behaviour, which would be childish, even if it were warranted. Well, I suppose if everyone behaved in a mature, sensible, and loving way, there would be no conflicts and no stories, but there are enough real problems in the world without having to manufacture

There are also too many gratuitous details that, I think, are intended to make me like or dislike certain characters, but some of them are so petty and insignificant that they fall far short of the mark and, again, make me dislike the protagonist more for focusing on such details. One example is the mother-in-law's ridiculous hats at a wedding weekend. Both Brooke and others around her, such as the bride, sneer at the hats behind the woman's back, making me dislike them for their shallowness. Granted, there isn't much to like about the mother-in-law, but throwing in the hat issue towards the end of the novel does nothing to make her less sympathetic and, rather, has the opposite effect. That is just one example of how the writing seems clumsy and obvious.

If you think that pouting, not answering your phone, running home to mother, jumping to conclusions, being jealous when it's not warranted, and nursing past grievances are the keys to a good relationship, then read this book. If not, then you might want to skip it.