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| Dirty Girls on Top | 
 enlarge | Author: Alisa Valdes-rodriguez
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $12.47
You Save: $12.48 (50%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 22530
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 031234967X
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780312349677
ASIN: 031234967X
Publication Date: July 8, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New. 100% money back guarantee. All books shipped from Strand Bookstore, New York City, USA.
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Product Description
The Dirty Girls are back, saucier and sexier than ever….but would it be wrong to ask them to be a little smarter, too?? Especially when it comes to men. And sex. Lauren Fernandez is at the top of her game as the cleverest columnist the Boston Gazette has on board—but she can't quite figure out how to pick a guy or how to eat (and not drink) like a healthy person. Usnavys is still sashaying all over town, 260 pounds of her dolled up in designer duds and ready for action—from anyone except her husband Juan, that is. He’s become just a bit boring staying home scrubbing the tub and cooking up chicken fingers for pre-schooler Carolina while somebody else brings home the bacon. Maybe the other Dirty Girls could help Lauren and ‘navy out, but they've got their own messes to deal with: Rebecca Baca hasn't gained a pound since college (well, who would, if they had an ounce of self-control?) but suspects her picture-perfect marriage may not yield the baby she longs for; Sara may be the star of her own decorating show on cable television, but her dangerous pull toward her ex-husband Roberto isn't so pretty; Amber keeps renaming herself and doesn't want to hear that her soulfulness and reinvention aren't enough to make fans actually buy her music; and Elizabeth is discovering that a relationship with another woman takes more than bravery and a nesting instinct. Dirty Girls on Top is about trying to figure it all out without quite as much time left as there was five years ago. And it’s about sex and love—getting it, not getting it, yearning for it, having it with the wrong person, fighting it from the right person, trying it a new way, giving up on it. And, in the end, if your fingers are crossed and the planets are in alignment, having it come out just the way it should.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 Save your time and money August 3, 2008
10 out of 14 found this review helpful
I struggled to make my way through Dirty Girls on Top and only finished through sheer force of will. The characters are very undeveloped and there was little plot of which to speak. It took me a least a hundred pages to begin to differentiate between the six main characters (I still got Sara and Rebecca confused at the end of the book). There were a lot of sex scenes, all of which were uncomfortable and awkward. The constant dropping of mall brands got to be comical by the end of the book, as did the strange lectures on Hispanic identity politics liberally sprinkled throughout the narrative. My favorite was the part where one character lectures another about human sacrifice in different world cultures as an attempt to minimize Aztec mass killings. The passage concluded with the two copulating at an Aztec pyramid. Oy.
 Dirty Girls in Top Form July 10, 2008
7 out of 17 found this review helpful
The sucias are back and that's a good thing even though their lives are even more complicated and dramatic from when we last saw them five years ago.
But that's why these Latina professionals have each other. They can handle anything that comes their way, even a homicidal ex-husband, which adds to the fun literary ride that Valdes-Rodriguez takes the reader on.
As in their tradition, Valdes-Rodriguez opens the book as the women embark on meeting up at a resort in New Mexico for the annual sucias gathering. Here they catch up on and dish about what has been going in their lives. Well, almost. Some of the sucias don't immediately reveal their secrets.
Usnavys: She's still hoochie but that is what endeared her to her readers. She's strong, real, and tells it like it is. She's still a leader in the Boston community working with the United Way and she likes to show off the goods that God, Puerto Rico and her credit line have given her. This Latina bombshell even has a blog about being sexy. But underneath her thick tough exterior is una mujer who wants to feel like a doted and desired woman with her husband Juan, who has opted to stay at home to raise their daughter while Usnavys works. UsNavys yearns for the excitement of being in love and feeling like a wanted woman - by her husband. An affair with a hunky golf instructor may ruin all that.
Lauren: She's still a newspaper columnist in Boston and enjoys her relationship with her thuggish Dominican boyfriend who seems to be getting one too many text messages on his phone. Lauren struggles with seeing the truth about her guy and herself. Confused, she decides to experiment sexually with one of the sucias. (Spoiler alert:) And when no one is around, she privately abuses alcohol and herself with trips to the bathroom. All combine to send her over the edge with the sucias to the rescue.
Elizabeth: Her Boston TV anchoring days behind her, this Colombian with the heart of a poet is enjoying being a new mother to a baby she and her partner adopted. Elizabeth loves motherhood but her partner doesn't feel the same way That conflict pulls them apart and forces Elizabeth to realize that she may be a single gay mother after all in Brookline. Complicating matters, Elizabeth is secretly in love with one of the sucias.
Rebecca: Her Latina magazine is booming and so is her marriage. All she wants is a baby and health issues and work stress only complicate that.
Sara: She's the Cuban-American Martha Stewart with a popular show that Elizabeth produces in Boston. She seems to have it all. She's moved on from her abusive ex-husband who has fled the country and hasn't been seen locally but she still aches for him, physically and emotionally. Through Sara, the reader sees the difficulty of letting go of an abusive relationship and the pull that one person can have on another when one lets someone else rent space in their head and heart.
Amber: Her music career is on a high note and she enjoys the freedom it brings - until she tries to ventures too experimental in her music and her sales and concerts dip. Her older manager, who acts a surrogate father and lover in one, may help her find her way, musically and emotionally.
Valdes-Rodriguez recaptures the charm and spirit of the first book. Both are fun and fast reads, as each chapter alternates through one of the narrators. But this is not just a book for the beach. Valdes-Rodriguez deftly conveys the complicated range of emotions of the women through crisp writing that offers deep introspection, almost a mirror for the characters to reflect on. These women feel real, people you would know in your family, circle of friends or at work. The fact that they are all Latinas is almost an afterthought.
The characters that resonated the most were Usnavys and Lauren. Their voices are the strongest and most developed. The reader sees their gradual metamorphosis, as Usnavys surrenders herself to being a wife and a mother while Lauren discovers the person she was meant to be through all her episodes with her health and her man. By the end of the book, Lauren is a more centered person spiritually and emotionally. She's more at peace with her job, her looks and her insecurities. She shines the most in this novel and there are touching moments when she bonds with her editor and decides to mentor younger writers. Usnavys comes to terms with realizing that the world doesn't revolve around her needs and doesn't cater to her every whim. She learns that she has to check herself because her daughter and husband need her the most and that is what really matters.
Ironically, each of the sucias want what the other has. Rebecca has the marriage and career but not the family she desperately craves for while Elizabeth has the baby but not the ideal partner to share him with. Confident Usnavys has an earnest husband who does everything that is expected of him, which is what insecure Lauren wants in a man, someone to love and appreciate her and make her feel whole. The same goes for Amber. Sara has it all, two sons, a blooming career, but no man to share it with besides her homicidal ex-husband until a new love beckons.
My only critique of the book is this: some of the chicas don't seem as close as they were in the first book. UsNavys and Lauren are the closest pair of the bunch while Elizabeth and Sara have their own tight friendship because of their business arrangement. I didn't get the sense that these women (specifically, Rebecca and Amber) were very close to each other or to the others. It's as if they the sucias have sub-cliques within their own clique.
But Hispanic or not, male or female, readers will find something to relate to by hanging out with the sucias all over again.
 Las sucias are back, but are they better than ever? July 11, 2008
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
I don't like to summarize the plot or go into specific details about each character. If you are reading this book you are more likely than not familiar with the previous one and know the characters.
I had a hard time deciding between 3 and 4 stars. I will say I had a hard time putting it down. I enjoyed the fact that Usnavys was the main narrator this time. She is hilarious and brought a fresh voice to the novel(I did miss Lauren's articles though). However, I didn't feel the same connection with the ladies this time around. Their friendship felt forced and a little contrived. I really didn't see what joined them together except maybe the fact that they have known each other for so long. They didn't seem to like each other at all. I understand that friendships have their ups and downs but it honestly felt like they were brought back together for the sake of a second book. I also thought it was a bit too sexual almost to the point of being gratuitous (trust me, I am by no means a prude). I almost think that maybe it was trying a little too hard.
I was just a little disappointed. Overall, it's a fun summer read and if you are a fan of good chick lit, you will like it. I enjoyed it and will probably read it again just like I have with my other AVR books. BTW I am almost 30 and Hispanic so I know I am probably the target demographic for this book.
 Dirty Girls on Top July 29, 2008
6 out of 10 found this review helpful
Dirty Girls on Top fails in comparison to Alisa's first book. The "sucias" are simply pathetic and I was annoyed at the characters most of the time while reading it. It's just an ok book.
Just as good as the first July 9, 2008
4 out of 9 found this review helpful
I read the Dirty Girls Social Club back when it first came out, and loved it. Even though I am not Latina, I still felt I could relate to the characters. Now, with the sequel, I still feel the same way.
I love how each character has her own voice. The author switches so easily between voices and tone for each character, that you almost feel like each woman is talking directly to you. And, the problems and situations these women face, while sometimes extrordinary, are also down-to-earth and I could see facets of my own life experiences in each of them.
The only thing that bothered me was the liberal use of Spanish throughout. I know what the author was trying to accomplish, and most of the time I could figure out meanings from context, but there were some instances where I had NO clue what the Spanish words meant, which was a bit frustrating.
This book is racy! Right from the first few pages there's sex and foul language. That didn't bother me at all, but if you are a sensitive reader, be warned.
Overall, a great book! I laughed out loud, I was sad, I was happy, I was shocked. This book has it all. Engaging plot that kept me up reading way past when I should have turned out the light. :) I would highly recommend this book to any woman, Latina or not.
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