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| Chasing Harry Winston: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: Lauren Weisberger
Publisher: audible.com
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $15.73
You Save: $14.22 (47%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  125 reviews
Media: Audio Download
ASIN: B001AF1G52
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
The bestselling author of The Devil Wears Prada and Everyone Worth Knowing returns with the story of three best friends who vow to change their entire lives...and change them fast.Emmy is newly single, and not by choice. She was this close to the ring and the baby she's wanted her whole life when her boyfriend left her for his twenty-three-year-old personal trainer -- whose fees are paid by Emmy. With her plans for the perfect white wedding in the trash, Emmy is now ordering takeout for one. Her friends insist an around-the-world sex-fueled adventure will solve all her problems -- could they be right? Leigh, a young star in the publishing business, is within striking distance of landing her dream job as senior editor and marrying her dream guy. And to top it all off, she has just purchased her dream apartment. Only when Leigh begins to edit the enfant terrible of the literary world, the brilliant and brooding Jesse Chapman, does she start to notice some cracks in her perfect life... Adriana is the drop-dead-gorgeous daughter of a famous supermodel. She possesses the kind of feminine wiles made only in Brazil, and she never hesitates to use them. But she's about to turn thirty and -- as her mother keeps reminding her -- she won't have her pick of the men forever. Everyone knows beauty is ephemeral and there's always someone younger and prettier right around the corner. Suddenly she's wondering...does Mother know best? These three very different girls have been best friends for a decade in the greatest city on earth. As they near thirty, they're looking toward their future...but despite all they've earned -- first-class travel, career promotions, invites to all the right parties, and luxuries small and large -- they're not quite sure they like what they see... One Saturday night at the Waverly Inn, Adriana and Emmy make a pact: within a single year, each will drastically change her life. Leigh watches from the sidelines, not making any promises, but she'll soon discover she has the most to lose. Their friendship is forever, but everything else is on the table. Three best friends. Two resolutions. One year to pull it off.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 120 more reviews...
 Hits and misses June 4, 2008
20 out of 22 found this review helpful
Having read so many bad reviews, I was surprised by Chasing Harry Winston. It's actually much better than I expected it to be.
After being dumped by her boyfriend of five years, baby-obsessed Emmy (a restaurateur) decides that she'll sleep with as many random men as possible. Tired of sleeping with many men in succession, ultra-glamorous, Brazilian Adriana decides to enter into a monogamous relationship and possibly get engaged. Leigh, a book editor, is tired of her life, despite a job she loves and a (seemingly) perfect boyfriend. One evening over dinner, two of the three decide to change their lives dramatically within the space of a year.
In Chasing Harry Winston, Weisberger dumps the format she adopted for her first two novels. In some ways, this is good, and gives Weisberger the chance to branch out a bit. This is no outsider-looking-in tale told from a whiney first-person perspective. There's no hellish boss, no glamorous fashion or PR industry. The characters in this novel are surprisingly more unique than those in Weisberger's other two books; with the exception of the perfect boyfriend, I definitely found myself relating to Leigh a little bit. However, the author doesn't seem to be able to create anything new--it seems like this plot has been seen before, most notably in Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City.
The characters, disturbingly, define themselves primarily by their relationships with men; their careers and the other parts of their personal lives repeatedly take backseats to boyfriends and fiancees. Adriana, despite her "tricks" for getting men to chase her, is really the one doing the chasing. It was tough, too, for me to believe the Leigh-Russell relationship. On the other hand, the predicament Leigh finds herself in is very understandable: you find yourself dating the "right" guy, so you feel bad about breaking up with him because you're scared. It's a dilemma I think many women can identify with.
For having reached the age of thirty, these women are very immature and shallow, and overly concerned with having the stress-and-anxiety-free, "perfect" lives that no New York woman I know has. It was also difficult for me to see why these three are friends--they're all so different, but Weisberger never explains to her readers why they were drawn to each other in the first place.
Somewhere in the plot, out of place, is a trip to the Caribbean, during which the girls find themselves in a dicey Curacao airport drinking suspect alcohol bought from a card table, and popping pills. It's pretty much the only funny part of the book. I get the feeling that this is something that really happened to Weisberger or someone she knows, and she felt she just had to put it in. But the scene just didn't belong in this novel.
Although not as funny, clever, or well-written as The Devil Wears Prada, there was much more emotional depth in Chasing Harry Winston than in Everyone Worth Knowing. Keep in mind, though, that Weisberger is pretty much a one-note author.
 Terrible! June 24, 2008
17 out of 17 found this review helpful
Do not waste your money, time, or effort on this piece of trash. I enjoyed Devil Wears Prada immensely and thought Everyone Worth Knowing was a decent effort as well. But this third novel by Lauren Weisberger had me groaning in agony. The characters are vapid and selfish, the story line thin to non-existent, and the writing is totally disjointed. There were points in the story where I thought I was missing pages in my books because, apparently, Weisberger and her editor forgot the meaning of the word "transition."
I also take issue with the fact that the three main female characters, who are approaching thirty, seem to be more jealous and catty than they are happy and excited when something goes well for one of them. Of course we all feel pangs of jealousy from time to time, but these young women did not one iota of emotional substance keeping them together. Nor did they have any friends besides each other. I guess that makes sense -- Who else would want to spend time with them?! I certainly wouldn't.
There is more I can say but most of it would be a repeat of what the other 1- and 2-star reviewers have already written. I am not even going to bother keeping this book around. I will donate it to a used book shop or the Salvation Army as soon as you can say "This book stinks!"
Why do I think it will get better? June 2, 2008
16 out of 21 found this review helpful
That's it for me and Lauren Weisberger. The last book was awful and this one is too. I only liked her first novel. I could only get through about 60 pages of this, I really tried. The writing is all over the place (doesn't flow nice) and the characters are such carbon copies of other chick lit. I love chick lit and I think having characters like these can still work but for this book it just didn't. I'm glad I got it from the library.
vile June 4, 2008
14 out of 18 found this review helpful
trust me, I wanted to like this book as much as the next person. I enjoyed Lauren's previous two books, and had high hopes for this one. However, I found the plot line of this weak, the story line totally unbelievable and the conclusion totally contrived. It almost seems like she phoned this one in, cashed her check and left us to pick up the pieces. Save your money; I wish i had.
FUN AND FUMBLES IN THE SEARCH FOR TRUE LOVE June 4, 2008
13 out of 19 found this review helpful
Chick lit fans probably know all the anticipated plots; they may have seen them all and read them all. But, they definitely haven't heard them all until they give a listen to Lily Rabe's delicious reading of Chasing Harry Winston by The Devil Wears Prada author Lauren Weisberger.
A seasoned stage, televison and film actress Rabe gives added verve to this story of three glam New Yorkers approaching thirty and none too happy about it. Accomplished actress that she is Rabe easily shifts from voicing Emmy to Leigh to Adriana. Each of our heroines has distinctly different personalities, which are revealed by this actress's subtle switches in modulation and tone.
Despite dissimilarities in character this trio of women have remained steadfast friends since college days. But now as the inevitable 30 looms each decides it is time for a dramatic change and is determined to see it through.
Amiable and amenable Emmy is the culinary artist of the group. She'd make a perfect wife and mom but despite these obvious qualifications she has been dropped by Duncan whom she envisioned meeting at the altar. So, Emmy decides since faithfulness hadn't gotten her anywhere she'd play the field - a large field and have sex with a number of men until she finds the perfect one.
Leigh is the bookish type, a book editor who likes what she does and loves the man of her dreams, sportscaster Russell. However, when Leigh is assigned to edit the latest by the very attractive young married Jesse Chapman she finds that more than punctuation is involved.
Adriana is the predictable bombshell, daughter of wealthy Brazilian parents. She's been more than out and about, and thinks that perhaps the perfect man for her is a famous movie director. Well as they say you have to kiss a few frogs to find your prince.
With a Sex and the City backdrop Chasing Harry Winston offers a series of fun and fumbles in the search for true love - enjoy!
- Gail Cooke
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