Diary of a South Beach Party Girl (Paperback)
From Publishers Weekly
In her debut novel, former party girl Cooper smartly focuses on the fringe freaks who fueled the nightlife in the nauseatingly hip late 1990s South Beach: über-publicist Ricky Pascal, petulant heiress Amy, sexy felon John Hood and a host of bar workers and bar hoppers who hobnob with the rich even as they scramble to make their own rent. Rachel Baum—poet, aspiring publicist and hard-partying diva—narrates the frenetic scene from a prime VIP-room seat. The air kissing, photo-ops and drug-and-liquor indulging is the price of admission to the much more subtle seduction of Rachel and her entourage. “South Beach was a town in the business of seduction,” Rachel notes. “Sometimes the sheer, overwhelming beauty of the place and its inhabitants was so sharp, it was almost painful.” Rachel’s love affair with the South Beach party scene ends when her search for “stability versus chaos” takes precedence over the addictive charm of a community that so readily forgives and forgets every destructive bender she (and everyone else) goes on. But it hardly matters: South Beach—and all of its neon-vodka-narcotic glamour—is a much better draw than the predictable mellowing of a party chick. (Apr.)
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Review
“There’s real wit and pathos beneath the feather boas.”
— Entertainment Weekly
“As captivating as it is alarming.”
— Cosmopolitan
“A page-turner.”
— Playgirl
“300-plus pages of what Vanessa Williams’ show South Beach should’ve looked like.”
— Jossip.com
“Like a popular and generous best friend, Cooper takes readers behindthe velvet rope and into the seedily thrilling, drug-filled world oflate-90s Miami.” — People
“A dishy look at the SoBe scene.” — Harper’s Bazaar
“The biggest sensation since Jacqueline Susann’s Valley of the Dolls isGwen Cooper’s Diary of a South Beach Party Girl.” — JumpOnMarksList.com
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July 8th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
Diary of a South Beach Party Girl ended up being a lot more than I expected, and Gwen Cooper is one hell of a writer. Her prose is warm, witty, and beautifully evocative, her characters are completely unforgettable, and her story is by turns so funny and so moving that I have to agree with the other reviewers who said they found themselves both laughing and crying. It’s the kind of book that sneaks up on you–you think you’re reading an interesting and light-hearted account of the wild and decadent South Beach scene, but when you get to the last page you find you can’t stop thinking about the people Cooper so vividly describes and all their ups and downs. You also won’t be able to stop thinking about South Beach and how gorgeous and glamorous it must have been in its “heyday.” Cooper’s descriptions of what was really going on behind all those velvet ropes makes you feel like you’re in right in the middle of the craziness.
This is a story about a close circle of friends you’ll wish you were a part of, a page-turning love story about a doomed romance you’ll wish you had (even though you’re secretly glad you didn’t have to go through all that drama!), and a coming of age story that any girl, or even guy, will be able to relate to. I was almost angry when I got to the last page because I never wanted this book to end. I wanted to stay with Rachel and her friends in their exotic, exciting world forever.
July 9th, 2009 at 6:02 am
I came upon my “pre-release” book by accident in a library/bookstore and wasn’t sure if I should read it out of respect for the Author…well, my curiosity took over and after the first few pages I was HOOKED!! Gwen Cooper writes so that you feel there with Rachel. What a journey she was on. Most of us can identify in one way or another with the character, even having not lived in South Beach. The struggle with careers, falling for the “bad-boy” ect.. This is a MUST read!! I actually read it twice & have ordered this as a gift..
July 9th, 2009 at 10:36 am
When I was given this book I was told, for lack of a better term, that this was Chick-Lit. THIS IS NOT CHICK-LIT.
“Diaries” gives you a glimpse of what some might call a Utopian world that only exists in romanticized, revisionist’s versions of the truth. But that is such a cynical and ironic way of reading about a book that speaks to the ability of recognizing that this life is fleeting and that place of euphoria that we all seem to constantly be in search of is ours for the taking if we choose to open our eyes.
“Diaries” is cognizant in a way that many of us wish we could recall some of our former days. It tells of a looking-glass world, where status and bank accounts mean nothing, if those are the only standards upon which you’re going to measure your experience. This is a tale of folly and of youth and the possibilities lying in wait if you are willing to venture out of the little box that everyone tells you that you must stay in.
This book gives you access to places that only exist if you know whom to ask. It is a journey that takes you inside and underneath. It also cracks the veneer of the Art Deco facade that so many of us only know the city to be. And more importantly it gives the reader a glimpse of what was beating beneath the surface.
The book is a love letter to a city that you cannot stumble upon. It reminisces about the beginning of a road that does not end on the last page of the book. It will remind the reader that once, the world was full and round and everything was shiny and new.