Wednesday 10 June 2009

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos: Book 34, 2009

Title: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
Genre: wit and humour
Rating: 10/10
Plot summary: (From Amazon)
Anita Loos's "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" is a comic masterpiece. Loos tells the story of Lorelei Lee, a blond, money-seeker, opportunist girl on a trip through Europe. From Now York to London, to Paris and all the way through Vienna Lorelei meets lots of gentlemen, charms them, gets money and jewels from them and then light-heartedly leaves them with a short note in which she promises she will meet them somewhere else, perhaps. A real strumpet, Lorelei Lee emerges as a delicious creature from Loos genial prose, and by the end of the book, we have learned to love her.
Comments: I loved the movie (starring Marilyn Monroe) but this book, while hysterically funny, has a darker and slightly crueller edge.  Lorelei Lee is completely without conscience and has an entertaining mix of determination, idiocy, and a constant belief in her own towering intellect.  A far more likeable version of Paris Hilton, set during the Jazz Age, without a sex tape in sight.

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