by Renée Rosen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
An interesting fictionalized version (based on lots of direct resources from Estée Lauder herself and her son, friends, etc.) of Estée Lauder’s time from nobody to becoming a beauty icon. I really enjoyed the anecdotes and tidbits of Lauder’s philosophy on sales, beauty, and refined society. I don’t agree with her; but it was a well written story that showed both the strengths and flaws of Lauder in the end.
What’s confusing about Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl is how little there is about WWII. Given this story happens simultaneously with the war it seems odd that so little of the war situation (even though we are in America) affected our leading ladies. It’s as though a piece of the story is missing to give it true historical context. Unfortunately that makes me wonder about some of the truth in the story. While well researched, and a good authors note in the end; the element of war being such a non-factor kept taking me out of this story and making me wonder if it could be true that Lauder was so sheltered from the war activities (before and after Pearl Harbour). Thus only a four star rating from me. That said, I would absolutely try another book by Renee Rosen in the future.
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.
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My rating: 4 of 5 stars
An interesting fictionalized version (based on lots of direct resources from Estée Lauder herself and her son, friends, etc.) of Estée Lauder’s time from nobody to becoming a beauty icon. I really enjoyed the anecdotes and tidbits of Lauder’s philosophy on sales, beauty, and refined society. I don’t agree with her; but it was a well written story that showed both the strengths and flaws of Lauder in the end.
What’s confusing about Fifth Avenue Glamour Girl is how little there is about WWII. Given this story happens simultaneously with the war it seems odd that so little of the war situation (even though we are in America) affected our leading ladies. It’s as though a piece of the story is missing to give it true historical context. Unfortunately that makes me wonder about some of the truth in the story. While well researched, and a good authors note in the end; the element of war being such a non-factor kept taking me out of this story and making me wonder if it could be true that Lauder was so sheltered from the war activities (before and after Pearl Harbour). Thus only a four star rating from me. That said, I would absolutely try another book by Renee Rosen in the future.
Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.
Follow me on Goodreads
1 comment:
Hmm, makes you wonder if maybe she just didn't want to talk about her experiencs during the war, or if it was a concious choice to set the book off from all the WWII narratives out there?
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