Monday, October 21, 2013

Book Review: "Gorgeous" by Paul Rudnick

I've read a few books since the one I last reviewed, but this one is worth mentioning. The synopsis is simple: after the death of her mother, plain-looking Becky is summoned by the world's top fashion designer, who promises to create three dresses that will make her the most beautiful woman who ever lived.

For the first half of the book, the story unfolds as you would expect; Becky becomes "Rebecca", gains instant fame throughout the world, works as an actress, and stuns everyone in her path with her unworldly beauty. Curiously, when Becky is alone, she can only see what she really looks like; this isn't really worked with in the plot, but it's a concept I definitely wish had been. Tom Kelly, the fashion designer, also mentions another tiny detail: that Becky had to fall in love and get married within a year in order to keep her beauty, and if she didn't, she would lose it.

In the second half that plot twist because way more important, because right at her most critical moment, Tom made Rebecca turn back into Becky, which resulted in her running away. Things eventually get weird after that, when it's discovered that someone in the story actually died a number of years ago, but somehow stayed "alive" to finish what they needed to do. This isn't really explained, so it makes it seem discordant and the story feeling as though it lacks something.

The ending is relatively good, though not something you really expect to happen at that point, and actually makes the beyond-the-grave plot device even more out there. Overall, it was an interesting storyline and I enjoyed the characterization, but the randomly inserted ghost part just doesn't feel like it belongs.