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Dirty Girls on Top
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Product Description
The Dirty Girls are back, saucier and sexier than ever….but would it be wrong to ask them to be a little smarter, too?? Especially when it comes to men. And sex.
Lauren Fernandez is at the top of her game as the cleverest columnist the Boston Gazette has on board—but she can't quite figure out how to pick a guy or how to eat (and not drink) like a healthy person. Usnavys is still sashaying all over town, 260 pounds of her dolled up in designer duds and ready for action—from anyone except her husband Juan, that is. He’s become just a bit boring staying home scrubbing the tub and cooking up chicken fingers for pre-schooler Carolina while somebody else brings home the bacon.
Maybe the other Dirty Girls could help Lauren and ‘navy out, but they've got their own messes to deal with: Rebecca Baca hasn't gained a pound since college (well, who would, if they had an ounce of self-control?) but suspects her picture-perfect marriage may not yield the baby she longs for; Sara may be the star of her own decorating show on cable television, but her dangerous pull toward her ex-husband Roberto isn't so pretty; Amber keeps renaming herself and doesn't want to hear that her soulfulness and reinvention aren't enough to make fans actually buy her music; and Elizabeth is discovering that a relationship with another woman takes more than bravery and a nesting instinct.
Dirty Girls on Top is about trying to figure it all out without quite as much time left as there was five years ago. And it’s about sex and love—getting it, not getting it, yearning for it, having it with the wrong person, fighting it from the right person, trying it a new way, giving up on it. And, in the end, if your fingers are crossed and the planets are in alignment, having it come out just the way it should.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #500933 in Books
- Published on: 2008-07-08
- Released on: 2008-07-08
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Hardcover
- 336 pages
Features
- ISBN13: 9780312349677
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
- Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Valdes-Rodriguez introduced these caliente chicas in 2003's successful The Dirty Girls Social Club. Now, five years later, the sucias reunite at a New Mexico resort, and the passionate and provocative getaway signals more changes for the crew. Usnavys—a United Way executive, self-proclaimed plus-sized manizer and sex blogger—is married to sedate Juan, who cares for their daughter while Usnavys begins an affair. Lauren is a journalist and bulimic whose fiancé, a former drug dealer-turned music industry professional, has a little something secretly going on the side. Rebecca, a magazine publisher, has dreams of a baby with her husband, but they can't conceive. Sara, a Latina Martha Stewart, is frightened and exhilarated by the reappearance of her abusive husband. Cuicatl, a wild Latina rock star, must face her feelings for her older manager, and a fickle public. And Elizabeth is slowly realizing her lesbian partner doesn't want to parent their recently adopted son. Friendships are strengthened and threatened, and facets of each woman's life crumbles while others blossom. The prose is fast and casual, and the plot moves at a fast clip. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
In her debut, The Dirty Girls Social Club (2003), Valdes-Rodriguez introduced six feisty Latina friends, and the genre chica-lit was born. Now the sucias reunite five years later. Lauren’s low self-esteem has her dating cheaters and battling bulimia. Former playgirl Usnavys feels trapped as a wife and mother. Successful publisher Rebecca struggles with her failure to conceive. Elizabeth adapts to life as an adoptive parent with an unsupportive partner. Amber, now a rock star called Cuicatl, is seeing her popularity falter. Sara’s deranged ex-husband, Roberto, has returned just as she’s begun dating. Each woman is so preoccupied, it takes a near tragedy to bring them together. Valdes-Rodriguez has matured with her characters, relying less on steamy sex and brand-name-dropping and more on emotional development. Balancing six story lines is challenging, but her fans will be satisfied with the resolution in this interesting sequel. --Aleksandra Walker
Review
“Fast-paced, sexy tale.”--The Los Angeles Times
"Caliente is the best word to describe this steamy sequel to The Dirty Girls Social Club...madcap, full-of-heart adventure."--Redbook
"If the Sex and the City flick leaves you longing for more girl-bonding, then Dirty Girls on Top is the olive in the martini...this summer's juiciest beach read."--Latina
“The Dirty Girls Social Club always demanded a sequel and here it is."--The New York Daily News
"Valdes-Rodriguez...has once again written an extraordinary and impressive book. Told in six unique voices, from six unique points of view, her follow-up has a universality about it that makes it, like her first book about the sucias, an important addition to the fields of friendship novels and Latina literature and an excellent choice for fiction collections of al sizes."--Library Journal
“The sequel to The Dirty Girls Social Club, about a posse of Latina friends still trying five years later to figure out their careers and love lives — Carrie and friends, but with cafe con leche.”
--St. Petersburg Times
“Passionate and provocative…the prose is fast and casual, and the plot moves at a fast clip.”—Publishers Weekly
Customer Reviews
Save your time and money
I struggled to make my way through Dirty Girls on Top and only finished through sheer force of will. The characters are very undeveloped and there was little plot of which to speak. It took me a least a hundred pages to begin to differentiate between the six main characters (I still got Sara and Rebecca confused at the end of the book). There were a lot of sex scenes, all of which were uncomfortable and awkward. The constant dropping of mall brands got to be comical by the end of the book, as did the strange lectures on Hispanic identity politics liberally sprinkled throughout the narrative. My favorite was the part where one character lectures another about human sacrifice in different world cultures as an attempt to minimize Aztec mass killings. The passage concluded with the two copulating at an Aztec pyramid. Oy.
Las sucias are back, but are they better than ever?
I don't like to summarize the plot or go into specific details about each character. If you are reading this book you are more likely than not familiar with the previous one and know the characters.
I had a hard time deciding between 3 and 4 stars. I will say I had a hard time putting it down. I enjoyed the fact that Usnavys was the main narrator this time. She is hilarious and brought a fresh voice to the novel(I did miss Lauren's articles though). However, I didn't feel the same connection with the ladies this time around. Their friendship felt forced and a little contrived. I really didn't see what joined them together except maybe the fact that they have known each other for so long. They didn't seem to like each other at all. I understand that friendships have their ups and downs but it honestly felt like they were brought back together for the sake of a second book. I also thought it was a bit too sexual almost to the point of being gratuitous (trust me, I am by no means a prude). I almost think that maybe it was trying a little too hard.
I was just a little disappointed. Overall, it's a fun summer read and if you are a fan of good chick lit, you will like it. I enjoyed it and will probably read it again just like I have with my other AVR books. BTW I am almost 30 and Hispanic so I know I am probably the target demographic for this book.
eh. quit with the sterotypes already
a truck driving lesbian whose girlfriend hits their kid because it's a boy and she's a man-hater, and yet looks like "practically a man" herself. come on. i get that the characters are homophobic, but does the author have to be too?
