Rating: 
Summary: An appropriate title
Review: Toby Young certainly does lose friends and alienate people in this sometimes interesting, sometimes boring memoir of his life as an English journalist in New York. The most interesting parts of the book relate to his stint at Conde Nast (or "The Conde Nasties") working for Vanity Fair magazine, and his clashes with the editor, Graydon Carter. Young is fired after two years, and it is really no surprise. Young does not play the game, finds his sophomoric antics humorous, and just doesn't seem to fit in at the glossy magazine.Toby Young's life during this period is pretty depressing. He can't hold down a job, is threatened with a lawsuit by Tina Brown, and is even fired by Bob Guccione, Jr. Toby Young does not try to paint himself as anything other than he is; a middle aged, balding, short, anti-social alcoholic with a poor work ethic. He compares the UK and New York endlessly, and complains of not being able to "get laid" in New York City, because the women are "shallow." However, he is equally shallow in judging the women he does date, and he treats them very badly, then wonders why they "dump him." Toby Young is an unapologetic jerk, yet his book does have some appeal. It is interesting to view the world of Manhattan and its social structure, the publishing world, and the view of an outsider on what makes it tick. There are some interesting tidbits, but Young often stretches things to fill space. He could have told these stories as a series of essays, making the book half its size and twice as readable. It ends up being very difficult to find the enthusiasm to finish the book, but, you want to know what happened to this fellow, anyhow.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting - but kind of silly
Review: As an avid reader of V.F. I was intrigued by the premise of the book but was ultimately disappointed. Despite the book's self-deprecating title, it's obvious the writer thinks of himself as extremely clever and witty. He repeats rather boring conversations he has with not-so funny people ad nauseum - he's that guy at the party who always steals other people's jokes and then screws up the punchline. Regardless, it's an easy read and it's interesting to get someone's take on "celebrity" journalists like Graydon Carter and Candace Bushnell.
Rating: 
Summary: Really annoying
Review: There are some great moments in this book -- like four or five. Like really great, like I dogeared the pages great. Unfortunately, these great moments are very brief. As a result, I wanted to throw this book across the room several times. It was a challenge to finish it. Toby Young's hijinx and personal details are stupid, boring and dumb -- and desperate in a maybe 48% funny way. (I also found him to be a homophobe, but I won't get into that here.) This story is more annoying than sad or enlightening, and he's a snob who just can't commit -- in one chapter he'll be singing the praises of American pop/celebrity culture, in the next he'll be ripping it apart because he didn't succeed enough within it. The whole thing ends up kind of lame and not very honest. He tries too hard to seem too-cool-for-all-of-it or intellectual, and it was mostly a waste of time. If you want to read a too-true story about the wicked world of NYC publishing, pick up the novel "Slab Rat" by Ted Heller instead.
Rating: 
Summary: He's less of a creep at the end of the book...
Review: If you want to learn "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People," by all means follow Toby Young's lead: take a lot of money for a job you don't care about doing well, name-drop, be a boorish drunk, and show absolutely no respect for the people who helped you get to where you are. That's pretty much Young's book in a nutshell. This jerk's star-struck behavior would embarrass even the most shameless groupie. He's so busy trying to out-shock the people that he last shocked that he's not even a good friend. However, the book's saving grace is that Young is a great author. I wouldn't want to meet this man, but I'm not sorry that I finished the book. A lesser author telling the same story wouldn't have been able to get the tale published! One hopes that he learned something about himself when he wrote; further, one hopes that he has outgrown that old character for good. Would I recommend this book? Possibly, to someone so self-centered that he wouldn't realize that I was handing him a mirror. It's certainly funny, in a very disturbing way.
Rating:
Summary: A good light read
Review: Looking over the previous reviews, people either seem to love or hate this book, so I appreciate that there's no shortage of opinions. At least Toby got people talking! First of all, this book is not some great literary work. It is a dishy read, full of gossip and pokes at the high-and-mighty, good for a light summer read. In this vein, the book is entertaining and funny most of the time. Just as I'd sometimes rather dish with my hairstylist rather than engage in some serious conversation with a business executive, this book provides the same thrill. I'd don't buy other's reviewers of claims of Toby's anti-American bias, his incorrect musings about the shortcoming about the American meritocracy, or his contractions on trashing the New York party scene that he some much wants to be part of. Toby is providing his observations and opinions on what he witnessed and experienced. It's nice to read an outsider's view, although of course, I don't necessary buy all of it. I take off two starts for three reasons. First, I got tired of his complaining about his lack of love-life. It was amusing for a bit, but this territory is already well covered in just about every other publication and column. His tribulations certainly weren't unique, got a bit thin after a while, and added nothing new. Second, I didn't agree with his reminisance for the good 'ol days when writers were hard crackin booze hounds, tearing up places with their antics and tearing up people with their words. The new system of professionalism, and chemical moderation, are probably for the better. Third, I don't think this book will have a shelf life beyond its immediate publication. It's a fun read for now, but in a couple of years, I think we'll have moved onto the next fun read.
Rating: 
Summary: Truth is ugly
Review: I hadn't read this book for a while, and I saw it laying on the floor, and I picked it up. I read the whole thing agian. It was brilliant. For anyone who has wroked in New York and worked in publishing, these stories have a ring of truth to them. Lizzie Grubman is a creep. Tina Brown is a creep. Most of these shady magazine characters have very little redeeming qualities. They have no soul. They will have to deal with their empty lives down the road. Toby Young is funny because he believed in the myth of America. Sure there are rags to riches stories all the time. More often there is not. Toby Young is a valid writer. This book should be read over most of the crap that is being published right now.
Rating:
Summary: clever, but still as vapid as those Young criticizes
Review: I sort of enjoyed this book, even laughed out loud once. The thing is, this book ought to be a good 100 pages shorter, there's too much "in"fo. It's reads more like an expose than a memoir. Let's put it this way: there are footnotes. I am not anti-footnotes, at all, but come on... when books actually need footnotes they're shot down by editors but this fluff gets fluffnotes?? Anyway I did appreciate Young's musings on America and New York; it's sort of an antidote to Sex and the City, which is refreshing (ie, the city is not that sexy). I did finish it and appreciated parts of it, and reading about the underdog is always rewarding, but if you're not an avid reader just have a friend point out the witty parts and leave the buying to those with more money to waste.
Rating:
Summary: Funny book - easy read
Review: This book is a send up of the high fashion world of Vanity Fair. It does a good job showing how ridiculous it is to work there. The narrator is so self effacing through the whole thing he makes his jabs at others easy to take. Toby tries to make us feel sorry for his alienation in NYC and with women. However since he wants to be with a supermodel, be friends with celebrities and be with the "in" crowd this feels false. Anyone would probably feel left out if that was their goal. (Unless they were rich, incredibly good looking or had "made it" in that world) He also wants us to feel sorry for his bad luck with women but he loses his audience when he practically admits all he wants is a woman with big breasts. Not a relationship or a connection with someone. His bitter critique of NYC and America compared to Britain also rings false because he is only seeing things from being "left out" of this A-list group. He didn't try to really find real friends or connections in the city. He just tried to get into A-list events and parties. It's true that this unreal world deserves to be critisized and the case he makes about publicists ruling the magazines is VERY convincing. A good read but seems like it was written as revenge for being fired and for never being allowed "in" to the A-list crowd he so desperately was seeking.
Rating:
Summary: Suprisingly Literate Critique of NYC and Himself...
Review: Young is no hero. He is not even a nice guy. He IS however hilariously self-aware. If this book were fiction, you might think it was simply absurd. However, it is all true as Young tells us in the end. I have admit, despite the many negative reviews, that I enjoyed this book. Young's complete inability to be anything but honest about himself and his failings is winning. I sat there in pain several times (who hires a stripper on take your daughter to work day?!) and especially as he discussed how he won his wife's heart. Many of things he says about New York and our American society are dead on. Somethings are may not be so cut and dry. However, his Oxford background shows as he analyzes our culture using sources ranging from TS Eliot to Gore Vidal to Tina Brown to Byron (and lest we not forget Ben Hecht who is quoted every 10 pages!). Not perfect, not always nice, but honest. YOu don't get that so much these days. And congrats Young, whatever you are doing now.
Rating: 
Summary: Spend the $10 on a manicure, ladies...
Review: Well, the title was appealing enough. It seemed like I might get a few laughs out of it. I was terribly wrong. Toby Young paints an unflattering portrait of himself in every way imaginable. Not only does he do as promised in the title, he ends up being a whiney, celebrity-stalking, contrived, hypocritical, self-loathing little toad of a man trying to use his British "charm" to woo the ladies and get his career at a major celebrity-centered magazine rolling. He tells his life story for a little bit and then goes off into a tangent about how awful the beautiful women in Manhattan are. He goes on about how he's trying to climb the social ladder but it's so unfair that these women get to be in their own little elitist pampered class and won't give him the time a day. He aspires to date supermodels but is upset that they snub him. He envies his "friends" and retaliates by doing something cruel to them- impersonating them, trying to get into Oscar parties by using their name, ignoring them, etc. Fortunately, these plans tend to blow up in his face. That may be the only positive thing about this book is that he never really gets ahead. In closing, I would like to state that I am a lovely Manhattanite woman and I take offense to his generalizations and masochistic attitude towards women. We get the way we are to keep the creepy men like Toby Young as far away as possible.
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