Rating: 
Summary: Wait for the Paperback
Review: A friend from the U.K. recommended this book, so I bought the hardcover version. I wish I'd waited for the paperback. It's an OK memoir-import written in a self-effacing style by an Oxford-educated, balding, rather lazy name-dropper. Young's pseudo-sociology is completely lame. I can see why the Brits loved this book: it appeals to the insecurity-about-personal-success epidemic in the U.K. My main complain about Young's memoir is that he bashes Prozac and Zoloff several times in the book, yet he seems to be a person who genuinely could benefit from some anti-depressant relief.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Title, Loser Author
Review: I was really looking forward to reading this book since it sounded like a fun read. And I will admit that parts were funny but the more I read this book, the more I hated the author and the book. If he had just stuck to telling his story, he would have been fine. Then it would have just been a funny book about a hapless loser. But what really made this book awful was his continual justification of why he's really a failure. Apparently it isn't his fault at all -- it's ours. Our value system apparently kept him from succeeding. It's infuriating when someone has to condemn an entire culture simply because he can't get his act together. Frankly, the fact that this drunken slacker couldn't make it in NYC proves that we have got it right. If you must read this book, borrow it from the library. We really don't need to encourage this guy with any more royalty money.
Rating: 
Summary: Horrific
Review: How ever did this vile human being get a book deal? Awful. Spare yourselves.
Rating:
Summary: It doesn't quite make it...but it's a good read
Review: I was excited to read Toby's work as my career is in the dumps right now and I really needed a good laugh. I didn't find the book that funny (and, I normally love the Brits humor and "get it" quite often). I love the title...how clever. There are some rather interesting (and valid) points made in the book about America. Some of his analyses are very interesting, especially from his viewpoint of a foreigner. I really liked how he compared the class systems between countries and some of the obvious differences and not-so-obvious similarities. The acadmically inclined viewpoints were the most interesting parts. I found some of the sections to be superficial, especially in the first two-thirds of the book. Most of the partying and socialzing with the "in" New Yorkers was rather boring. He either didn't get deep enough to get to the juicy parts, or he just missed the mark. I agree with some of of the other reviews on here that he seemed to focus on New York as America (or LA) and really didn't have an accurate view of the whole country. Nevertheless, his insights are interesting to ponder. It's a good read. It does make you think. But, it isn't as funny or entertaining as "spun."
Rating: 
Summary: World losers & world forsakers,for whom the pale moon gleams
Review: An enjoyable book but I could teach this guy a thing or two about how to alienate people.
If you have half a brain you will buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: toby young can be my friend
Review: I found this book a blast to read--a delightful peek inside the world of glamour from the perspective of someone who (like most of us) never quite belonged there. Through his experiences, Young reveals just what makes us worship at the altar of celebrity, then is vicious in tearing it down. I don't fault him for many of the criticisms that the book has received--that he's hypocritical about his love/hate relationship with all that glitters. These are obvious--what the author gives us is a look at his life and the lure of fame without a shred of self preservation. Don't buy this book as a treatise on meritocracy, but for its delightfully candid narrator and his exceptionally witty writing style.
Rating:
Summary: Life of a Conde Nast Drone
Review: The author is both obsessed by fame and antagonistic to authority, even famous authority. His job at Vanity Fair required the reverse -- a totally blase reaction to movie stars and some judicious sucking up to one's superiors. He fails at both. The book comes across as far more likeable than the author. He has the courage to admit he's a jerk. The two stars are because the writing is crisp, and the stories are often outrageous, in a tell-all Enquirer way. In the end, I don't know what he wrote at VF, besides photo captions.
Rating: 
Summary: i enjoyed it, but most people probably won't "get it."
Review: good beach reading full of pithy & sometimes contradictory observations about life in NY. sort of a different take on the immigrant story -- part "sex & the city," part "lonely guy," part "brights lights, big city." not terribly deep or anything, but a fun read nonetheless. i look forward to his next book.
Rating:
Summary: NYC is not America
Review: As an Englishman I found Toby Young's review of his time in New York (with occasional trips to LA) mildly amusing, but his blatant anti-Americanism and, worse still, his misconception that New York is America, really tiresome. This book is what Woody Allen would have written if he were an Englishman visiting New York and if he were considerably less talented.
Rating:
Summary: i should have known...
Review: from the title of the book that the man would be incredibly irritating, yet i managed to get all the way through this dreadful memoir with a smidgen of hope that it would improve. it did not. mr. young makes a number of inane "observations" about the social hierarchy in new york while whining that women only care about money and looks rather than personality. well guess what, toby? if your writing is any indication of said personality, you could posess the looks and money of brad pitt and i would still run screaming.
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