Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining but not satisfying
Review: I recently read this book with my book club in a two part series with the original "Vally of the Dolls". The original is timeless and is just as enjoying today as it was twenty years ago. The same cannot be said for this book. I didn't actually mind the liberties the author took with the dates, what bothered me was that she kept trying to justify the change by throwing in useless references in an attempt to try to tie the characters to the new dates. She also made reference to many recent events that were easily identified by thier descriptions. This book will never be as enjoyable and timeless as the first. It will however, satisfy your hunger for more about the characters. I did enjoy the overall story, but by the end of the book, the main characters had a different feel then they did at the end of the original story. I could definatly detect the two diferent writers and thier styles.I would recommend reading this book if you enjoyed the first, but don't expect the same results. It is entertaing, but not great.
Rating: 
Summary: A Waste of Time and Money
Review: I spent $... for this book at a wholesale club -- $... too much! The plot is fragmented, but what can one expect when the lives of the characters are as disfunctional as they are. What a waste of time to read about people who consistently mess up when there is a world of great literature to choose from. I just selected this title as a relaxing break between some quality titles. What a colossal bore! I did not find it the page turner some readers claim it to be. Just finished the last page, so this afternoon this book goes to the local used book store as a donation. Can't wait to get rid of it. And, by the way, I read "Valley of the Dolls" when it was published in 1966. This book is certainly a poor excuse for a sequel. Like I say -- save your time; save your money.
Rating: 
Summary: Valley of the Placebos
Review: I tore through this book, first reading it, hoping for a satisfactory followup to my favorite book of all time...then I tore through it again with my bare hands, ripping to shreds this slap in the face to Jacqueline Susann. The promotions for the book brag that this is based on an outline by Miss Susann. An outline is all you get in this book, as characters that were filled out with depth in the original, become charicatures. This is not a sequel: times have been changed, characters backgrounds have been changed and the overall tone of the story is completely different. Remember Helen Lawson? Apparently the "author" skimmed over her parts in the original, and Jennifer North is nothing but a castoff one line reference. According to biographies and interviews, Jaqueline was very protective of her characters, and SHADOW OF THE DOLLS attempts to please the hardcore fan and the first time reader, but fails miserably in pleasing either one. Avoid this book and reread the original Valley of the Dolls, or the Love Machine. The best thing I can say about this book, is that I hope it will spark interest in a deluxe DVD edition of the film, Valley of the Dolls.
Rating: 
Summary: INDEED, A SHADOW OF THE ORIGINAL, YET...
Review: I truly enjoyed this novel, despite the now-known fact that Lawrence didn't follow the chronological years left behind by the original author. Sure, Lawrence is no Susann (but has she ever prentended to be ?), and her characters could have been meatier (just like Susann's), but, hey, this is no Proust work here, it's just a fun and diversionary follow-up to the classic of all time, which, to my opinion, is worthy enough to read for that reason alone.-----Martin Boucher
Rating:
Summary: Lost interest
Review: I was looking forward to reading this book as I had very much enjoyed Valley of the Dolls. The characters in the original drew your interest and keep you turning pages. In this new effort by Rae Lawrence the characters have lost thier appeal. Anne comes across much darker then she did in the original. The book is not bad just has nothing to hold ones interest. I tried...I kept reading, but finally around pages 150 or so...I put it down and thought I'd start something new and more interesting. There was just nothing about the plot or the characters to make me want to read on.
Rating:
Summary: Zzzzzzzero stars. Even more boring than an Oprah book.
Review: I'm a big Jacqueline Susann fan, so I was excited when I first heard about this book. I got the audio edition and listened to it while I drove to work each day. I tell you, it's a wonder I didn't careen off the road in a deep sleep while listening to it! Although it doesn't suffer from the twisted, gnarly phrasing of modern "litahdeddy" fiction, it, however, lacks the ballsy punches of its prequel.
First it jerks around with the timeline, hacking twenty years off the characters' ages, and then it delivers a story with the impact of a 1962 Frigidaire commercial cowering under the scrutiny of a rigid TV censor!
I mean, what was it afraid of? It had all the background it needed--the original VD!--to deliver a truly dishy and still insightful story. And, yet, the author chose not to do that. Huh?!
The book brought me to tears, because it BORED me to tears.
Rating:
Summary: Very Disappointing
Review: If Rae Lawerence had held true to just one aspect of the original novel by Susanne, this may have worked.
The timeline is way off, Anne arrived in New York at the age of twenty in 1945. Lawerence picks this book up in 1987 and Anne is still in her thirties. Hmmmmmm. I wish it really did work that way. Her daughter Jennifer was born in 1963, and was only twelve in 1988. So Lawerence took extreme liberties with the timeline. Then, to make matters worse, she did not keep the characters basic personalities intact. The characters are mere 'shadows' (pun intended) of the richly developed individuals that Susanne brought to life in VOD. The newer characters, such as Anne's daughter, Neely's son's, and Gretchen, were never developed at all, very shallow and boring. Lawerence should have stayed true to at least one of these themes, the timeline OR the characters, to keep the story of Valley of the Dolls alive, but she did neither. What we are left with is a poorly plotted and mediocre story that only has names in common with the original.
Rating:
Summary: Keep This In The Shadows
Review: If you haven't already read Valley Of The Dolls, this supposed sequel will make no sense at all. The author relies too heavily on reader's past knowledge of the novel. That said, I found it incredibly hard to wrap my head around "Shadow" and I've read the original "Valley" about a dozen times. The characters have not been properly aged. I disagree that this is a conceit Jacqueline Susann would have approved of. The women of "Valley" dealt head on with issues ranging from infidelity to breast cancer to suicide. Surely they could have easily taken on aging ten years later. Not only do these characters not age, they still speak as if they were in the sixties, using expressions like "in the kip". While some would argue that "Valley Of The Dolls" is trashy fun, "Shadow Of The Dolls" is simply garbage. It's inane and silly. Ms. Susann's book was full of substance, through the trash one could sense that she was trying to communicate something. At the very least, she captured the imaginations of a generation. Rae Lawrence has captured nothing. Poor Jacqueline is rolling in her grave.
Rating: 
Summary: Hilariously Sexy!
Review: If you liked Valley of the Dolls you will certainly love Shadow of the Dolls. Complete with the sex and drugs we loved in the 60's, Shadow takes you wildly into the 80's we so vividly remember. Neely, Anne and Lyon miraculously only age 10 years since we last saw them engaging in their extreme fast lane lifestyles. Now their children come into play the with the rich, the famous and the drug addicted. From the stock market highs we remember of the 80's, to the prescription drug highs we read about, Shadow of the Dolls entwines all the wealth and glamour and of course plastic surgery you can imagine. Just as the stock market bottomed out, follow your favorites through the "crashes" in their lives and their struggles to climb back up the ladder of success. Rae Lawrence amazingly wrote this spectacular bi-coastal novel from the late Jacqueline Susann's notes and brilliantly brings us up to date with the characters we love to live vicariously through. A perfect read for this summer's hot and steamy days . . . and nights.
Rating:
Summary: SPARKLE, NEELY, SPARKLE: Petition FOX for a DVD release!
Review: If you're reading this review, then you're ovbviously a fan of the book "VALLEY OF THE DOLLS". Chances are, you're also a fan of the film. If you're not in a coma, then I'm sure that you, like me, desperately want this great film to be released on DVD. So let's all band together and take some action! Let's all write FOX STUDIOS and petition to have "VALLEY OF THE DOLLS" released as a DELUXE SPECIAL EDITION WIDESCREEN DVD with plenty of extras! Please simply print-out the following open letter on your computer, and mail it to FOX and DEMAND that we get this on DVD as soon as possible!!! Dear Fox Studios: I hereby declare that "Valley of the Dolls" is THE best motion picture of all-time, and I insist and demand that you release it on DVD in a DELUXE SPECIAL EDITION as soon as possible! "VALLEY OF THE DOLLS" deserves a DVD presentation that includes: *Original W I D E S C R E E N presentation!
*Deleted scenes and out-takes!
*Restored theatrical release with the unedited love scene with Sharon Tate!
*Interviews with cast members!
*Judy Garland's unused scenes and out-take scenes!
*Judy Garland's soundtrack version of "I'll Plant My Own Tree!"
*Original theatrical trailers from "VOD" and other Jacqueline Susann films!!
*Interviews with Jacqueline Susann!
*Photo galleries!
*Costume tests with Judy Garland and other cast members!
*Stereo 5.1 Surround-Sound!
*Digitally-enhanced and restored film print-transfer to DVD!
*Trivia information, such as how and why Marilyn Monroe's voice was used in the film! (They also used one of Marilyn Monroe's costumes from "There's No Business Like Show Business!)
*Any and all additional extras that you can possibly pack onto the DVD disc! Let's get going on this, it's already been too long for this fabulous film to be released on DVD! Sincerely,
(Your Name Here) I'm serious! The only way to get this FABULOUS movie on DVD at last is to let FOX know how much we want it! I hope you'll all take some action to make it happen.
In the meantime, remember to get up at 5 in the morning and "Sparkle, Neely, sparkle"!!!
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