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Summary: I spent 2 days in LA, then 2 days with this book..
Review: ..and I feel more starstruck, after reading the book, than I did during the entirety of my visit to Los Angeles. Sure, there is a feeling you get, as a non-LA-native, when you are looking up at the Hollywood sign in person, or pressing your hands into the cement, sizing yourself up against legends at the Chinese Theater, but it comes with the feeling that you are an outsider. LA is a great place to be a tourist, you get a taste for the drama and intrigue, but, because of the very nature of tourism, you get to leave. For the natives, the histronic character of the city demands a long-time, if not lifetime, and lifestyle commitment.This book is about that commitment. The title suggests that Clarissa's evolving relationship with men (in general, and specifically) is the focus of the book, and it is, to an extent, but the men are often stand-ins for her real leading man, Los Angeles. It is the city's prostate she is looking to stimulate, and as any experienced woman knows, a good man (or social scene) will require patience, dedication, and a good amount of trickery before he will even let you reach down there. To those of us who aren't ready to do more than flirt with LA, Maneater is a great peek into what happens behind closed doors of those whose marriage to the jet-set life of Lalaland was arranged. Full of saucy characters, the story is fast paced, funny, and often candid enough to make even a worldly girl like myself blush. It had me go from shocked to swooning and back again, occasionally uttering out loud, "Oh no, don't do THAT," and "I can't believe she said/did/thought that," a real testament to how deeply Clarissa can draw you in. I am not one for soap operas, or drama for the sake of drama (which is why I live in the midwest, and not LA), but I do love a good story and Gigi has written a good story. As the kind of person who would NEVER pick up a romance novel, let alone a book with a HOT PINK COVER, I highly recommend this novel, even if it is only to be kept by (or under) the bed as your "guilty pleasure" reader. For those who are image conscious, and feel that reading a pink book would be scandalous, it is plain white under the dust jacket. Should you find that people are looking for you to explain yourself for reading "fluff," lend them the book. They, too, will be drawn in by Gigi Levangie Grazer's style and wit. I was, and I am not even "that kind of girl."
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Summary: Makes Sex & the City look TAME!
Review: This is more mindless chick lit, but it's still good. The story is about Clarissa and her determination to get married to someone famous. The story is VERY fast paced and some of the antics that occur seriously put Sex and the City to shame. There are interesting tidbits scattered thoroughout about Hollywood and the California lifestyle. Makes you wonder if Hollywood is really like how it is depicted in the book. Overall, a quick, entertaining summer read.
Rating: 
Summary: Awful and boring
Review: I was really looking forward to reading this book after the reviews posted. It was such a boring book and a waste of time. I kept on reading hoping it would get better!
Rating: 
Summary: Don't waste your time
Review: This book was so bad that I feel compelled to offer a review any and every where I can just to save other poor readers from it. It's plot line is predictable and boring. I would be hard pressed to say that there was even one original thought in the entire book. I see now why Ms. Grazer felt the need to apologize to her parents in the dedication. I would call for a refund!
Rating: 
Summary: A fun piece of fluff for your beach blanket
Review: While this book makes no pretenses to be high literature, and the references will be dated by next year, it's a very fun read. It didn't make me laugh out loud like the first Bridget Jones book, but it is more clever and intelligently written than most "chick lit."
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Summary: Sucky McSucky from Sucktown
Review: I know we all like to crash on the beach with a good, trashy novel, but come on ladies! I'm not saying we have to curl up with Kierkegaard, but at least give our "heroine" some depth. Then at least I could reason why this woman is so awful - to her friends, to her parents and to her boyfriends. She's a whiner, whining through unbelievable and often ill-written sagas.
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Summary: "Maneater" is a wildly entertaining summer novel!!
Review: "Maneater", from Hollywood insider and screenwriter, Gigi Levangie Grazer, is a hugely satisfying read in my mind because it is at once a hilarious satire but also an astutely observant commentary on its world-weary characters. In savoring the adventures of the book's misguided heroine, Clarissa, I can say I was quickly deposited in a universe I thankfully never expect to inhabit. Simply stated, Clarissa's world is a challenging place to navigate with even modest integrity. I usually root for the underdog in books and films, but here part of the appeal for me of this particular underdog is that she has no clue she is one. On the one hand, she is the woman I would instinctively fear, looking askance at those poor souls that comprise the bulk of the normal underling poplulation. But she effectively stays mostly isolated by keeping those who could really care about her at a distance with her cynical and borderline-sociopathic-user mentality. Safe to say there is not much too likeable here. The strange thing is that I nevertheless found myself rooting for her, not so much to get what she wants, but to achieve the humanity that has eluded her through much of her vacuous life. Clarissa's journey unfolds in surprising and entertaining directions, despite her efforts to control others and her unflinching pursuit of what she has always believed she deserved. She is somewhat the human equivalent of a car wreck, terrifying, but just try to look away. Although the book is easy to read quickly, and pretty addictive, I loved pausing over Ms. Grazer's hilarious phrases to really get to the twisted logic of Clarissa and her family and friends. (One of my favorites is a comment about a group of children who "still had their parents' noses.") The book is rich in detail about all its characters, and is highly recommended as a fun and memorable trip to a very unique universe!
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Summary: Absolutely delicious!
Review: MANEATER is a scrumptious story written in a witty style as sharp as the spike heel of a strappy Manolo sandal. Our heroine, Clarissa, is as shallow as a wading pool, knows it, and wouldn't have it any other way. At first you may not like Clarissa but soon you will be almost as fascinated by her as she is by herself. :) The other characters are just as cleverly written; from her ex-con ageing-playboy, yet loving, father Teddy to her rarely un-intoxicated self-declared genius best buddy Gravy to the (still hot for) ex-boyfriend Simon with the long lingering English accent and spiffy wardrobe. What's a girl to do? Clarissa is hitting 29 (in Clarissa years)-- OK, so she's bypassed 31 and trying to ignore that 32 is on the way -- knows the younger, firmer, fresher competition for the alpha male is on her bountiful booty and her time bomb of a biological clock is ticking away. If she doesn't get married - but quick - she may have to resort to getting a J-O-B, heaven forbid! Daddy (Teddy to Clarissa) has supported her thus far, but Teddy has threatened to stop paying her rent. So Clarissa sets out to find a suitable -- read rich, handsome - well not too ugly - rich, available, rich, socially sophisticated, (did I say rich?) hunk of prime husband material. And voila, being the woman around town (Los Angeles of course, is there any other?) she finds an appropriate victim, umm, man, Aaron Mason. You know she's going to snare him, but Aaron turns out to be just as feisty as Clarissa and not that easily lead to the slaughter. Best laid plans and all, well, you know how that works out sometimes. The groom to be has secrets of his own, ones far more creative than anything Clarissa has ever cooked up. But beyond being just a great beach or poolside read, Maneater is also a good lesson in how we shouldn't raise our daughters. Thank goodness Clarissa's self-realization that taking the seemingly easy, quick way in life to success and happiness is neither easy nor quick, doesn't come too late for our heroine. Maneater is a great poolside read - fun fun fun - and easy to find, just look for the M.A.C. Lust lipglass colored jacket cover. ;)
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Summary: A Satire that Works
Review: Maneater is that rare bird, a satirical novel that works, that is funny. Maneater concerns selfish socialite Clarissa Alpert who at 28 (31) decides it's time to settle down and she has just the man to chase. She has some close friends who she can at times tolerate, wacky parents and a flashy jet setting life style. Grazer's novel will make you laugh, make you snicker, make you smile. It's not great literature, not a deep read, but so what. It's funny. I have read through so many chick lit novels that pretend to be funny when they really aren't. It is a pleasure to find one that actually is. Enjoy.
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Summary: Embarassment to literature
Review: This book is one that, once you are able to get 100 through pages, you are able to easily read the rest. Granted, many books do not hold this distinction. But dare I say the reason one is able to devour it so quickly is that it is on a 6th grade reading level, not to mention being about a 6th grade social dynamic. I live in LA and know LA well, having traversed all of the haunts mentioned in the book. The descriptions are accurate about this tiny fraction of LA, but that does not make them interesting nor worthy of the same shelves that house Jonathan Franzen and even Hemingway. It was like reading a thrown-out script of (the now pat and stale) Sex and the City. I prefer to spend my time with a book that is not only captivating, but illicits that reader's reward when an expert has done something magical with words.
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