Snip It Saturday

chasing harry winston
by Lauren Weisberger
Downtown Press
c2008 by Lauren Weisberger

Let me confess now. I did not know who Harry Winston was. While reading the book, I kept thinking, when in the heck are they going to talk about Harry Winston? One character casually referenced his name on page 55, Adrianna remarks, "Laugh if you must ... [b]ut there's nothing funny about a five-plus-carat round stone in a micropave setting from Harry Winston. Nothing at all." So, I'm thinking a guy named Harry Winston is going to give her a diamond ring, right? Nooooo, she means ANY guy (rich guy) is going to give her an engagement ring that he buys FROM Harry Winston. The jeweller. The most famous independent jeweller, ever. See how naive, innocent and poor I am?

Now that we have that out of the way . . . the book is about three best friends' quest to find love. They make very specific resolutions. Adrianna will become monogamous and engaged within the year. Emmy will become less inhibited and sleep with random men in foreign countries. And Leigh will . . . well, we really don't know what Leigh's game plan is, her life is perfect! She does have one teensy, tiny problem though. She is as neurotic as all get out! This character was the absolute reason I finished the book in a day and a half. She is hilarious! In this scene, Leigh has had her No Contact Monday invaded by her friends with an emergency; one of them just got dumped. Leigh was lounging in a sweat suit, watching TiVo'd Project Runway when the doorbell rings and in an instant her No Contact Monday is no more. After hearing about the disastrous scenario where her friend gets dumped, Adrianna turns to her as poses the following question:

"Leigh, querida, it's seventy-five degrees outside. Why are you dressed for the middle of winter?"
Leigh looked at her thick fleece pants and matching sweatshirt and shrugged.
"Do you not feel well? Are you cold."
"I don't know; it was just what was laying around. What does it matter?"
"It's not that it matters, it's just strange that someone so, how should I say it, temperature aware isn't positively melting right now."
Leigh wasn't about to admit that she was actually warm -- too warm -- but that there were extenuating circumstances. Adrianna might have asked, but she definitely didn't want to hear that Leigh swathed herself in clothing because she hated when the backs of her arms or thighs stuck to the leather couch. That of course she'd prefer to sit around in a pair of boxers and a tank top, but the skin-on-leather stickiness -- not to mention the annoying ripping noises every time she shifted position -- made this impossible. Leigh knew they would think her crazy if she explained that she'd actually already worn all of her lightweight, full-length pajama pants (and even all of her yoga pants) and that because she preferred to wear them without underwear, they were really only single-use pants and ended up int the wash pretty quickly. So she was really wearing the fleece sweat suit only because it was the single clean option in her closet that was capable of protecting her from the dreaded leather couch, which both her mother and Emmy had insisted would be the right choice even though Leigh had really wanted the modern fabric one that wouldn't have felt like sitting in a vat of rubber cement all the time. Not to even mention that fact that in a few short months (six) it would be winter, and she'd still have to dress like an Eskimo because regardless of how toasty warm she kept the apartment, the couch would feel like ice against her bare skin instead of snuggly and soft like the MicroSuede one everyone else had vetoed. No, it would be better to just leave well enough alone.

Poor Leigh! Throughout the whole novel she attempts to just "leave well enough alone" and ends up nervous, anxious and on the verge of a full blown panic attack! Sorry if you find it odd that I consider this hilarious! I just do. :)

I would recommend this book to women who: find humor in neurosis; are not easily offended by the f-word (does not happen too often, but it's there); can handle one of the characters decision to "whore around"; like stories about the "fear" of turning thirty and still being single (gasp!). Happy Reading!

Toodles,
BookLady