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Ambition
The raunchiest, sleaziest book about journalism I have ever read. --Brian MacArthur, Sunday TimesA sexplicit blockbuster. --Daily ExpressRead it and pant. --Elle --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition. Writing Ambition was one of the most pleasurable and profitable acts of my long and lurid career. And even now, it makes Fifty Shades of Grey look like Anne of Green Gables. --Julie Burchill'I'm sick of breaking bimbos - it's no fun, no challenge. Strong, hard career girls - they're the new filet mignon of females. Girls like you. Oh, I'm going to have fun breaking you, Susan.'Tobias Pope ruled his communications empire with fear and loathing - his employees feared him and he loathed them. But he may have met his match in Susan Street, the young, beautiful and nakedly ambitious deputy of his latest newspaper acquisition. As they fight, shop and orgy from Soho to Rio and from Sun City to New York City, getting what she wants - the top job - seems so simple. If she doesn't break first. No taboo is left unbroken, no fantasy left unfulfilled in this shocking exposé of the lengths to which one woman will go become editor of the UK's bestselling tabloid.
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
18 people are currently reading
144 people want to read
About the author
Julie Burchill
30 books56 followersJulie Burchill is an English writer and columnist known for her provocative comments. Beginning as a writer for the New Musical Express at the age of 17, she has written for newspapers such as The Sunday Times and The Guardian. She is a self-declared "militant feminist". She has several times been involved in legal action resulting from her work. She is also an author and novelist, her 1989 novel Ambition being a bestseller, and her 2004 novel Sugar Rush being adapted for television.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 23, 2021
The title to ‘the worst book I’ve read read’ goes to this one. This year I thought I would try reading genres that I don’t usually read. I want to expand my reading choices of genre. So I thought, let’s start with erotica. And boy was this a pure and utter waste of time. And the sites that suggested that I should read this book..what are you guys doing? What research based list was it that this book was on top? Anyway I would not recommend this to anyone.
My rating- 1/5
My rating- 1/5
May 25, 2014
A good naughty read. Susan Street is the youngest ever female newspaper editor in the world. Susan Street shares a Regency four poster bed with her Editor of the Sunday Best. Susan gives Charles Anstey a sexual performance when his heart couldnt take any more and he dies. Susan Street tells the police of charles medical history that Charles had two small heart attacks before she met him.
Lots of things happen in this story that are not just about Susan Streets affair with Charles Anstey.
Lots of things happen in this story that are not just about Susan Streets affair with Charles Anstey.
June 29, 2013
A strange book from start to finish! I found it hard to get into the story as it did not seem to flow. I almost gave up on it but it did get better as the story went on. It then started to make more sense.
I did not know what was going to happen next and that's one thing I liked about the book. I did not expect the ending. Overall im very glad a read the book.
I did not know what was going to happen next and that's one thing I liked about the book. I did not expect the ending. Overall im very glad a read the book.
May 11, 2013
I received my copy from the publisher through Nudge and rated it 3.5 stars.
Susan Street is ambitious. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, she won’t do to get her dream job. She is determined to become the editor of the Sunday Best newspaper. When the book starts it seems that she may have achieved her goal. The current editor is lying in hotel bed where he has spent his last living minutes having sex with her, and if she had a hand in his demise, she’s is quick to destroy the evidence before calling in the authorities.
Picture Susan’s disappointment when she arrives back in the office only to find that the paper has a new owner and Tobias X Pope has no intention of just giving the editor’s job to her, at least not without her fulfilling a few of his demands. Pope will set Susan six tasks, all devised to break her. If she completes all of them, the job will be hers. If she breaks before she has come to the end of the last task, she will have lost everything.
Susan Street is ambitious. She’s come from nowhere and has done whatever happened to be necessary to make it as far as she has, and she has no intention of giving up on her dream now, regardless of what the price might be. And so she allows Pope to take her on a depraved journey, designed to humiliate and destroy her. From a tattoo parlour in London, to Rio and from Sun City, via New York to Thailand, Susan submits to all sorts of deprived sexual acts, keeping her eye on the prize all the time.
The rest of Susan’s life refuses to sit on the backburner while she working on her career though. The relationship with the man she’s living with goes from indifferent to worse, she falls in love and lust with Pope’s son and rivals and enemies old and new are determined to destroy her any whichever way they can.
Susan’s life has just become a lot more interesting and scandalous than the stories she edits. A happy ending seems unlikely.
The front cover blurb from the author herself announces that this book
“Makes Fifty Shades of Grey look like Anne of Green Gables”
And I guess that is one way of putting is. Except that there really is nothing in this book that resembles the Fifty Shades book. E.L. James’ book was a romance, be it a steamy one. This book is nothing like a romance. In fact it is quite the opposite of a romantic tale. While there is a lot of quite shocking sex in this book there is a distinct lack of intimacy and romance. The characters in ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ evoked emotions in the reader and showed character development as the story went on. The characters in this book read more like caricatures of a time – the 1980’s and cling unashamedly to their lack of morals. There is absolutely no doubt what sort of a man Tobias X Pope is. He fires Susan seconds after throwing a glass of water over her chest only to call her that evening and offer her the job back. What do you mean, playing her? And when they meet in a restaurant the following statement by him removes all doubt about his character:
“Punctuality! One of the great virtues! (…) And so much more important than all those milk-and-water so-called virtues like honesty, decency and loyalty. I call those vices: soul-sapping things only to be indulged in by those who’ve cancelled their subscription to the human race.”
And he makes no secret of his intentions either:
“You do what I want, and you get what you want. Or you break”
And the same is true for Susan. If she ever had a heart she’s learned how to hide it well. Susan is not just ambitions; she is ambition personified. She has no shame and no scruples when it comes to achieving her goals. There are one or two occasions when it seems like things like morals and friendship might halt her progress but her drive to succeed manages to squash such feeble sentiments before she finds herself in real danger of having to give up on her dream. Having said that, she did make me smile on quite a few occasions:
“Taking the dirt out of sex seems to me as self-defeating as taking the taste out of food.”
This may be a sex filled book; it is not a sexy read. I found nothing tantalising or exciting in the descriptions of the scenes Susan finds herself in. In fact, I can’t help feeling that they were written to shock the reader. But then again, that can be said for the rest of the book too. A reader picking up this book hoping to find a story in which loves brings redemption, or a read that will titillate and excite them will end up disappointed. Read this book as a hard-hitting, well written, at times funny but also shocking portrayal of the (lack of) morals during the Yuppie era, and you have a fascinating experience on your hands.
Susan Street is ambitious. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, she won’t do to get her dream job. She is determined to become the editor of the Sunday Best newspaper. When the book starts it seems that she may have achieved her goal. The current editor is lying in hotel bed where he has spent his last living minutes having sex with her, and if she had a hand in his demise, she’s is quick to destroy the evidence before calling in the authorities.
Picture Susan’s disappointment when she arrives back in the office only to find that the paper has a new owner and Tobias X Pope has no intention of just giving the editor’s job to her, at least not without her fulfilling a few of his demands. Pope will set Susan six tasks, all devised to break her. If she completes all of them, the job will be hers. If she breaks before she has come to the end of the last task, she will have lost everything.
Susan Street is ambitious. She’s come from nowhere and has done whatever happened to be necessary to make it as far as she has, and she has no intention of giving up on her dream now, regardless of what the price might be. And so she allows Pope to take her on a depraved journey, designed to humiliate and destroy her. From a tattoo parlour in London, to Rio and from Sun City, via New York to Thailand, Susan submits to all sorts of deprived sexual acts, keeping her eye on the prize all the time.
The rest of Susan’s life refuses to sit on the backburner while she working on her career though. The relationship with the man she’s living with goes from indifferent to worse, she falls in love and lust with Pope’s son and rivals and enemies old and new are determined to destroy her any whichever way they can.
Susan’s life has just become a lot more interesting and scandalous than the stories she edits. A happy ending seems unlikely.
The front cover blurb from the author herself announces that this book
“Makes Fifty Shades of Grey look like Anne of Green Gables”
And I guess that is one way of putting is. Except that there really is nothing in this book that resembles the Fifty Shades book. E.L. James’ book was a romance, be it a steamy one. This book is nothing like a romance. In fact it is quite the opposite of a romantic tale. While there is a lot of quite shocking sex in this book there is a distinct lack of intimacy and romance. The characters in ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ evoked emotions in the reader and showed character development as the story went on. The characters in this book read more like caricatures of a time – the 1980’s and cling unashamedly to their lack of morals. There is absolutely no doubt what sort of a man Tobias X Pope is. He fires Susan seconds after throwing a glass of water over her chest only to call her that evening and offer her the job back. What do you mean, playing her? And when they meet in a restaurant the following statement by him removes all doubt about his character:
“Punctuality! One of the great virtues! (…) And so much more important than all those milk-and-water so-called virtues like honesty, decency and loyalty. I call those vices: soul-sapping things only to be indulged in by those who’ve cancelled their subscription to the human race.”
And he makes no secret of his intentions either:
“You do what I want, and you get what you want. Or you break”
And the same is true for Susan. If she ever had a heart she’s learned how to hide it well. Susan is not just ambitions; she is ambition personified. She has no shame and no scruples when it comes to achieving her goals. There are one or two occasions when it seems like things like morals and friendship might halt her progress but her drive to succeed manages to squash such feeble sentiments before she finds herself in real danger of having to give up on her dream. Having said that, she did make me smile on quite a few occasions:
“Taking the dirt out of sex seems to me as self-defeating as taking the taste out of food.”
This may be a sex filled book; it is not a sexy read. I found nothing tantalising or exciting in the descriptions of the scenes Susan finds herself in. In fact, I can’t help feeling that they were written to shock the reader. But then again, that can be said for the rest of the book too. A reader picking up this book hoping to find a story in which loves brings redemption, or a read that will titillate and excite them will end up disappointed. Read this book as a hard-hitting, well written, at times funny but also shocking portrayal of the (lack of) morals during the Yuppie era, and you have a fascinating experience on your hands.
April 19, 2021
Meh.
I dont mind the genre, the disturbing erotic things in it but I do mind how badly the characters are written and how even more bad the plot of the story is.
The characters are named as if theyre all hookers.. Zero, Tobias X. Pope? Brian O'Brien? Fuck U as a band name? And even Susan Street. What is happening 😳
The characters are as confusing as their names. Susan is a feminist but kept calling all lesbians as dykes and use her sexuality to advance in her career. So much ironic moments here. She had sex with various people like nothing and then falls in love with david after 1 day of meeting him??? Im so confused. Also... the writing with all the brand naming is so pathetic. Im sorry.
This book was gifted to me, i finished it to see the end but everything just doesnt make sense. What a waste of my 2 days. 😂🥺
I dont mind the genre, the disturbing erotic things in it but I do mind how badly the characters are written and how even more bad the plot of the story is.
The characters are named as if theyre all hookers.. Zero, Tobias X. Pope? Brian O'Brien? Fuck U as a band name? And even Susan Street. What is happening 😳
The characters are as confusing as their names. Susan is a feminist but kept calling all lesbians as dykes and use her sexuality to advance in her career. So much ironic moments here. She had sex with various people like nothing and then falls in love with david after 1 day of meeting him??? Im so confused. Also... the writing with all the brand naming is so pathetic. Im sorry.
This book was gifted to me, i finished it to see the end but everything just doesnt make sense. What a waste of my 2 days. 😂🥺
July 7, 2013
Back in the nineties and the noughties this was, I admit, one of the many books I regretted not reading. This was, I also will admit, one of the books I tried to track down in the many antiquarian bookstores I visited in Dickensian old city backwaters across England during my student days. I regretted and harrumphed that I had lost the reading experience of a book that had gone out of print. And now, after catching up with a re-issue (way hey!) I ask myself why I was so bothered back then and beyond.
Begs the question why I was so keen to read in the first place and answering frankly I just love Julie Burchill for her acidic wit and big-dosed deliveries of directness. In her journalism I love the way she doesn’t hold back and fights to be controversial like it’s the right thing to do. I remember lovingly reading her autography ‘I Knew I was Right’ and loving her just as I enjoyed the sympathetic if not melodramatic tones she poured into her ‘Diana’ (‘the’ Diana Spencer/Windsor/royal) biography. By the same token I loved ‘Sugar Rush’ but found ‘Married Alive’ absolutely crap and crass.
Ambition certainly doesn’t seem ambitious at all. As a piece of fiction, it’s certainly of its time and has that late eighties vibe as a central theme. The female protagonist Susan Street is a heartless and not particularly talented wannabe newspaper editor who is prepared to do anything to reach her ultimate goal in life no matter who gets screwed on the way both figuratively and literally speaking. The sex in the book isn’t really realistic and I found myself laughing out loud at some of the very implausible shagging scenarios – I don’t really know if this was really Burchill’s actual ‘ambition’ whilst writing the book but she really does send sex up so much so that it ceases to be an erotic entity.
With the characterisation there is something ‘Burchillian’ (a trait to those who ‘know’ her) about her characters in that there is always something left wanting and unfilled in each of them. Are any of her characters happy with their fame, great clothes, gadgets and exquisite brands and surroundings? Hell no of course not – that would just be too perfect now wouldn’t it – it simply wouldn’t do.
So am I glad I’ve read this book then. Well, for posterity’s sake yet but apart from that no. The characters in this book are so blown-up and blown away from reality for them and the book to be taken seriously at all. It’s all a load of cheap fizz at the end of the day.
I had a long-time whim to read this book and catch up with what I thought I was missing out on. In retrospect, I really, really needn’t have worried. Ready for some finer wines now …….
Begs the question why I was so keen to read in the first place and answering frankly I just love Julie Burchill for her acidic wit and big-dosed deliveries of directness. In her journalism I love the way she doesn’t hold back and fights to be controversial like it’s the right thing to do. I remember lovingly reading her autography ‘I Knew I was Right’ and loving her just as I enjoyed the sympathetic if not melodramatic tones she poured into her ‘Diana’ (‘the’ Diana Spencer/Windsor/royal) biography. By the same token I loved ‘Sugar Rush’ but found ‘Married Alive’ absolutely crap and crass.
Ambition certainly doesn’t seem ambitious at all. As a piece of fiction, it’s certainly of its time and has that late eighties vibe as a central theme. The female protagonist Susan Street is a heartless and not particularly talented wannabe newspaper editor who is prepared to do anything to reach her ultimate goal in life no matter who gets screwed on the way both figuratively and literally speaking. The sex in the book isn’t really realistic and I found myself laughing out loud at some of the very implausible shagging scenarios – I don’t really know if this was really Burchill’s actual ‘ambition’ whilst writing the book but she really does send sex up so much so that it ceases to be an erotic entity.
With the characterisation there is something ‘Burchillian’ (a trait to those who ‘know’ her) about her characters in that there is always something left wanting and unfilled in each of them. Are any of her characters happy with their fame, great clothes, gadgets and exquisite brands and surroundings? Hell no of course not – that would just be too perfect now wouldn’t it – it simply wouldn’t do.
So am I glad I’ve read this book then. Well, for posterity’s sake yet but apart from that no. The characters in this book are so blown-up and blown away from reality for them and the book to be taken seriously at all. It’s all a load of cheap fizz at the end of the day.
I had a long-time whim to read this book and catch up with what I thought I was missing out on. In retrospect, I really, really needn’t have worried. Ready for some finer wines now …….
November 27, 2013
I don't know about other readers out there but for me a read about ambition is simply amazing! It truly is a thrill to read how one person sets their mind towards a goal and then to see how and what they will do to reach it.
Granted some of the things people do are not always glamorous or even legal but they have their own set of reasons and as for the outside world, well the person could care less what the world thinks of them.
In this read it tells of the ambitions within a newspaper empire by a very outspoken journalist. The story focuses on the main character Susan Street's fight to get the top job and how she proves woman are not to be underestimated, any job a man can do we can do just as well!
The read started out kind of slow but got going around chapter three, but then suddenly it all went flat.
The plot was not brilliant and at most time a little confusing as it did not really stay in line, one minute this would be happening and the next the entire scene would be gone and the author has you in a whole new place, without it really feeling like she ended the previous slots.
This was as I said a little confusing and did not make sense and as reader I felt a little lost but if hot sex is what you are into this read is the one for you!
But yes basically that is all there is, with just the slightest of hint of what the author was really trying to make the read about, just how crazy ambition can make us all and I do mean anyone even the most normal person in the world can go from am average to look out world I am after domination and am taking it!
All readers have different tastes and therefore I will leave it up to you to decide if you want to step into a world where a book is filled with good and classy sex, but you do not care to much about the plot.
3/5 star review
Granted some of the things people do are not always glamorous or even legal but they have their own set of reasons and as for the outside world, well the person could care less what the world thinks of them.
In this read it tells of the ambitions within a newspaper empire by a very outspoken journalist. The story focuses on the main character Susan Street's fight to get the top job and how she proves woman are not to be underestimated, any job a man can do we can do just as well!
The read started out kind of slow but got going around chapter three, but then suddenly it all went flat.
The plot was not brilliant and at most time a little confusing as it did not really stay in line, one minute this would be happening and the next the entire scene would be gone and the author has you in a whole new place, without it really feeling like she ended the previous slots.
This was as I said a little confusing and did not make sense and as reader I felt a little lost but if hot sex is what you are into this read is the one for you!
But yes basically that is all there is, with just the slightest of hint of what the author was really trying to make the read about, just how crazy ambition can make us all and I do mean anyone even the most normal person in the world can go from am average to look out world I am after domination and am taking it!
All readers have different tastes and therefore I will leave it up to you to decide if you want to step into a world where a book is filled with good and classy sex, but you do not care to much about the plot.
3/5 star review
August 2, 2011
I picked up this book in a church sale in Lincolnshire a few weeks ago! I was short of reading material and I had enjoyed Julie Burchill's irreverent columns in The Times. A review on Amazon described it as semi-porn and I have to agree. An improbable story with convenient deaths to sort the plot out fitted around very detailed steamy encounters of all kinds!
August 30, 2012
A really steamy story to read, if you want proper sex in your books and a plot that doesn't always make sense but who cares if the sex is good, this is for you. The story isn't the greatest but its all about the sexual encounters which is pretty much why you read such a book like this.
It's graphic and is a lot more hardcore than the stories of 50 Shades and that of it's ilk.
It's graphic and is a lot more hardcore than the stories of 50 Shades and that of it's ilk.
Read
October 13, 2013If you’re looking for a read to take on holiday, on the train or even just to take you away from the world for while, go along for the ride with Susan Street – it’s a highly enjoyable one, fabulously adult – in the author’s own words, “…even now, it makes Fifty Shades of Grey look like Anne of Green Gables.” Read the full review: http://blog.thatbookyoulike.com.au/br...
July 22, 2013
Really didn't like this book or the main character. Got 3/4 of the way through but then gave up which I rarely do. This one's not for me :(
October 17, 2013
Great book, but so many deaths!!
March 7, 2014
I really enjoyed the book and the characters work really well together.
March 16, 2014
you would not believe it, but a certain court case on at the moment proves otherwise
September 25, 2015
Not sure what I thought of this!not well written. Some of the gender politics I found interesting.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews