false 491735 23 <I>The Dirty Girls Social Club</I> closely resembles Terry McMillan's <I>Waiting to Exhale</I>: a handful of young women seek real love and job satisfaction. Unlike McMillan, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez has completely thrown out any literary pretensions whatsoever, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. <I>Dirty Girls</I> is a fun, easy, ultimately charming read, not least because the girls themselves are so appealing. Six Latina women become fast friends at Boston University and thereafter meet as a group every few months. Now in their late twenties, they're each on the cusp of the life they want. The novel is narrated in turn by each woman. Feisty Lauren has a column at the <I>Boston Globe</I>, but can't help falling for losers; ghetto-elegant Usnavys is trying to find a man to match her own earning power and expensive tastes; uptight Rebecca is a successful magazine publisher and an unsuccessful wife; beautiful TV anchor Elizabeth has a secret; Sara leads a Martha-Stewart-perfect life as a homemaker; and Amber is a hopeful rock musician in L.A. <br><br> The novel works because Valdes-Rodriguez has compassion for her characters; each is faulted, but none is culpable. She also has an eye for the telling detail, as when Rebecca tries to befriend her white husband's stuffy family: "His sister took step classes with me and we shopped for clothes together on Newbury Street and went to the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum one afternoon with Au Bon Pain sandwiches in our handbags." Something about those sandwiches makes the whole enterprise seem more poignant. On the down side, Valdes-Rodriguez is so eager to make things work out for her ladies, her writing sometimes beggars belief. Men actually say things like "Swear to me you're happily married, and I'll stop pursuing you." Yes, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez is, in fact, the Latina Terry McMillan. That is, if McMillan were a slighty guiltier pleasure. <I>--Claire Dederer</I> 461588 book 2003 The Dirty Girls Social Club: A Novel total:2388|5:414|4:748|3:824|2:327|1:124| 2388 8132 3080 354 1 3 false false Sat Jan 31 15:55:05 -0800 2009 Tue Oct 21 19:08:51 -0700 2008 Sat Jan 31 15:55:05 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 2 false false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Tue Jun 19 21:41:01 -0700 2007 Tue Jun 19 21:45:11 -0700 2007
this is basically sex & the city meets hispanic new york, and it's just genius. i don't know how to describe it. there's Usnavies - (yes, her mother named her US Navies, but she pronounces i...more...]]> 1 3 false false Wed Jun 06 11:50:34 -0700 2007 Wed Jun 06 11:51:05 -0700 2007 5 1 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Mon May 19 18:54:03 -0700 2008 Sun May 25 06:14:29 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 1 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Mon May 21 19:52:51 -0700 2007 Mon May 21 19:58:38 -0700 2007 more...]]> 1 1 false false Mon Sep 07 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 08 12:01:08 -0700 2009 Tue Sep 08 12:04:34 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 1 false false Fri Aug 08 21:22:59 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 08 22:46:32 -0700 2008
What bugged me about this book was that the author was trying so hard to show the diversity of the Latina community that she assembled these characters that were do different that they would never be friends in real life.

I could not find anything that these characters ha...more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Apr 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 10 07:56:36 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 10 08:02:25 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Sat Jul 25 21:04:56 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 25 21:05:06 -0700 2009 in college, forming the sucias,
the dirty girls. I love all the
Hispanic culture, the Spanish
words and phrases, so much that
I c...more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Dec 05 18:12:16 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 06 14:39:36 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Tue May 15 17:36:33 -0700 2007 Mon Jul 09 06:12:11 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Thu Aug 14 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 20 13:02:14 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 20 13:10:30 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 08 09:56:59 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 16 16:59:09 -0700 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Aug 23 11:14:01 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 05 17:01:02 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 23 11:14:01 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jul 24 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Jul 22 13:47:57 -0700 2008 Fri Jul 25 09:08:34 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Apr 19 00:00:00 -0700 2004 Wed Jun 25 13:59:53 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 25 10:59:12 -0700 2008
The Plot: The book revolves around the intertwining lives of six friends whose latina backgrounds often conflict with their daily trials and tribulations. Think Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (since the ladies are all quite different) wit...more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed Apr 23 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 15 16:52:38 -0700 2008 Thu Apr 24 05:44:13 -0700 2008
The story is set in Boston (which sur...more...]]> 1 0 false false Tue Feb 12 01:57:14 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 06 14:39:07 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 12 00:08:11 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 true false Wed Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2004 Wed Feb 06 08:28:51 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 06 10:31:24 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Sep 13 17:57:02 -0700 2007 Fri Sep 21 06:57:15 -0700 2007 Women’s Fiction / Dirty Girls? Pigeons and Doves.
This was a fun, quick read and I enjoyed entering the Latina world of the six Suisas and felt welcomed there—as though it were the author’s intention to give the reader a group of girlfriends for the duration of the read. I use the term �...more...]]>