Make Me Famous

by Maud Ventura, Gretchen Schmid (Translator)

Daisy Jones and The Six meets Patricia Highsmith in this addictive, intense novel about the brutal and ferocious road to glory, from the award-winning author of My Husband. 

Ever since she was a child, Cléo, the French-American daughter of two academics, has had only one obsession: becoming a famous singer. Over the years, to everyone’s surprise but her own, she overcomes every obstacle and becomes a global superstar with millions of dollars, countless awards, and several Los Angeles villas to her name. But as any celebrity will tell you, getting to the top is one thing; staying there is another.

Now thirty-three years old, Cléo is taking her first real vacation in years, on a remote island with no one else in sight. With the never-ending spin cycle of her life finally on pause and no paparazzi peeking out from behind the coconut palms, she can work on her fourth album in peace. Except that with so much time to think, she can’t help but ruminate on her past—including how, just six months earlier, things started to go very, very wrong...

Taking place between New York, Paris, Los Angeles and the South Pacific, Make Me Famous is a brilliant sophomore novel from Maud Ventura that dives intoxicatingly deep into the machinations of one woman’s complicated mind, and her relentless pursuit of fame.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Audiobook, Contemporary, Thriller, France, Roman

352 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 22, 2024

Reviews

[Lisa of Troy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Made Me Bored

From the first chapter, I knew that things were not good.

The main character, Cleo, paid $500,000 to stay on a hut on a deserted island. She only has rice, fruit, and dried fish to eat. Yeah. That ain’t happening.

In my day, I have been on a nice vacation or two. When I was in The Cayman Islands, the tour guide pointed out hotels devastated by former hurricanes. The new hotels have extremely heavy doors, and the reason that they are so heavy is because they are hurricane-proof.

Secondly, according to Dr. Anthony Youn, food is at its most nutritious when it is fresh. Why would a rock star eat 3-week-old fruit? In New York, you don’t even eat day-old donuts. And why wouldn’t Cleo have a chef?

So the premise just didn’t sit well with me.

But then…..the book has no plot. It is just Cleo who wants to be famous. For some unknown reason. She doesn’t live in poverty, her parents didn’t abandon her, and she doesn’t have a talent that she just loves and her fame is just a byproduct.

There are some characters that you just love to hate, or you end up rooting for them despite being of dubious moral value. However, Cleo wasn’t built up in that manner. She is just mean.

The narrative voice also isn’t as compelling as it was in My Husband, and something feels missing in this book. Cleo might have benefited from a real rival to build up the suspense and the crazy. Additionally, self-harm is a recurring theme in Make Me Famous, and it was a bit odd, almost as if it was added merely for shock value.

The ending didn’t make any sense. Yes, I understand who was responsible, but there isn’t a reason for this character to get involved.

I’m giving this two stars because it did have one interesting spicy scene.

The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Hardcover Text – $30 at Flyleaf
Audiobook - $84.99 per year through Everand

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[Jayme C (Brunetteslikebookstoo) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Last year, I read the author’s DEBUT novel, “My Husband”, and despite a low average rating on Goodreads, I was part of a “niche audience” who found the glimpse into this particular French marriage, utterly fascinating. So, I was excited to see that award winning author Maud Ventura had a new novel translated from French to English.

Both book covers feature a glamorous Parisian woman, wearing signature red lipstick.💄

And, they share some other similarities as well…

In “My Husband”, we have an unlikable, narcissistic French Wife, who is OBSESSED with her husband, and shares the story of her marriage with us in the first person POV.

In “Make Me Famous” we have an unlikable, Narcissistic French/American Pop Star who is OBSESSED with FAME (and herself) who shares with us, in the First Person POV, the story of her rise and fall in the cutthroat World of Music.

Both books also feature a “MIC DROP” final scene as the book closes❗️

“My Husband” earned 5 stars from me because I was fascinated by the dynamics of the marriage and remained curious throughout the narrative about where the story was going.

“Make Me Famous” earns 3 stars from me because I am NOT as intrigued by the ups and downs of the Celebrity lifestyle, and this reads like a self indulgent Memoir, shared by our Pop Star Cléo from a Private Island where she is vacationing alone to recharge and write her next album. 💿

Which subject captures your fancy more, will determine which of the two books you prefer.

Review for “My Husband” : https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Expected Publication Date: May 13, 2025

Thank You to Harper Via for providing a gifted ARC through NetGalley. As always, these are my candid thoughts!

[enzoreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

LA FIN WHAT THE FUCKKKKKKKK MAUD VENTURA TU VAS M’ÉCRIRE LA SUITE TOUTE SUIIIITE WTFFFFFF

[JanB · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

I love a book that delves into the minds of deeply flawed people, and this one delivers.

Cléo, a French-American, had a childhood dream to become a musical superstar. We follow along as she achieves the super stardom she dreamed of.

We are privy to the world of fame and celebrity, as well as Cléo’s inner thoughts. It’s clear she is a completely entitled narcissist who becomes more and more unhinged as the story progresses. The ending was dramatic and shocking (that I had to rewind and listen to twice!).

Don’t miss the translator’s note at the end. It’s a compelling look into the art of language and translation.

I appreciated all the nods to real life celebrities, literature, and music. But I prefer an unhinged housewife, as in MY HUSBAND, than an unhinged celebrity. Celebrity lifestyles hold little interest to me.

Still, the author excels at nailing characters who are completely unhinged, and I look forward to her next book.

January LaVoy narrated the audiobook, and she was fantastic, as always.

* I received a digital audiobook via NetGalley. All opinions are my own

[charlie medusa · Rating 4 out of 5]

je pense que les personnes qui nient le fait que Maud Ventura est une écrivaine extrêmement généreuse avec son lecteur, dont les livres offrent un vrai moment d'évasion, de frisson et de captivation, qui s'éclate en poussant tous les curseurs d'intensité à fond et qui le fait avec ingéniosité et finesse, et tant pis si parfois ça frôle le too much parce qu'elle reste toujours cohérente et rigoureuse dans sa construction, alors ça marche :
1) sont jalouses
2) n'aiment pas le fun
3) devraient se questionner sur leur capacité à admettre qu'elles ont apprécié un ouvrage de littérature grand public à visée de divertissement

merci d'être venus à mon Ted Parler


PS : je ne généralise que pour rire. peut-être que tu as détesté ce livre mais que tu es quelqu'un de bien. promis. je pratique juste la galéjade. laissez-moi.

[Meike · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Money alone will not make you happy, but it is better to cry in a taxi than on the tram” – these wise words were spoken by the legendary literary critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki, and Cléo Louvent, the protagonist in Maud Ventura's new novel, also finds her self-hatred much more bearable when she can face it with wealth and celebrity. Thirty-three-year-old Cléo is a world-famous singer and pays an enormous sum to spend her luxury vacation alone on a remote island, reflecting on her rise to international superstardom.

Cléo knows and uses all the tricks of the attention economy; she is obsessed with visibility and power, an unhealthy desire for control and a longing for recognition. But she cannot fill her inner emptiness or control her growing dissatisfaction. For Maud Ventura, the topic of fame reveals the neuroses of contemporary society.

While the narrator's self-esteem in Ventura's debut novel My Husband depends on her husband's perceived satisfaction, Cléo is obsessed with the idea of fame. In the novel, the author makes several references to real celebrities, whose fates, scandals, and self-promotion are hidden, including Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, and Sabrina Carpenter. According to Ventura, the characters and their environment illustrate the challenges of the music industry today.

At the same time, Cléo is a problematic hero much like Achilles in The Iliad, but she's judged very differently. Cléo is also courageous and admirable, but in her pursuit of fame she is selfish, according to Ventura. Ambition and the pursuit of recognition have traditionally played an important role in French literature, for example in Balzac's The Human Comedy: Selected Stories which also served as inspiration for “Make Me Famous". However, the glorious characters are mostly men—powerful women who strive for fame and put everything else on the back burner are rare and are judged very differently.

Cléo is an unreliable narrator; she also puts on a show for the readers. The narrative presentation is often exaggerated, showing an ambivalent winner in a world of abuse of power, loss of reality, manipulation, and sheer malice. It would be easy to judge such a character—Ventura prefers to ask whether Cléo is simply doing what she has to do to be famous, ultimately producing what we as an audience want to consume. Thus, the fast-paced, entertaining novel plays with the reader's expectations, right up to the surprising twist at the end.

My review feat. statements by Maud (in German):
...long version (literary magazine): https://www.sr.de/sr/srkultur/radio/s...
...shorter version (afternoon programming): https://www.sr.de/sr/srkultur/home/ak...

Plus you can listen to Maud on our podcast (French/German): https://papierstaupodcast.de/podcast/...

[JaymeO · Rating 4 out of 5]

HAPPY PUBLICATION DAY!

A sociopathic and narcissistic French American woman will do whatever it takes to make it as a popstar!

Clèo has dreamed of becoming a famous singer her whole life and is determined to succeed at all costs. Once she achieves her goal, she is determined to stay relevant. From her first vacation alone on a remote island, thirty-three-year-old Clèo details her rise to stardom in a long monologue. But it soon becomes clear she is a bit unhinged. Culminating in a shocking ending, Maud Ventura’s Sophomore novel exposes the secrets of stardom and the price one pays for it.

I did it again…I just couldn’t help myself! I was going to skip this book, but when the audiobook became available on NetGalley and I saw that January LaVoy voiced the narration, I just HAD to read it! Ventura’s first novel, “My Husband” received 5 stars from this reviewer, so I took the gamble.
January LaVoy NEVER disappoints! Thanks to her fabulous narration, I was able to plow through this 352-page monologue.

As in “My Husband,” “Make Me Famous” includes an unhinged unreliable narrator and a mic drop ending. While I enjoyed this book, it didn’t work as well for me as her first. I didn’t find Clèo quite as intriguing and unreliable as the nameless wife in “My Husband,” which led to a lack of twists and a bit of predictability in the final scene. However, the ending is mostly satisfying and will appeal to thriller readers.

3.5/5 stars rounded up

Expected publication date: 5/13/25

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperAudio for the ARC of Make Me Famous in exchange for an honest review.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this story we follow an insufferable narcissist that believes she's the best, most beautiful, most talented, most accomplished, most cherished musician to have ever lived in all of history.

What she actually is: Most annoying, most self-inflated, most ridiculous, most awful, most vain, most annoying person to have to ever spend time with.

At the start I was really enjoying this but then for 200 pages I felt like I was stuck in a loop that I desperately wanted to end. I become completely exhausted with her.

I'm not a person that finds Hollywood, celebrities, fame and fortune fascinating at all so this was doomed from the start.

That being said, Ventura is such a talented writer who definitely knows how flesh out obsessive characters. I loved her debut, My Husband, but this subject matter just didn't appeal to me. 2 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVia for my complimentary copy.

[Roman Clodia · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars but you need to stick with this and trust Ventura knows what she's doing

People often talk about the mental health problems that celebrities have. How many become alcoholics, suffer from other forms of addiction, fall into a depression, commit suicide? Fame makes you crazy - and you have to be crazy to chase fame.

Maud Ventura seems to be establishing herself as the queen of writing crazily unhinged women. Her My Husband was a dense and brilliant exposé of cultural ideals of gendered love with a chilling overlay, and now she tackles the conjunction of young women and fame.

This one didn't work as well for me while I was reading as it's only in the final chapter that we see what is happening here, though there are clever clues sprinkled sparsely into the narrative. But the balance between the surface 'seeming' story and the ultimate reveal of the underlying 'real' story is far too skewed to the former - which means too much of the book reads like a superficial stardom tale of how badly Cléo desires and chases fame. The result is hundreds of pages of striving: the manufactured packaging of looks, body, fashion; the paparazzi and trappings of fame whether award ceremonies, TV interviews or the stalking of 'fans'; the all-out war to maintain life as a 'star'.

It doesn't help that after a framing opening chapter, we then have Cléo tell us her story from childhood to her present so that the body of the book is her narrative of the past. We rarely hear anything outside of her own voice - which is essential to what the book is doing but which renders the text a monologue and 'told' rather than dramaticised.

All of which makes sense with the jaw-dropping final chapter - but I wonder if readers will have abandoned the book before reaching the point? So a slightly qualified verdict from me: Ventura is still fantastic at writing female voices that seem, at first, to be unlikable, even unsufferable in the case here of Cléo - but I'm so glad I trusted Ventura because where we end up is with a woman far more vulnerable that we might have thought.

[Dutchie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmmm… this is a tough one to review. I can’t say that I’ve read a novel like this before. It read very much like an Exposé in an entertainment or tabloid magazine. But written not by a third-party, but by the celebrity themselves. That’s basically the nuts and bolts of this novel. Cléo has only ever wanted to become a celebrity and will not stop until she makes it to the top .Through a lot of perfection, and I mean a ton of perfection, she ends up becoming a famous performer. She’s extremely unlikable, and I cringed every time she would speak to people. That is the extent of the novel, following her rise to fame and inner thoughts on how everybody else is beneath her. The author wrote this so well it certainly felt like we were hearing an autobiographical account of Cléo’s life.

Overall, did I like this book? Not really, but it hooked me in instantly and I finished it in less than 24 hours. I also appreciated the uniqueness of it and how well it was written that I felt I was in Chloe‘s mind, even though I didn’t really want to be! The drawback was nothing really happened.

I will certainly look for other books by this author!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review .

[nettebuecherkiste · Rating 5 out of 5]

Schon als Kind wusste Cléo: Sie will berühmt werden. Unbedingt. Kein Weg durfte daran vorbeiführen. Und wie wir gleich zu Beginn des Romans erfahren: Sie hat es geschafft. Gerade hat sie einen sündhaft teuren Urlaub auf einer einsamen Insel angetreten, um sich zu erholen und ungestört an ihrem nächsten Album arbeiten zu können. In Rückblicken erzählt sie uns ihren Werdegang, der von Kind auf durch grenzenlosen Ehrgeiz, Rachegedanken und Selbstinszenierung geprägt ist.

Ich war eine der vielen Leser*innen, die nach „Mein Mann“ mit seinem genialen Ende mit Spannung auf Maud Venturas zweites Buch gewartet haben. Wieder haben wir eine unfassbar selbstbezogene Ich-Erzählerin, die Geschichte ist jedoch eine ganz andere. Die Protagonistin ist ein Popstar, der hinsichtlich des Erfolges und ihres Äußeren sicher nicht nur mich an Taylor Swift denken lässt, ich glaube aber nicht, dass darüber hinaus ein näherer Bezug zu genau dieser Person besteht. Eins kann ich jedoch mit Sicherheit sagen: Wenn das Leben eines Popstars auch nur annähernd so ist wie das, was Ventura da schildert, dann ist das kein Geld der Welt wert. Der Popstar ist ein reines Kunstprodukt, dessen Leben fast komplett fremdbestimmt und durchgetaktet ist. So gut wie nichts ist echt.

Zwischen den Vergangenheitsepisoden kehren wir immer wieder kurzfristig zur Zukunfts-Cléo auf der einsamen Insel zurück. Die Rückblicke steigern sich dabei immer mehr in ihrer Intensität und dem Exzentrismus der Protagonistin. Achtung, es ist nicht einfach, dieser unausstehlichen Frau 10 Stunden lang zuzuhören. Doch es lohnt sich dranzubleiben. Denn die Frage, ob es Maud Ventura erneut gelingt, ein absolut verblüffendes Ende hinzulegen, kann ich nur folgendermaßen beantworten: Holy Shit! She’s done it again. Das Ende ist sogar noch krasser als das von „Mein Mann“. Der Wahnsinn.

[maëlle · Rating 5 out of 5]

un roman génialissime.
addictif, palpitant, je me suis retrouvée embarquée dans l’histoire de cette femme-monstre ayant soif de succès.

notre personnage principal est profondément antipathique, mesquin et égoïste. et pourtant je l’ai adorée. le sourire aux lèvres, c’est le genre de personnage qu’on apprécie lire mais qu’on haïrait dans la vraie vie.

ce livre raconte la soif de réussite, la célébrité, et tout ce qui fait de nos stars préférées des personnes dont on ne pourra jamais être sûr.es qu’on les connaît vraiment. à travers Cléo, on passe en coulisses, on découvre les mensonges, l’hypocrisie dégoulinante du monde de la célébrité, c’est époustouflant tellement ça fait peur.

j’ai été à la fois dégoûtée, déçue, de me dire que certaines de ces personnes qu’on adule sont probablement fausses dans toutes leurs apparitions publiques, que très souvent tout est calculé. mais honnêtement, ça m’a vraiment permis de remettre les pieds sur terre, de me dire qu’être fan c’est être un peu dans les nuages, que c’est génial d’idolâtrer des stars mais que c’est un monde dont on connaît finalement peu les dessous.

j’ai l’impression d’avoir vécu une expérience sociologique à travers ce livre. je me suis questionnée sur le succès, et même sur moi et mes attentes dans la vie. je sens que beaucoup de passages et de réflexions vont me tourner dans la tête. je ne pensais pas mais je ressors de cette lecture un peu plus lucide sur ce sujet, et sur l’influence des célébrités et des idoles dans nos vies.

bref ça part en dissertation et thérapie en même temps mais c’était incroyable !!!!

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC for review. To be published May 13, 2025.

4 stars.

In this, the sophomore effort from the author of the hit MY HUSBANDS (which I didn’t read), which was translated from the French by Gretchen Schmid, Cleo Louvent (nee Johnson) is the daughter of a French academic and an American Egyptologist and an overachiever raised in Paris. All she has ever wanted is to be famous and she has worked toward that end from a young age. After floundering for awhile she finally made it, becoming a global sensation as a singer/songwriter, but for Cleo it was fame for the sake of fame. How do you stay on top?

The perspective is from Cleo at age 33, on a three week solo vacation available only to the ultra rich, but very spartan, just a hut, supplies, a satellite phone in case of emergencies and herself. Other than that she is totally disconnected from the world so she can work on her fourth album and she’s also looking back over her life, especially the last six months, where it all seemed to start going wrong.

I enjoyed this. The ending was a bit abrupt and a bit of a surprise to me, interesting. I am wondering if, in some small ways, Cleo’s life mirrored a bit of Maud’s when Maude was suddenly lauded last year for her debut novel (not exactly a stadium of fans, but I’ll bet things are different for her now.)

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this in less than 24hrs in print & loved, so of course I had to give the audio a go as well...

Writing-wise it's totally what I expected & wanted from Maud. The more translated lit I read the more I notice nuances in source languages—this is a beautiful example of French lit translated seamlessly. Had it not been for those cultural differences, you'd swear Anna Dorn wrote this. The snide (and HILARIOUS) remarks, teetering on the cusp of its Overton Window, transitions from one mindset to another coming on subtly—jarringly so (in a good way). Ahh I just love Maud. My Husband (the novel lol) has a special place in my heart as the first translated lit that truly "fooled me" enough I was under the impression its source language was English. I kid you not, it was on my Translated Fiction shelf for MONTHS before realizing.

The ending though... AGH I'm torn. I'll leave it at that for spoiler's sake.

Specific to audio... well no, I first want to applaud Maud for the strength of her writing. Sometimes when a character has this sort of voice, audio enhances the vibes bc you can hear the attitude and pettiness in their voices—Make Me Famous didn't need it. January LaVoy does a fantastic job, I'm not negating that!!!! This is just one of the few novels that doesn't get propped up a bit by its audio.

Thank you times a million to HarperVia for the DRC, DLC, physical ARC and final copy. I am no joke HONORED to have been able to read early (without having to fight my son for my kindle the entire time). I cried when I opened this, and for the rec crying with red lipstick on (#gitfted from Poppy King & HarperVia) is really weird lol.

[TheConnieFox · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is all about fame and the consequences that come with it! It is a fictional novel that is about a thirty-three year old woman named Cleo, who always wanted to be famous ever since she was young. This book gave me dark mystery vibes aded with a shock factor. I did not relate to the female main character Cléo. While there are positives about becoming famous, there’s also a lot of negatives that come with it. This book is written in first person point of view . Cléo begins to get obsessed with fame and starts spiraling downwards. Overall, I find this to be a reasonable read and found it to be well written! I give this book a 3 out of 5 stars rating.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Maud Ventura and HarperVia Publishing for this digital advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book is expected to be published on May 13, 2025!

[Jillian B · Rating 5 out of 5]

World-famous singer Cleo has just arrived for a once-in-a-lifetime vacation. She’s been dropped off on a literal deserted island, with no means of contacting the outside world beyond an emergency satellite phone, for two weeks. Away from the world’s prying eyes, she reflects on her life so far, taking the reader along on her journey from teenage wannabe to mega star. We see the sacrifices she’s made and how fame has changed Cleo, as we wonder alongside her: was it all worth it?

I loved this book. Maud Ventura is the queen of writing characters with an all-consuming obsession. In her book My Husband, the protagonist is in scarily powerful love with her spouse. In Make Me Famous, the holy grail the main character seeks is fame. Like My Husband, this book features Ventura’s signature biting wit. Cleo borders on sociopathic, and yet following her trajectory is an absolute blast. This is my new favourite Ventura novel, and with it she has secured her place in my “autobuy author” category.

[s.penkevich [hiatus-will return-miss you all]]

YES! I am going to be as insufferable as the lady in My Husband when this comes out!

[Kobe · Rating 4 out of 5]

never before have i loved and hated a protagonist so much. magnificent.

[Kurryreads (Kerry) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up! Thank you HarperVia for an early copy of this book in exchange for my honest feedback

Now, I’m not really one for a Hollywood glitzy, life on a pedestal kind of vibe… but I will say I was intrigued from a psychological standpoint by Cleo’s desire to be in the spotlight and her willingness to do whatever she had to do to achieve her dreams.

The obsessive egotistical nature of Cleo was fascinating. I enjoyed watching her tunnel vision journey into evolving into what she thought she wanted and the ways she justified all she did to get there.

There is some spice that is didn’t care for and overall while this story shouldn’t have worked for me given it had so many aspects that would typically make me shy away from a book, I just loved the way this story was crafted and told and I enjoyed it.

Video review: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTj5k7VHQ/

[Anna Dorn · Rating 4 out of 5]

maud 4ever

[Karine Mon coin lecture · Rating 4 out of 5]

J'ai du mal à donner une note à ce roman. J'ai rarement vu une héroïne aussi détestable et il ne fait pas bon être dans sa tête. Pourtant, elle fascine et elle nous fait réfléchir sur la célébrité et tout ce qui va avec. La fin n'était pas mal du tout!

[paige (paigesofbookss) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m left utterly speechless. Pure art. I need time to recover.

Cleo is a French woman who has always dreamt of becoming famous. So years after her fame has become reality, she goes to a private island where all famous celebrities go with no wifi, no power, no communication with the outside world to take a break and unwind. While looking for creativity and a break, Cleo begins to reflect on her life leading up to this moment and how she got to the point of needing to be isolated on the island.

Wow. I’m stunned. Bewildered. In love. If you are a lover of messy, unhinged, crazy women in novels, this book is everything and more. From the very first page I was hooked and it wasn’t far into it that I knew this would be a new all time fav. Cleo was darkly hilarious and insane but I support women’s wrongs and rights. It had quick chapters that kept me flying through yet never wanting it to end. The ending shook my entire world and my soul is now left in this book forever. @maudventura_ blew me away with her debut novel “my husband”, which is another all time fav of mine and the release of her second book gave me that same euphoric feeling while reading. Highly, highly recommend if you love dark, vulgar descriptions, and full on crazy.

Thank you again @harperviabooks for sending me this work of art ❤️

[jocelyn • coolgalreading · Rating 3 out of 5]

i was obsessed w my husband a couple of years ago, this one didn't have the same magic for me but i'll read whatever maud ventura has next

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cleo ist ein Mädchen, das ab dem zarten Alter von vier Jahren, überzeugt davon ist, für nichts weniger als für Weltruhm erschaffen zu sein. Sie träumt davon, ein großer Star zu werden und ist bereit, dafür alles zu geben und jedes Opfer zu bringen. Wir begleiten ihren Ausstieg von einer unbekannten Buchhändlerin hin zur global gefeierten Popsängerin.

Das Buch ist möglicherweise nichts für Menschen, die symphatische Hauptfiguren in ihren Romanen brauchen. Cleo ist sicherlich vieles, aber sympathisch ganz bestimmt nicht. Sie ist egozentrisch, herablassend gegenüber ihren Mitmenschen, rücksichtslos und manchmal einfach böse. Sie ist die meiste Zeit ein gemeines Miststück. 

Die krasse Zeichnung des Charakters der Protagonistin ist für mich total gelungen und ergibt absolut Sinn. Frauen, die liebenswerte, gutherzige Mäuschen sind, haben ganz sicher schlechte Chancen gegen alle Widrigkeiten und Wahrscheinlichkeiten eine steile Weltkarriere hinzulegen. Insofern ist die Figurenzeichnung und deren Entwicklung sehr schlüssig und scheint mir realistisch.

Cleos Perspektiven und Denkweisen haben mich absolut fasziniert und ich habe eine fast perfide Freude daran gehabt Zeit im ihrem Kopf zu verbringen. Der Schluss des Romans hat mich noch mal zusätzlich auf unerwartete Weise eiskalt erwischt. Volle Punktzahl für dieses außergewöhnliche Buch!

[Hirondelle (not getting notifications) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Narcissists are hard to root for in fiction, though I guess some authors might be able to pull it off better.

I am not inherently one of those readers who has to love, or like, or admire (or whatever) the main character to enjoy a book - if I were I would not be reading a second Maud Ventura book after reading the first! And this is again the same type of book, the point of view of a beautiful French woman who would likely be diagnosed with serious mental illness (in My Husband probably Borderline Personality Disorder, here almost explicit Narcissistic Personality Disorder). It felt fresher, more surprising, (shorter) in MH, where I could almost feel some tenderness for the main character. Her Cleo narrating her ascension to global superstardom is not meant to invoke any sympathy but I thought the narrative, the authorial choices were so tasteless, for lack of a better word. Played for shock value, petty and petty, Cleo far too insightful and detailed about her own motivations and actions just in case the reader can not figure out things for themselves and make up their mind on their own. Crass - which is funny for a book so aware of good taste and moderation as some kind of French aesthetical virtue (there is a little bit of prejudice against Americans in this book and I am neither French nor American). No real depth to secondary characters here. And again the ending is meant to be twisty or even moralistic, ahah so funny the mean woman getting her just deserts, except it is quite stupid because there are no real hints everybody else could plan something so well and it is kind of obvious. And a stupid breaking point, I mean there will be an after that point.

It seems almost like it is flirting with a reader who wants to read about glitz and celebrities, but trying to play like it is a deeper, more ambitious literary psychologically focused book than what it really is and it did not quite work for me. I thought the most powerful bits were the criticism of star systems, the bits of satyre (often in the form of lists. Very social media) and some bullying scenes which were powerful. But it is all put together so grossly, so obviously, without restraint or balance I am very likely to skip future books from the author (a prediction, the next will one will be about a beautiful french human suffering from some kind of mental illness that affects others negatively...)

I listened to the audiobook of the english translation (portuguese would have been closer to French but it does not exist in paper, nevermind audiobook), because I had a chance to. January LaVoy is a great great narrator I might not have finished it without her.

[Elle Benning · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another entry in the ever-growing category of stories where the idea is “woman is obsessed with something” and little else. The obsession here is with fame - the narrator is desperate to become a famous pop star - but beyond that, there’s not much to it. She wants to be famous, she becomes famous, she has a dark secret. The story is quite predictable. From the moment the premise is established, you can pretty much chart exactly where it’s going to go, and sure enough, it goes there. The protagonist’s spiraling fixation is compelling enough in the moment, but there’s no real depth beyond the surface-level satire of celebrity. The book never fully commits to being a sharp critique or a psychological deep dive, so it just sort of hovers in the middle, feeling slightly hollow. It is at least fast-paced. I wouldn’t say it’s bad, but I also wouldn’t say it’s particularly memorable. If you haven’t burned out on this type of story yet, you might find something to enjoy here.

[Prusseliese · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grandios!!
Ich finde die Protagonistin Cleo faszinierend narzistisch.
Wie auch in ihrem ersten Roman MEIN MANN bringt der Prolog nochmal einen unvorhergesehenen Plottwist. Ich fand es keine Sekunde langweilig und hätte auch noch gerne 100 Seiten mehr gelesen.

[Tatiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very readable. Maud Ventura has an ear for dialog. However, less deranged and less compelling than My Husband. Just needs extra of that delicious unhinginess Ventura’s debut had. That a famous person is full of 💩 isn’t really a surprise it is supposed to be.

[ana anaiscvu · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5
la fin est un peu décevante et prévisible, on tourne un peu en rond dans la deuxième partie et cleo que j'adorais détester au début juste je la détestais a la fin et j'arrivais plus à supporter une page de plus sous son pdv. mais c'était très addictif, ça se lit très bien

[Stephanie Hryb · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars