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The Knockoff
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An outrageously stylish, wickedly funny novel of fashion in the digital age, The Knockoff is the story of Imogen Tate, editor in chief of Glossy magazine, who finds her twentysomething former assistant Eve Morton plotting to knock Imogen off her pedestal, take over her job, and reduce the magazine, famous for its lavish 768-page September issue, into an app.
When Imogen ret ...more
When Imogen ret ...more
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Hardcover, 338 pages
Published
May 19th 2015
by Doubleday
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This book was ridiculous and horrible. I don't get for a second the rave reviews from others -- are they friends with the author? Were they paid?
The premise itself was bizarre. A 40-something who until recently had her emails printed out for her by her assistant? Seriously? 40-somethings are the GenX generation -- the generation that's been online from the beginning.
Also you've got to be kidding me that someone gets to be editor of a major fashion publication without having more of a backbone ...more
The premise itself was bizarre. A 40-something who until recently had her emails printed out for her by her assistant? Seriously? 40-somethings are the GenX generation -- the generation that's been online from the beginning.
Also you've got to be kidding me that someone gets to be editor of a major fashion publication without having more of a backbone ...more

You don't pick up People Magazine expecting the musings of Thoreau, and you don't expect the worker at the McDonald's drive-thru window to pass you some organic kale. Likewise, you wouldn't -- I hope -- pick up this book expecting much more than fluffy, frivolous, fashion-themed fun. If your expectations remain thus reasonable, then this book delivers. The book is like a really successful Forever 21 dress, one that's a great copy of a truly on-trend style: there's not much substance to it, and i
...more

I've had dinners with twentysomethings where the meal was delayed because they had to photograph the food first, and I've been at events where I've sat in silence surrounded by dozens of young people with their noses buried in smartphones.
Because of this generation gap, and because I still use hotmail and a Nokia that doesn't do Internet, I found the protagonist of this breezy chick lit novel charming. Imogen is a forty-something big time editor of a fashion magazine who understands the value o ...more
Because of this generation gap, and because I still use hotmail and a Nokia that doesn't do Internet, I found the protagonist of this breezy chick lit novel charming. Imogen is a forty-something big time editor of a fashion magazine who understands the value o ...more

WHAT THIS BOOK IS NOT: 1. Great literature
2. Socially redeeming in any way
WHAT THIS BOOK IS: 1. A lot of fun to read
2. Very satisfying to anyone with revenge
fantasies
Technology vs real life interaction is a major theme here, as is aging dinosaurs (at 42, no less) vs young upstarts in the business world. The fashion industry in this case, but I work for a large corporation, and I saw comparisons even in my lowly status as a part-timer.
FAVORITE QUOTES FROM THIS BOOK: "Have we all become so des ...more
2. Socially redeeming in any way
WHAT THIS BOOK IS: 1. A lot of fun to read
2. Very satisfying to anyone with revenge
fantasies
Technology vs real life interaction is a major theme here, as is aging dinosaurs (at 42, no less) vs young upstarts in the business world. The fashion industry in this case, but I work for a large corporation, and I saw comparisons even in my lowly status as a part-timer.
FAVORITE QUOTES FROM THIS BOOK: "Have we all become so des ...more

Full disclosure: I know Lucy well and have met Jo only once for five minutes.
This book is a must--deep, fun, intense, never heavy-handed--it made me cry with laughter when I wasn't pondering its interesting takes on life and adulthood and the struggles of (wo)men within it. You don't have to know anything about fashion to get the references and humor, and I guarantee that after reading this rollicking ride through the fashion world you will never look at a magazine spread the same way again.
I ...more
This book is a must--deep, fun, intense, never heavy-handed--it made me cry with laughter when I wasn't pondering its interesting takes on life and adulthood and the struggles of (wo)men within it. You don't have to know anything about fashion to get the references and humor, and I guarantee that after reading this rollicking ride through the fashion world you will never look at a magazine spread the same way again.
I ...more

I absolutely fell for Imogen Tate. I'm not a person who is into fashion, but the feeling of being overwhelmed, of being left behind can be universal...especially with women. She had a beloved assistant, Eve, who left to go to Harvard Business School. When Imogen returns from fighting breast cancer, she finds Eve has returned and that absolutely everything about her beloved magazine has changed. Everything is online, there is no longer going to be a print version, and Eve undermines every single
...more

It was fine. I felt the character read a lot older than she was written. I'm 40, she is suppose to be 42, but I felt she read more like 72. I mean, who is in their 40s and here in 2015 (which is when the book takes place) and doesn't know how to use the Internet. How would this woman, who is suppose to be EIC of a top fashion magazine have been in her position only a year earlier, before the dreaded "C word," and not have been live Tweeting at any of the Fashion Weeks? It was a quick read that w
...more

Yay, we finally have a book that not only kicks complete ass, but is totally up-to-date, and isn’t another cliched romance or cafe related read.
I absolutely loved this book. It’s current, it’s sassy, it’s funny, and it’s extremely clever. The plot is dynamite, the flow is fast and furious. It’s a book that had me wanting to climb into its pages in anger one minute and giggling the next. It never stopped shocking and to be totally honest it’s just far too cool.
Heroine Imogen is a total sweetheart ...more
I absolutely loved this book. It’s current, it’s sassy, it’s funny, and it’s extremely clever. The plot is dynamite, the flow is fast and furious. It’s a book that had me wanting to climb into its pages in anger one minute and giggling the next. It never stopped shocking and to be totally honest it’s just far too cool.
Heroine Imogen is a total sweetheart ...more

Imogen Tate comes back to work as editor in chief of Glossy Magazine after a six-month absence. Having recovered from a health issue, Imogen is primed to get back where she left off except that the office she walks into is a completely different world. Where once her trusted and experienced editors that Imogen hand-picked stood, now there is a large group of twenty-something women. At the helm is Eve Morten, Imogen's former assisant. Armed with a Harvard MBA and an attitude better suited for the
...more

I loved this book! A modern take on the All About Eve story, it's the classic grasping young girl tries to take down her older and wiser mentor/boss. Imogen is the Editor in Chief of glossy magazine and comes back from medical leave to discover that her much loved fashion magazine has become a digital app and is mostly being run by her backstabbing one time assistant Eve. After an initial tough time getting back in the new techie groove, Imogen puts her big girl panties on and learns to integrat
...more

The Knockoff is a wonderful mixture of smart humor, great characters and a plot that addresses so much about today's world. I loved Imogen and thoroughly enjoyed the story. Highly recommended!
...more

This may be touted as a different take on the book, “The Devil Wears Prada”, but any of the ‘gray hairs’ that this book pokes fun at will know in an instant that this is an updated, tech-filled remake of “All About Eve”. You might even say that it has just a touch of the original 1939 “The Women” added to the mix too. Granted it really does have a generous helping of The Devil Wears Prada also!
This was really a depressing book for me at the start. I too am a tech dinosaur/gray hair just hanging ...more
This was really a depressing book for me at the start. I too am a tech dinosaur/gray hair just hanging ...more

3.5 stars for the plot + 1.5 stars for the absolutely fabulous narrator
This was an absolutely delicious audio book and if you decide to read The Knockoff, I recommend checking it out in the audio format. Katherine Kellgren somehow manages British accents, valley-girl accents, and start-up tech nerd without once making it feel forced or awkward. Delightful.
I adored the first half of this book. I enjoyed the second half. Unfortunately, the sheer drama of the second half detracts from what I enjoy ...more
This was an absolutely delicious audio book and if you decide to read The Knockoff, I recommend checking it out in the audio format. Katherine Kellgren somehow manages British accents, valley-girl accents, and start-up tech nerd without once making it feel forced or awkward. Delightful.
I adored the first half of this book. I enjoyed the second half. Unfortunately, the sheer drama of the second half detracts from what I enjoy ...more

So, let's be honest here. This is not a book that will make you think deep. It's not a book that will be a book of the year. But I loved it. Four stars some may wonder. Why not? I knew what it was when I picked it up. A book that was a fun look into the colliding worlds of print and tech. And it kept turning pages. I knew how it would end-- or at least an idea-- but that didn't stop me from devouring this book in less than 24 hours.
Imogen Tate just returned to Glossy, a fashion magazine, after ...more
Imogen Tate just returned to Glossy, a fashion magazine, after ...more

“Have we all become so desperate to share everything that we’ve stopped enjoying our lives?”
I enjoy a good satire. This didn’t have me LOLing quite as much as their other collaboration, Fitness Junkie, but it was still smart and clever. This pokes fun at techie millennials, social media, and ageism but also hits a lot of positive notes. It’s a good palate cleanser.
I enjoy a good satire. This didn’t have me LOLing quite as much as their other collaboration, Fitness Junkie, but it was still smart and clever. This pokes fun at techie millennials, social media, and ageism but also hits a lot of positive notes. It’s a good palate cleanser.

Give me a book taking place in the fashion industry, mix in social media and the socalled Digital Natives generation and I'm sure to gobble it up.
I mean, some of my fav films are The September Issue and The Devil Wears Prada, so really, no-brainer.
(Also -> COVER! So sleek and chic. The title! Baaam. I do not understand why the US edition has such a horrendous cover and actually a different name. Not good marketing in this specific case, in my opinion.)
This is my typical guilty pleasure book, but ...more
I mean, some of my fav films are The September Issue and The Devil Wears Prada, so really, no-brainer.
(Also -> COVER! So sleek and chic. The title! Baaam. I do not understand why the US edition has such a horrendous cover and actually a different name. Not good marketing in this specific case, in my opinion.)
This is my typical guilty pleasure book, but ...more

http://www.anurseandabook.com/2015/01...
This book started out slow. I understand that the authors were trying to make the point that the heroine, Imogen, is supposed to be so old and outdated (she was 42!!! If you didn't know that, you would have thought she was 85 or slightly slow) that she is in danger of becoming irrelevant. But the initial build up for this was so over the top that it was embarrassing. It's hard to
Oh, Imogen......
believe that a 42 year old editor in chief of a national fashi ...more
This book started out slow. I understand that the authors were trying to make the point that the heroine, Imogen, is supposed to be so old and outdated (she was 42!!! If you didn't know that, you would have thought she was 85 or slightly slow) that she is in danger of becoming irrelevant. But the initial build up for this was so over the top that it was embarrassing. It's hard to
Oh, Imogen......
believe that a 42 year old editor in chief of a national fashi ...more

Pure escapist fun -- dressed in Versace.
Imogen Tate, well-respected 42-year old Editor in Chief of Glossy magazine, returns from a 6 month medical leave to find that her former assistant (and newly minted Harvard MBA) Eve has convinced the magazine publishers to cease the printed magazine and turn the entire operation into an e-commerce app. Imogen struggles to understand the rapidly changing technology and her relevance in the new corporate structure, while Eve is determined to turn the staff a ...more
Imogen Tate, well-respected 42-year old Editor in Chief of Glossy magazine, returns from a 6 month medical leave to find that her former assistant (and newly minted Harvard MBA) Eve has convinced the magazine publishers to cease the printed magazine and turn the entire operation into an e-commerce app. Imogen struggles to understand the rapidly changing technology and her relevance in the new corporate structure, while Eve is determined to turn the staff a ...more

The Knockoff was a fun and entertaining book. If you read the blurb and thought it sounded kind of similar to The Devil Wears Prada but with something of a role reversal, you’d be right.
This has been on my long list of books I’d like to get to someday since it’s publication back in May of 2015. When I was browsing through audiobooks in my library’s catalog for a lighter read, The Knockoff showed as available and it seemed the time was right to dive in. I will admit, it took me a bit to get into ...more
This has been on my long list of books I’d like to get to someday since it’s publication back in May of 2015. When I was browsing through audiobooks in my library’s catalog for a lighter read, The Knockoff showed as available and it seemed the time was right to dive in. I will admit, it took me a bit to get into ...more

Read my full review here: http://www.ivoryowlreviews.blogspot.c...
The Knockoff is The Devil Wears Prada 2.0 and I loved every single word! Where we were previously rooting for new girl Andi to take down Miranda, in this novel we are hoping Imogen can oust bratty Eve. Imogen's initial naive observances are cute and laughable, such as:
"But the website was just a necessary appendage of the actual pages of the magazine, used mainly as a dumping ground for favors for advertisers and leftover stories ...more
The Knockoff is The Devil Wears Prada 2.0 and I loved every single word! Where we were previously rooting for new girl Andi to take down Miranda, in this novel we are hoping Imogen can oust bratty Eve. Imogen's initial naive observances are cute and laughable, such as:
"But the website was just a necessary appendage of the actual pages of the magazine, used mainly as a dumping ground for favors for advertisers and leftover stories ...more

Fast paced fun book about a young tech-savvy (and evil) editor at a fashion magazine trying to steal the show from her 42 year old "dinosaur" of a boss.
Readers are meant to sympathize with the dinosaur and that was easy for me since I am even older than her and have actually had more than one conversation recently wondering exactly what is the point of Instagram anyway?
Filled with fun characters and while the plot is completely predictable it was still a worthwhile use of time.
Perfect for lig ...more
Readers are meant to sympathize with the dinosaur and that was easy for me since I am even older than her and have actually had more than one conversation recently wondering exactly what is the point of Instagram anyway?
Filled with fun characters and while the plot is completely predictable it was still a worthwhile use of time.
Perfect for lig ...more

Just not as funny as I'd hoped but I did love Imogen... unfortunately I related way more than what was comfortable. It wasn't the typical chick lit read for me... rather a bit of a mirror underscoring the 'ageism' plaguing some industries... heck, maybe most industries today.
I won't make this post about millennials vs. Gen Xers, but there was a lot of sad truth in this book that kept me from truly enjoying it. Mostly I was glad to see the happy ending, but in the real world, these kinds of endi ...more
I won't make this post about millennials vs. Gen Xers, but there was a lot of sad truth in this book that kept me from truly enjoying it. Mostly I was glad to see the happy ending, but in the real world, these kinds of endi ...more

From the reviews and the front flap, I expected a fun beach read about the fashion/magazine business but this story was so much more. As a working woman who is on the cusp of retirement, I cringed along with the heroine and and cheered for her at the end. It was a clear statement about having values in the workplace....AND a fun beach read!

May 30, 2015
KL (Cat)
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
chick-lit,
adult-2015
Surprisingly a new breath of fresh air in the tired cliched world of chick-lit. Our heroine is fantastically relatable!
Think: What would it be like if the roles of Miranda Priestly and Andrea Sachs were reversed? Tech mishaps, weddings, well-rounded family support; all that and more.
✫✫✫✫
Think: What would it be like if the roles of Miranda Priestly and Andrea Sachs were reversed? Tech mishaps, weddings, well-rounded family support; all that and more.
✫✫✫✫

I think it’s time for me to focus on 2015 THE KNOCKOFF (called TECHBITCH in the UK) by...
http://sleaze-factor.blogspot.ca/2018... ...more

Oh where do I start with this gem of a book?
Right, first of there is one great big obvious comparison that I'll need to discuss before I go any further and that is Techbitch and it's similarity to the Devil wears Prada. Yes they are both set in the glossy world of fashion magazines and yes they feature bitches but Techbitch makes Miranda Priestly look like a Sunday School teacher.
I love this book by the way, it can do no wrong, in fact it is so wonderful I have even learnt some stuff from it, li ...more
Right, first of there is one great big obvious comparison that I'll need to discuss before I go any further and that is Techbitch and it's similarity to the Devil wears Prada. Yes they are both set in the glossy world of fashion magazines and yes they feature bitches but Techbitch makes Miranda Priestly look like a Sunday School teacher.
I love this book by the way, it can do no wrong, in fact it is so wonderful I have even learnt some stuff from it, li ...more

Really 4.5 but I decided to round up for the star rating because I really really enjoyed reading this book!!
For some reason, even though I'm a millennial and a self-published author whose career is totally thanks to the tech movement, I found myself completely identifying with Imogen! I love technology. I can't imagine my life right now without a cell phone, without Google maps, without Facebook, without digital cameras, heck without Candy Crush, and especially without my self-publishing startu ...more
For some reason, even though I'm a millennial and a self-published author whose career is totally thanks to the tech movement, I found myself completely identifying with Imogen! I love technology. I can't imagine my life right now without a cell phone, without Google maps, without Facebook, without digital cameras, heck without Candy Crush, and especially without my self-publishing startu ...more

I absolutely loved this book even though I spent most of the time I was reading wanting to slap the crap out of Eve. What a horrible, horrible person she is. If she spent as much time working on her app as she did trying to undermine others. It may of worked. But then again, nah, it was all about her. I have never seen such an egotistical person in all my life, well ...
I felt so sorry for Imogene and knew exactly how she felt. At my last job, I was supposed to train this brand new college gradua ...more
I felt so sorry for Imogene and knew exactly how she felt. At my last job, I was supposed to train this brand new college gradua ...more
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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Goodreads Librari...: Please combine | 3 | 8 | Apr 03, 2017 06:43AM | |
Play Book Tag: The Knockoff by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza- 3 Stars | 2 | 17 | Feb 20, 2016 11:23AM |
Lucy Sykes has worked in the fashion world as a stylist, fashion editor, and fashion director. For six years Lucy was the fashion director at Marie Claire magazine, and was most recently fashion director for Rent the Runway. Her own children’s clothing line, Lucy Sykes New York, was sold in more than a hundred department stores worldwide, including Saks Fifth Avenue, Barneys, Bergdorf Goodman, and
...more
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“Imogen sometimes wondered if people weren't letting social media dictate their entire lives. Did they choose to go to one party over another because it would look better on Instagram? Did they decide to read a store just so they could tweet about it? Have we all become so desperate to share everything that we've stopped enjoying our lives?”
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