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Stay Up with Hugo Best

Erin Somers (Goodreads Author)

2.91 · Rating details · 2,268 ratings · 403 reviews

An incredibly timely, terrifically witty and moving debut about a young writer's assistant on a late night comedy show and what transpires when she accepts an invitation from its enigmatic host to spend a long weekend at his mansion in Connecticut.

June Bloom is a broke, cynical twenty-nine-year-old writer's assistant on the late-night comedy show, Stay Up with Hugo Best. H ...more

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Hardcover, 272 pages

Published April 2nd 2019 by Scribner

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Jan 13, 2019 Fran rated it liked it

June Bloom, 29 years old, was a writing assistant for "Stay Up with Hugo Best", a late night comedy show. June lived with a roommate in a Brooklyn neighborhood both "charmless and in flux". She had slowly worked her way up from audience page to writers assistant for her childhood crush, Hugo Best. This "beloved" TV comedian and womanizer unexpectedly announced his last show and upcoming retirement.

June is now unemployed. It will be back to open mics in shady environs, playing to mostly empty cha ...more

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May 20, 2019 Fabian rated it it was ok

Typical millennial jives with aging superstar. She makes herself so at-home, you could swear that this was the same girl who completely ignores the Lyft driver after exiting her bomb-ass house... you know, entitled.

And this is "Stay Up"s forte: the vivid portrayal of a Millennial. In case you were wondering; in case you didn't know. "The worst I suffered was nonsuccess" (37). The worst we suffer is the typical minutia that a tale like this wants to include so that it has a patina of WOW. Instead ...more

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May 07, 2019 TL rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Narrator: 3 stars
Story: 2 stars
Characters: 2.5 stars

Overall rating: 2.75 stars.. I think
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Had a couple spots where it was more interesting for me but overall this was pretty underwhelming.

More focused on the characters than the plot. Now, that isn't always bad but the people created have to grab your attention somehow and get you invested in what was going to happen.

It had my interest enough to keep going but still not completely sure why I finished. Part of it probably me being stubborn perha ...more

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Mar 16, 2019 Carolyn rated it it was ok

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read this ARC in return for an honest review. After reading a number of dark murder mysteries, I wanted to take a break and read something lighthearted and comical. This was definitely not lighthearted, and reviews calling it hilarious had me fearing I was devoid of any sense of humour. To me, it was the opposite of hilarious, being depressing, poignant and full of melancholy, and with uncertain motivations on the part of the leadi Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read this ARC in return for an honest review. After reading a number of dark murder mysteries, I wanted to take a break and read something lighthearted and comical. This was definitely not lighthearted, and reviews calling it hilarious had me fearing I was devoid of any sense of humour. To me, it was the opposite of hilarious, being depressing, poignant and full of melancholy, and with uncertain motivations on the part of the leading characters. It was well written, with much to be said about modern sexual politics, but am unsure of the book's aim, or what conclusion I was supposed to draw.

June Bloom is a 29-year-old who comes across younger in many ways. Her goal in life is to be a comedian along with the fame it could bring. She was performing stand-up comedy at a dive bar. I got the impression that her goal in comedy is probably futile. I can take vulgar stand-up comedy if it is funny, but the snippets of her routine were just plain vulgar. She seems unfocused, yearns to be a celebrity, but sometimes feels unworthy. At other times she angrily states that she deserves the fame. It is unclear whether she has the talent to achieve her ambitions. She is broke, and not taking productive steps to reach her goal or to find another field of employment. She is merely floating through life.

After the open mic show, where many seats were empty and the few in the audience ignoring her routine, she encounters famed celebrity, Hugo Boss. June worked as a writer's assistant for his late night TV show and had a childhood crush on him. She still idolizes him and is in awe of him. Hugo's show has been cancelled, putting them both out of work. Hugo claims to be 65 but is actually a few years older. He seems sad and unexpectedly invites June to his home in Connecticut for the Memorial Day holiday. She accepts, standing up a date with her current boyfriend.

There is a lot of sarcasm and complaining in their dialogue, but they gradually seem to build a tentative bond during her time at his luxurious home. June is able to boost his shattered ego caused by his fate as a celebrity has-been. June is impressed by his mansion, his fleet of cars, his staff, and the luxuries she sees that fame can bring.

I wasn't able to connect with the flawed characters or the situation. It was not what I expected, but others may enjoy this character-driven story. ...more

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Jun 17, 2019 Betsy Robinson rated it really liked it

If you've ever free-fallen into an experience, knowing there was probably nothing good to come from it, but it arose and you said "What the hey, you never know"—and the whole time you were rolling with it, you knew it was stupid, and you assumed intimacy that felt natural but had no roots, you may enjoy this book. If you've ever been close with somebody who was or later became famous, but you know how he is in real life, you will be interested in this book. If you've worked with comedians, you w If you've ever free-fallen into an experience, knowing there was probably nothing good to come from it, but it arose and you said "What the hey, you never know"—and the whole time you were rolling with it, you knew it was stupid, and you assumed intimacy that felt natural but had no roots, you may enjoy this book. If you've ever been close with somebody who was or later became famous, but you know how he is in real life, you will be interested in this book. If you've worked with comedians, you will find much to resonate with. And if you've suffered from being a professional wait-er—as in: one who waits for other people to do something so that you can do something—this book is for you.

Twenty-nine-year-old world-weary June Bloom loses her TV writers' assistant job when the comedy show, Stay Up with Hugo Best, fires Hugo Best, and she accepts a weekend invitation to his house in tony Greenwich, Connecticut. What makes the story rich is the self-awareness of June and Hugo, and the overall wisdom of author Erin Somers.

This is a well-written literary novel about a slick subject, but the author's wisdom makes it anything but slick. I really enjoyed it right up until the preamble to the ending, (view spoiler) But it's not what the very talented Erin Somers chose, and it's her book.
...more

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Jul 19, 2019 Susan's Reviews rated it liked it

I was cringing as I finished this novel. It started out well. Young staff writer June Bloom accepts a long weekend invitation from her former celebrity boss. The talk show he hosted for years has finally aired its last episode and Hugo Best is headed for retirement. Twenty-nine year old June Bloom is aware that Hugo Best has certain "expectations" for this week end.

Although the first few chapters were intriguing, the heroine in this pseudo "tell all" tale of a "dirty weekend tryst" with a famou I was cringing as I finished this novel. It started out well. Young staff writer June Bloom accepts a long weekend invitation from her former celebrity boss. The talk show he hosted for years has finally aired its last episode and Hugo Best is headed for retirement. Twenty-nine year old June Bloom is aware that Hugo Best has certain "expectations" for this week end.

Although the first few chapters were intriguing, the heroine in this pseudo "tell all" tale of a "dirty weekend tryst" with a famous talk show host is all over the place - as directionless and ambivalent as this story ends up being. The entire first two-thirds of the book is taken up with the suspenseful question: will they or won't they? A few red herrings are tossed into the mix, as well as an inevitable triangle or two, or three! Nothing really new here - but the author does write very well. Ultimately, her characters are unappealing and shallow: success and fame at any price, it seems.

(Spoiler alert:) If June had not herself described Hugo Best in skin-crawling terms during the "pivotal scene", it would not have mattered to me that a 29 year old and a 60 year old were about to have an intimate moment or two; but the description of how Best's skin sagged down after he removed his "body girdle" totally killed any romantic vibe - if there ever was one to begin with. The word "sordid" kept flashing in my mind, especially after June describes the act as being "fleshy". (In stark contrast, Robert Taylor and Katee Sackhoff did an excellent job of selling their character's May/December relationship in the fantastic Netfilx series, Longmire.)

It is interesting (and patently ironic) that Best's 17 year old son, Spencer, is also staying at the house that weekend, and there is an undeniable attraction between June and young Spencer.

Historically, people have been attracted to stars, athletes, war and super heroes, and CEOs who have amassed great wealth, etc. Readers and movie-goers fantasize about sleeping with their "idols" - sharing, if only for a brief moment, in their fame or glory. In this novel, young June makes no secret that she is worried about her future job prospects and at one point briefly envisions that she might fall pregnant with Best's child: at least her future would be all mapped out for her as the young wife/lover of a wealthy former Hollywood star. How bleak is that?!

Erin Somers did not paint an enticing picture of the life of an aging celebrity: there is sort of a feeding frenzy where everyone around Hugo Best was trying to use or profit from him in some way. I understand why this book is so poorly rated. This author has good writing skills, but there is nothing new here, and it is yet another bleak tale of humanity's misguided, shallow quest for fame and riches. I give this a 3.5 out of 5. ...more

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Feb 10, 2019 Michelle rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2019

I wasn't completely sure what to expect when I started this one but I could not stop thinking about it during the few days that I read it. The book takes place over the four days of memorial day weekend after Hugo Best, a late night talk show host, has wrapped up filming his last show. On a whim, he invites June Bloom, a writers assistant on his show, to his house in Connecticut. June, now jobless and having a crush on Hugo since childhood, accepts his invitation despite the fact that he is 30+ ...more

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Feb 04, 2019 Jennifer Herron added it

Yuck.

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Jan 27, 2019 Jessica Woodbury rated it liked it

Shelves: arc-provided-by-publisher

A wry and meditative novel about fame and the proximity to it. June is an aspiring comedian at the very bottom of the totem pole at a late night talk show hosted by famed comedian Hugo Best. After Hugo's run on the show ends, meaning they're both out of a job, the sixty-something Hugo invites 29-year-old June to his Connecticut mansion for the weekend even though they've barely spoken before. What follows isn't quite what you expect, but it's also not all that far off, as June tags along on a co ...more

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Feb 18, 2019 Tess rated it it was ok

While I enjoyed reading this debut by Erin Somers, it left me somewhat cold and not understanding what the overall thesis of the novel was. June was a bit of a one-dimensional character to me, and while not unlikeable, I just couldn't really connect with her. I liked all of the pop culture and comedy references a lot, but the book as a whole was a disappointment. ...more

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Apr 12, 2019 Richard Gray rated it it was ok

Shelves: contemporary, humour, fiction, bookhouse-of-the-month, 2019-releases

Toneless and often listless, this train-of-thought narrative follows recently unemployed writer June Bloom as she bears witness to the crumbling of the titular talk show host following his retirement. Ostensibly an exploration of sexual politics and power dynamics in the #MeToo era, Somers doesn’t ever get beyond the surface. I was also a little concerned by the will they/won't they motif Somers sets up between June and Hugo's seventeen-year-old son: she is perhaps suggesting something about inh ...more

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Jul 12, 2018 Andrienne rated it it was amazing

Though set in NY and Connecticut, this tale could easily have happened in Los Angeles. High-powered aging celebrity invites an attractive underling to his mansion. We all know how the story goes. Quite timely with what’s happening with all these #metoo movement. Instead of a one-dimensional take, this debut really digs deep. I was completely invested in the story. Every quip and observation feels real. This was probably as close as I can get to being at a celeb mansion observing what all those r ...more

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Sep 09, 2019 Bookworm rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: next-to-read

I had a hard time relating to this story. The characters weren’t all that interesting and the focus on comedy and fame is not something I personally enjoy reading about. As a result, I had a challenging time getting through this book. In this instance,I think it’s a case of “it’s not you, it’s me”. The writing is clever and, at times, witty, but overall, the tone felt kind of sad and dismal. When I requested it, I was expecting something else. Not my kind of book.
I received an ARC from Netgalley ...more

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Apr 18, 2019 Janet rated it liked it · review of another edition

Here's another one that didn't live up to the hype. I'm starting to think I need to look for books that reviewers pan because I never seem to like the ones they do. This one got rave reviews from Kirkus, Publisher's Weekly and Shelf Awareness....from Janet Stewart, not so much.

I listened to this in audio and at first I thought I didn't like the voice of the narrator. But then I realized, I just really didn't like the character....do we ever learn her name? In any event, she's a 30 year old wanna ...more

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Apr 19, 2020 Ashley Lynne rated it did not like it

Shelves: i-own-it

I bought this book before I realized it had such a low rating on Goodreads. As I type this review, the average rating is 2.90 stars.

Sounds about right.

This book is so pointless and meandering. And no one is likable. And while unlikable characters doesn’t bother me as long as it’s for a reason and the story is interesting, that wasn’t at all the case for this book. 😂

This book reads like some pretentious middle-aged man who’s never so much as written an essay decided one day “I have good ideas, ...more

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Dec 14, 2018 Sara Batkie added it

I really enjoyed spending time with this book! Every page has something on it that sparkles, whether that's a line of dialogue, an arresting description, or a character's random musings. Somers has a really good grasp on a certain kind of New York aspiring artist, people who often aren't locals to the city and come with expectations that seem almost perversely difficult to achieve; who have a knowing, ambivalent relationship with fame but still yearn for it; who make compromises for outsized opp ...more

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Aug 14, 2018 Karly rated it liked it

I thought I would love this book about an aging late night talk show host and a young writer who works on his show. Although "funny" at times, I wanted it to be more lighthearted and less serious. No doubt it was well written, and if you are a fan of old comedy acts, you may very well enjoy it more than I did. But for me it was sad and a little depressing. ...more

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Feb 21, 2020 Cindy rated it did not like it

If you like plots with action, characters who are three dimensional and show some type of change, either for better or worse, throughout the book, If you like snappy dialogue, then this book is not for you.

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Jan 06, 2019 Mary Keane rated it it was amazing

This novel is moving and felt so true. And funny! I kept it within reaching distance for days and read whenever I had a moment. I haven’t done that in a long time. I loved it.

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Aug 23, 2019 Robert Sheard rated it liked it

Didn't love it. Didn't hate it. It is supposed to be funny, I assume, but it struck me as lonely and dismal–for all of the characters. It has the redeeming fact that it's brief. ...more

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Apr 28, 2019 Amy rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2019, april-2019

This seemed like something I would love but it was surprisingly dull. Very uninteresting main character, very disappointing.

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Jan 08, 2019 Dana Czapnik rated it it was amazing

I loved this book. I could not put it down! It's funny, dark, unexpected, sexy, and uncomfortable in the best way. June Bloom is caustic, sardonic, hilarious, and a self-aware self-saboteur. Sometimes we do things to ourselves that we know are bad for us but we do them anyway, perhaps it's inertia, or curiosity, or self-hatred, or all three. Stay Up With Hugo Best is an incredibly sharp examination of that impulse, as well as a sly satire of our obsession with fame. Loved it! ...more

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Nov 11, 2018 Jamie Rosenblit rated it liked it

Shelves: arcs

Review to come

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Jul 08, 2019 Stacey D. rated it really liked it

Fantastic! I loved this story, which to date is shaping up to be my favorite summer read of 2019 -- although geez, I felt soooo old after reading it. With a tinge of melancholy, it suddently dawned on me that I am closer in age to Hugo than to June. Crikey.

This was a modern day coming-of-age story, one in which the heroine comes off way more wiser than her one-time idol, the well meaning, yet skirt-chasing, egotistical, sad-clown king of late-night, Hugo Best. I laughed throughout this book, esp ...more

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Apr 27, 2019 Alex rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: bloodless-protagonists, buzz, book-of-the-month

People who dismiss the idea of literature, both modern and classic, tend to view it as variants on a single story: a middle-aged man grappling with the perceived failures of his life seeks solace in the arms of a much younger woman. This is often further reduced to a professor and student dynamic. In Stay Up With Hugo Best, Erin Somers flips the script with the concept “what if that alleged classic literary had its script flipped: the exact same story from the perspective of the woman”. The thin People who dismiss the idea of literature, both modern and classic, tend to view it as variants on a single story: a middle-aged man grappling with the perceived failures of his life seeks solace in the arms of a much younger woman. This is often further reduced to a professor and student dynamic. In Stay Up With Hugo Best, Erin Somers flips the script with the concept “what if that alleged classic literary had its script flipped: the exact same story from the perspective of the woman”. The thing is that it’s exactly the same. A woman ineffectually tries to save a boring but over wealthy man from himself. Without finesse or an actual point of difference, Stay Up With Hugo Best doesn’t work.

After the cancellation of late night show Stay Up With Hugo Best, June Bloom is unemployed. Almost immediately after the taping of the final programme, June runs into Hugo Best himself, who invites her to spend the Memorial Day weekend at his Connecticut home. Despite being frequently out of her depth and constantly insulted, June sticks it out for all four days.

And the reader is left asking why. This is promoted as a novel for the #MeToo era — an unfortunate sobriquet that is bound to be applied to practically any book about a professional woman, regardless of its actual content — but June is a passive character who only lacks agency because she doesn’t allow it in herself. Somers is even careful to place Best’s proposition directly after he holds any power over June and, if anything, the man himself almost entirely lacks even platonic interest in his house guest. They’re two free-floating agents whose lives feel as if they barely intersect through their ostensible 72 hours together.

Stay Up With Hugo Best also has strange ideas: June is several times left alone with Best’s 17 year old son, with the implication that she will succumb to his clumsy seductions, and her toying with the idea of doing so. Apart from the knowledge that if a book was about a 29 year old narrator even so much as glancing at a 17 year old school girl the author would be run off the internet on a rail — and not collecting a slew of awards anymore, either — it’s just … not on. At that age you should be not only strong enough to resist the temptation of a teen, but also capable of completely rebuffing them. Again, Somers is not overly interested in power differentials and no one ever pressures Erin; she is just too inert to bother challenging anything or going anywhere.

As a character, Hugo Best is that awkward amalgam of several real people without being a near a real one himself. He has Jay Leno’s car collection, and a brick wall behind a stage in his basement, and a bunker full of VHS recordings of the entire run of his show (if you take a nightly show to be approximately 200 episodes a year, that’s 5000 tapes. You have to wonder how large this bunker is). Best has made many mistakes in his life, not least of which was inviting June to his house for the weekend detailed in this book, but they are all paid lip service at least. Best is a man whose career frustrations wouldn’t interest a reader if he was the book’s lead character; filtered through June’s eyes, they seem even more pathetic and insignificant. Best can cry on a bed of money on his private yacht; when we leave him there, it’s difficult to feel anything but contempt for both characters.

Stay Up With Hugo Best is a book about comedy that isn’t funny. It is a book of manners related by a cipher, whose past we barely care about and whose future we’ll never know. June’s brush with fame and fortune reveals nothing more than the trite clichés that practically any other prince and pauper story has already trampled into the ground. Read Crazy Rich Asians instead. It’s an entirely different piece, with only money in common, but it’s a better read regardless.
...more

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Mar 01, 2019 Donna Hines rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, netgalley

Stay up with Hugo Best was certainly unique in style and writing.
I've never had a more one dimensional character as we had here.
Jane is our main female whose broke as a 29 yo writers assistant hoping to make it big with a late night comedy show.
Meanwhile Hugo is our 60ish pig whose a womanizer and retired tv icon.
He's offered her a proposition to come to his mansion for a 'no funny business' adventure.
It then turns into a dive bar with karaoke being led to insight into this man's life.
I never qu ...more

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Apr 23, 2019 Billy rated it liked it

I was so excited to read this after Carl Hiaasen recommended! But it had moments, but was quickly becoming a rather sad and melancholic story about a has been and his groupie! I enjoyed it anyway.

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Jun 15, 2019 Cindy rated it it was ok

2.5 stars. I honestly thought this book was suppose to be funny. Wrong! Depressing story with sad characters. Hugo is an 68 year old late night host whose show has been cancelled. June is a 29 year old aspiring comedy writer. Hugo invites June to his mansion for the weekend. Hugo who is wealthy and June who is barely able to make ends meet make quite a couple but not in THAT way! Two different personalities that led to unpredictable circumstances. I’m still not sure about the plot and what I was ...more

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Jan 05, 2021 Angela rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1books-2021

Not really for me. It was okay, I guess.

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Apr 01, 2019 Megan Prokott rated it liked it

Sometimes you read a book that you know you wouldn’t recommend to everyone, and this is one of those books. I personally enjoyed it quite a bit, because it wasn’t the fun, fluffy, ridiculous book I expected it to be. Instead, it was an intense character study of a man coming to terms with his life now that the relevance and power he once had in large quantities is quickly dwindling and of a woman who never achieved the relevance and power she thought she would in her youth. These very honest exp ...more

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