Valley of the Dolls

Valley of the Dolls is a novel by American writer, Jacqueline Susann. The title is a complete metaphor; the 'dolls' are not just the perfect women that the story follows, but also the stimulating pills that they cling to with a childish neediness and use with carelessness, like they would a doll. The valley is not literally a low area of land surrounded by mountains, but it represents the way in which once the girls reach the top of the entertainment industry (the mountain), they have nowhere to go but down - into the valley.

I read the book in Turkey in a couple of days, and while it was a large book I didn't get bored of it like my Mum said she did. Instead I found it intriguing and only wanted to read on. Some parts were slow, yes, but they always led up to a dramatic climax within which something fairly unexpected would happen. The book follows the lives of three girls that are trying to survive by surviving by climbing the ladder to fame via performing, modelling and clinging to rich men, so it is inevitable that the book contains glamour tinted with melodramatic occurrences. I usually hate such pettiness and vanity, but Susann did make me want to move to New York and live a life like the girls did (to some extent).

If you buy the 2007 edition with the introduction by Julie Burchill, I will warn you of an extreme spoiler. I read it before reading the book and read each page wondering when the thing she had mentioned would happen. Not the most enjoyable way to read a book!

The end, I will admit, was the worst part of the whole book. The way it ended made me view the characters as spineless and it ruined the whole perception I had held of them beforehand. A sequel would possibly have cleared this up, but one never came!

Despite this, it was a great holiday read. I suppose I read it with focus on how the girls were treated and perceived, as I may consider including the book as part of my English Literature coursework within which I must analyse books from a certain literary critical perspective, and I chose feminism, so that gave me a different insight. But Susann must have done something right; she wrote the book from her own experiences within the industry, selling over 30 million copies, and Valley of the Dolls has since become one of the world's bestsellers of all time. It has become a cult book, way ahead of its time, still inspiring many young women today.

A film adaptation came out in 1967, starring Barbara Parkins, Patty Duke and Sharon Tate as the three girls, Anne, Neely and Jennifer. I am yet to see this but it looks fab and super glam and girly, so I will definitely put it on my 'to watch' list.

Marina and the Diamonds released a song on her Electra Heart album in 2012 dedicated to the book and film. The lyrics relate well to the theme of the novel, an endless cycle of pill-taking and slow downfalls along with the allure of it all that is also felt while reading the book.

Dsquared2 had their Fall / Winter 2014 collection undertake a theme of '#perturbedwonderful,' said to be inspired by Valley of the Dolls and Girl, Interrupted. The evident sixties influence was mixed with a sense of lunacy yet still remained luxe and elegant, as seen in Susann's novel. In the above photo, Cara Delevigne is seen sporting Anne-esque hair as she models a bright pink cape from the collection.

In the Spring 2012 issue of Bullett magazine (released March 14th), an editorial called Valley of the Dolls used the girls' style to portray their models as colourful, girlish glamour queens with impeccable fashion sense. Their pastel beehive hairstyles and dark eye makeup makes them look like they just stepped out of "21".

Parisian fashion blogger Alix has put her own twist on the cult novel / film by incorporating the Louis Vuitton bags she fell in love with and the luxurious backdrops of her hometown into a dreamy fashion editorial. The whole shoot is an opulent representation of how the girls appear to have lived, and Alix looks the epitome of such opulence throughout, wearing a pink fur coat and her hair in a voluminous style.