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hannahjsimpson's review
adventurous
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
lisalovesmissmarple's review
4.0
The characters (who are almost all real people) jumped off the page of this beautifully written peak at the life of The Beautiful People in Palm Beach in the early 1960s. The places, clothes, money, and all of the outlandish trappings were a photographers dream. And that’s where Margo “Gogo” Hightower comes in. Forced to pick herself up and take a job (gasp) as a photographer’s assistant, she learns a lot about who she is and what she wants in this world. Historical fiction is not normally my niche, but this book was a really enjoyable read. 4⭐️.
treberry's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
3.0
“𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐢𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲. 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬.”
“The richer the family, the worse the food, and it’s really an all or nothing situation.”
The Beautiful People was our book club selection for May and it was a good historical fiction read. Kind of a “lifestyles of the rich and famous” 1960s contemporary spiel.
The story was centered around the acclaimed American environmental photographer, Slim Aarons, his assistant Margo and their insight into the lives of the 1960s elite - Peter and Lilly Pulitzer and the Vanderbilts.
What I most enjoyed, along with most of us, was seeing Margo find her path and discover a new passion that wasn’t centered around getting a MRS degree. It was intriguing to see her go from being an assistant on the sets moving leaves out of water, to capturing her own beautiful pictures. Her newfound love of photography reminded me of my own. When I started booksta, I wanted to learn more about taking pretty, creative and interesting pictures of my books.
Being privy to the wealthy inner circle you’d think there would be some real juicy secrets and jaw dropping events. Yeah, there was a little infidelity, but mostly it was pretty blah. For such a wealthy crowd, I didn’t find their parties and daily lives all that interesting. Maybe if we had gotten their POVs, instead of just an outside looking in preview it would’ve been better.
The story was pretty good and it brought forth lots of discussion topics. The author included some of Slim’s photos and we saw some of the Lily Pulitzer dresses from back in that time too.
hermoine7's review
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
hthill25's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This book dives into the lifestyles of the "it" people of Palm Beach during the 1960s in fictional style. Unfortunately, I found I didn't care too much about these characters, many of which are real or based on real people. This made the book kind of blah for me. However, if you're into the people of this time period, it may be the book you're looking for.
trr51591's review against another edition
3.75
If you're looking for a lighter, 1960s Palm Beach take on The Devil Wears Prada, this is the book for you. Margo, a young socialite, ends up stranded in Palm Beach after her boyfriend who she thought was about to propose dumps her instead. Thanks to a friend of a friend, she ends up with her first job, as an assistant to famous photographer (and real-life person) Slim Aarons. As Margo learns the ropes of photography and being a working woman, she's also thrust into Palm Beach high society, which is vastly different from any city she's been in before. The king and queen of the jet set are Lilly and Peter Pulitzer (yes, those ones), and Margo finds herself getting closer to both of them.
I didn't know much about Lilly Pulitzer as a person, so this entire story was new information for me, and I was thoroughly absorbed in it. I'd recommend not looking up anything about the real people involved until after you read, so you can be surprised by things like I was. I liked that the author chose to tell the story through the eyes of Margo, an outsider, instead of through Lilly or Peter themselves. But my favorite part was getting to look up all the photographs Slim actually took of these people during this time period---they're beautiful and fun images, and exactly how I imagined things while reading---a very cool supplement to the reading experience. This would be a great beach or poolside read, and is a great option for historical fiction that's a little lighter than the genre's usual war-focused stories. Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review!
mishale1's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
I love historical fiction but I really love historical fiction that isn’t set during a war! This story was so interesting. It was written about a fictional character named Margo who was kind of ditched in Palm Beach by her boyfriend. Her friend helps line up a job for Margo with the famous photographer Slim Aarons.
Aarons was a real photographer who used to take photographs during wartime and decided to do the exact opposite later. He wanted to photograph all the bright and beautiful people and their environments.
Most of this book takes place in the 1960’s in Palm Beach. And Margo finds herself not just blending into the background but kind of becoming part of the trendy crowd. A lot of this book was about Lilly Pulitzer too and I found those parts fascinating. I didn’t know much of anything about Lilly’s background and I didn’t know about Aaron’s at all.
My only constructive criticism is that I wasn’t very interested in the parts about Lilly’s husband Peter’s job with the sugar corporation. Thankfully there wasn’t much of the story devoted to this.
I could have read this book quicker if I’d have been able to stop looking up all the Aarons pictures and Pulitzer dress references. So fun!
Well researched. Likable characters. Very interesting and entertaining story!
Aarons was a real photographer who used to take photographs during wartime and decided to do the exact opposite later. He wanted to photograph all the bright and beautiful people and their environments.
Most of this book takes place in the 1960’s in Palm Beach. And Margo finds herself not just blending into the background but kind of becoming part of the trendy crowd. A lot of this book was about Lilly Pulitzer too and I found those parts fascinating. I didn’t know much of anything about Lilly’s background and I didn’t know about Aaron’s at all.
My only constructive criticism is that I wasn’t very interested in the parts about Lilly’s husband Peter’s job with the sugar corporation. Thankfully there wasn’t much of the story devoted to this.
I could have read this book quicker if I’d have been able to stop looking up all the Aarons pictures and Pulitzer dress references. So fun!
Well researched. Likable characters. Very interesting and entertaining story!