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A review by heykellyjensen
Toxic: Women, Fame, and the Tabloid 2000s by Sarah Ditum
I wanted to like this much more than I did, but I've actually read books on this topic that did it a lot better. Maybe the most interesting and fresh chapter was on Jennifer Aniston, since I don't know her story as well as Britney, Paris, and others in this collection.
I think Ditum being British makes a difference–her chapter on Amy Winehouse was much stronger than those of US-based celebrities because truly, you can't understand growing up under that culture unless you're completely steeped in it (she gets close, but not close enough). My biggest quibble, though, is that she consistently mispronounces "Tila Tequila" as tie-la, not tee-la. This isn't a result of a British accent–"tea time" there is not "tie time"–and it's a VERY Googleable pronunciation. I don't get why that was allowed to slide.
I think Ditum being British makes a difference–her chapter on Amy Winehouse was much stronger than those of US-based celebrities because truly, you can't understand growing up under that culture unless you're completely steeped in it (she gets close, but not close enough). My biggest quibble, though, is that she consistently mispronounces "Tila Tequila" as tie-la, not tee-la. This isn't a result of a British accent–"tea time" there is not "tie time"–and it's a VERY Googleable pronunciation. I don't get why that was allowed to slide.