Juicy Peaches and Bitter Nuts

Reading Jacqueline Susann’s Valley of the Dolls (VotD) is similar to eating a juicy peach. We get to enjoy the fruity celebrity personalities while sucking on the juice of a few tantalizing sex scenes. Here are the celebrity inspirations for each of the characters we are about to meet:
Carol Landis = Jennifer North
Dean Martin = Tony Polar
Judy Garland/Betty Hutton = Neely O’hara
Ethel Merman = Helen Lawson
After we devour the celebrity bits and slurp up all of the good juiciness we are left with the story’s remains… the hard, wrinkled shell that contains the bitter nut; the message that getting old in Hollywood sucks.

With her introductory poem, Jacqueline Susann warns us about the journeys we are about to witness while reading VotD yet our desire for celebrity gossip and sex overwhelm us and we dive right in, letting the story wash over us in waves of hope only to battle a vicious riptide of the reality of beautiful, ambitious, naive young women in 1960’s New York:
“You’ve got to climb to the top of Mount Everest
to reach the Valley of the Dolls
You stand there, waiting for
the rush of exhilaration you thought you’d feel – but
it doesn’t come.
You’re too far away to hear the applause
and take your bows.
And there’s no place left to climb...

…Anne Welles had never meant to start the climb.
Yet, unwittingly, she took her first step
the day she looked around
and said to herself,
‘This is not enough – I want something more.’”…

This “something more” is a common thread that binds the three main characters, Anne Welles, Jennifer North and Neely O’Hara into friendship. Outside of their ambitious career aspirations the pressure to find and marry “the one” is intense and adding to the intensity is the introduction of Helen Lawson. Helen is divorced, loud, brash, and overconfident. At the age of 32, she is considered old and decidedly unsexy by the successful men that surround her. Helen is inserted into the story by Susann like a threat to Anne, Jennifer and Neely that beauty fades with age and if you choose to be independent and don’t marry a successful man by the age of 25 you may end up with a nickname such as Old Ironsides.

Here are some book club questions to ponder as you read through VotD:

• What type is “the one” for Anne? For Neely? For Jennifer? How does the type you chose for them compare to the men they chose for themselves?
• Go back to your youthful early 20’s for this question: which character did you most relate to Anne, Jennifer, Neely or Old Ironsides?
• Could you relate to Anne’s sexual awakening? What was the first time like for you? Was it as awkward and immature as Anne’s? Or was it everything you ever dreamed of?
• What did you think/hope about Allen and Anne?
• What are your thoughts about the evolution of Neely?
• What did you think about the relationship between Maria and Jennifer North?
• While reading VotD are you longing for the simpler requirements of the women in the 1960’s? Or are you grateful for all the opportunity women have today?
• What did you think of Lawrenceville? And Anne’s picturesque house in Lawrenceville? Do you think Anne will change her mind about Lawrenceville as she matures?

Returning to our topic of juicy peaches and bitter nuts, we are working on the potluck list for Nicole’s brunch on February 13th. If you know what you’re going to bring then comment here or post on Facebook. We’ll post the potluck details on the blog next week.