This Beautiful Life may grate on some: it’s about wealthy New Yorkers, private schools, and a whole lot of rich-people problems. But it’s also about the very real fallout that can occur as a result of a simple – and fairly typical – teenage mistake (in this case, a boy forwards an explicit video that a female classmate made for him to his best friend, and disaster ensues). Sort of like Beautiful Boy (highly, highly recommended), a deeply disturbing true story about a father dealing with his son’s crippling meth addiction (I read it years ago and have never been able to get it out of my head; it’s that remarkable and terrifying), This Beautiful Life is a book that inspires valuable how-would-we-handle-this conversations in parents-to-be. And maybe a little panic.
Jacqueline Susann, if you don’t know, is the genius behind Valley of the Dolls (best trashy read ever), and while Once Is Not Enough doesn’t quiiiite reach the glorious heights of its predecessor, it’s damn close, filled with orgies, drugs, Hollywood debauchery, and more fun stuff. Also recommended: Susann’s The Love Machine, for exactly the same reasons. Who says beach reads have to be enjoyed with your toes in the sand?
