The Bombshell Manual of Style

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Summary: Correction; Bombshells are BORN, not made
Review: A light, fluffy read that takes up way less than one afternoon this book is not to be taken as a "how to." Either you are a bombshell or you are not. Plain Jane mousy women who read this will come away with nothing. The lists of music, makeup techniques, clothes and perfume will only serve as a research guide to them. True bombshells already know this information. For them, this "guide" serves only as a document of self-affirmation. Other reveiwers have complained that some of the information in this book is dated, doesn't incorporate viable information for our times, and lacks references to modern day bombshells. It is my opinion that they do not "get" it. If there was nothing else to learn from this book it is that the bombshell loves herself, her own personal style and is proud to be an individual. She looks to the great ladies, fashions & ways of the past because the present has become a cookie cutter sexless kakhi wearing culture. Bombshells are not afraid to step outside the lines and do something different. If the perfume you wear is not on the list provided or your musical tastes vary from what is contained in its pages but it makes you feel pretty and feminine and good about yourself than so be it. A true bombshell has enough confidence in herself that she doesn't heed every word of a silly little confection of a book as gospel- instead she slips on her highest heals and marches to the beat of her own drummer.

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Summary: Listen Up, Femmes...
Review: Ah, this is a treat. It's as airy as a meringue, yet with a satisfying crunch and sweetness. Stover constructs and deconstructs the image of the bombshell in this charming and witty book (it's all about the performance of femininity and it's cheaper than critical theory, too!). Stover's skill as an ethnographer of the bombshell takes on a persona that is larger than life (as in her later book, _Bohemian Manifesto_) and makes it a source of frothy delight. This is not actually a manual, per se, but more of an observance of the bombshell at work, at play and in the boudouir.
And play is important--Stover stresses the fun in acting like a bombshell, while not losing sight of the fact that it is an act, a performance--there's a reason so many bombshell examples come directly from movies (and anything that loves Jayne Mansfield as much as I do, well, that's all right with me.)

As in Stover's other work, the illustrations are bright, joyful and just as delicious as the text; the whole book is beautifully designed.

My only suggestion would be a film list of the "bombshell" films; we have a list of favorites *of* the bombshell, but I'd love a fuller resource to see more of this glamour onscreen! I'd also like to less of a heterocentric viewpoint since so many bombshell characteristics have shown up in femmes and as such have become symbols of both femininty and suberversion (maybe _The Bombshell Manual of Style_'s next edition will include Tallulah Bankhead? I hope! Or could we hope for a book on the Bombshell Bohemians?) as have drag queens.I think this could add to a richer understanding of bombshell as a beauty and as a tool to explode forms of conciousness. However, these issues may be for another book (and Ms. Stover, I hope you write it and if you do, _The Femme's Guide to the Universe_ is a great resource...)
Still, this is glorious fun and if you have a taste for the girly in girly girl, I think this will be delightful. Brava!

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Summary: Fun and Flirty
Review: For girls with a bit of an attitute....chutzpah. Wanna be a bombshell? I do. This book is fun...with lots of trivia about bombshells from the past....Marilyn, etc. Cute illustrations, feminine colors, easy reading, fun suggestions. Get it for a laugh....and discover your glamourous self! Lots of fun!

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Summary: Is this book a joke???
Review: I don't think this book was written from a realistic point of view, unless one wants to become an non-respectable self-centered slut with no friends, male or female. May I suggest Better Than Beauty, A Guide to Charm.


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Summary: Lighten up people...
Review: I just bought this book for my girlfriend for her birthday (she asked for it). After she read it I picked it up and started perusing it and think it is hilarious. I feel sorry for all the women out there desparately seaking guides to tell them exactly what to do - step by step. The Bombshell Manual is for a woman with a mind of her own. It deconstructs the acrhetype while giving confidence to all women. It's not a recipe book like some readers hope it will be, but rather a treasure chest of inspiration.

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Summary: This book changed my life!
Review: I love this book! What is so great about this book? Well, everything. The book is much like a bombshell, it gives and then gives some more. I definitely was NOT a bombshell, and yet by following the advice Laren Stover gives in this delightful book, I suddenly transformed into a creature that sometimes I don't even recognize!!!

I almost would like to keep this book a well-known secret, but it's so great I recommend it to everyone.


Rating:
Summary: Actually very helpful
Review: I love this book. Not as a how-to guide, which I think many people seemed to hope it was, or an expression of modern womanhood, which it isn't. It is a case study of that rare form of woman, the bombshell, whose hayday was earlier in the century but who will never go away. And, as that, is it a lovely, informative, witty, and touching book. I'm sorry that it seems many people didn't get that.
I bought this book when I was at a self-esteem low point in my life, when I felt anything but pretty and the myriad magazines and beauty guides did nothing to help. This book did, by showing in the very first chapter how being this kind of glamorous has far more to do with attitude. No matter what people think you look like, it is your own confidence and attitude that will determine how you are thought of. This is an incredibly powerful and important thing to hear for many people, especially young girls who think they'll never live up, and this book is a masterclass in that. Buy it for the shy, bombshell-loving girl you know, I think they need it.

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Summary: Just for fun, not for the fashionistas
Review: I purchased this book expecting a fun read....and yes, it is quite fun. However.....please.....ladies, do NOT purchase this book as some kind of 'style guide'. This is not about style and how stylish women dress. The last thing we need is for American women to look even trashier (no bra under your sweater to the office and fishnets during the day, indeed!). On a positive note, the book design and illustrations are just divine. Congratulations to the creative team. References to the old Hollywood starlets are both hilarious and inspirational......but I fail to understand the relevance of quotes by Patricia Arquette and Drew Barrymore! These ladies are hardly bombshell material. The fashion and beauty information is a little misguided (unless you're a drag queen) and the disparaging remark about redheads is just plain weird.
THIS ONE IS STRICTLY FOR LAUGHS.

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Summary: Bombshell Manual A Big Bust!
Review: I really couldn't wait to delve into "The Bomshell Manual of Style". I expected a frothy confection of "bombshellism" with perhaps some tips to incorporate into my life. Sadly, I found the beautifully designed cover, illustrations and quips on the back of the dustjacket to be the best part. Yes the author shares ideas on how a bombshell behaves, eats etc. But all the examples are dated, and the author fails to translate them to today's society. If I were to wear some of the outfits the author suggests, like a large, bold print polka dotted dress with super high heels shopping I am sure I would get stares but they would not be flattering ones. The author Laren Stover uses Elizabeth Taylor, Jayne Mansfield and Marilyn Monroe frequently as examples through out the text. Certainly these women are renowed for their beauty and style. But what played then doesn't work now, even for a bombshell. Had the author also used more comtemporary "stars" with style and glamour such as Jodie Foster or Sharon Stone and reported on how these ladies imbue star quality and that bombshell quality to their lives, the book would be much more relevant. Suggesting that a bombshell goes on a diet as her doctor won't give her anymore pills is an insult to all modern bombshells who know the best way to lose weight is a good support group and everything in moderation. The movies a bombshell watches, books a bombshell reads, and especially the clothes a bombshell wears according to the author are in many cases limited and old fashioned. Many of the perfumes the author suggests a bombshell use are way too heavy for today's modern times. This book is so beautifully designed and so well conceived it's a great disappointment that it fails at its attempt. Should the author care to make it relevant to today and show the reader how to incorporate sassiness and style and charm into today's world it would be an excellent, fun read. But this little book will not help anyone fufill their bombshell aspirations!

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Summary: Return of the bombshell!
Review: In a time when fashionistas prescribe either cookie-cutter, sexless Anne Taylor fashion or outfits that scream "$50 an hour, me love you long time!", the return of the bombshell is long overdue! Sexy but never trampy, playful but never moronic, intelligent but not at the cost of sensuality, the bombshell is an archetype that European feminists never crucified - although it suffered more stateside. I hope this book heralds a new interest in the joyful balancing act of the bombshell. This IS a how-to book, despite what some reviewers have said. It is, however, more of a description of a paradigm than a cookie-cutter prescription - with some concrete advice on shoes, scent, clothing, attitude, lifestyle, etc. Sometimes tongue-in-cheek, high-spirited, sensual, unapologetically feminine, delighted - with a little spritz of irony- this book is a fun, fun, fun read. I loved it - treated myself to a bottle of Coco by Chanel to celebrate, and the next day I wore a just-knee length b& w polka-dotted skirt with a fitted black top and new red open-toed 1940s heels that I hadn't previously been brave enough to wear to the office. Celebrating a kinship with the Bombshell makes me feel fabulous! You might even say... liberated! Liberated to be playful, sexy, whimsical, feminine, capricious, sentimental, *and* intellectual. The Bombshell is the well-balanced, thinking woman's Cosmo Girl. The only things I wasn't too keen on were the critiques of certain artists and authors as not-for-bombshells. As far as I'm concerned, the bombshell can read as much as she wants, and whatever she wants - and the same goes for art appreciation. A Bombshell with a Ph.D. might find it a bit naff to have sex appeal linked to reading material - but then again, maybe wrapping a copy of Being and Time in a Men Are From Mars dust jacket would appeal to her whimsical sense of irony. Never mind me, though - just go get the book and see what you think!