Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: The Illuminating Diary of a Professional Lady

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Summary: Lorelei will make you laugh!
Review: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes has long been one of my favorite movies, so I was tickled to discover that it was a magazine serial first. Until I stumbled across the book, I had just assumed that Loos wrote it for the screen.

Lorelei is a beautiful blonde with a conflicting amount of predatory logic, downright dumbness and a deep conviction of her own intelligence. The book is the journal she kept during the few months she was traveling abroad (Mr. Eisman is "educating" her) with her friend Dorothy, who "really does not care about her mind and I always scold her because she does nothing but waste her time by going around with gentlemen who do not have anything".

Mr. Eisman (never called Gus, because "when a gentleman who is as important as Mr. Eisman, spends quite a lot of money education a girl, it really does not show reverence to call a gentleman by his first name") makes the mistake of not going with Lorelei, and so with just Dorothy to chaperone, she makes conquests of kind rich men all across Europe.

Loos has written an amusing story, and though at times I got tired of the purposeful misspellings and grammatical errors, I enjoyed it from beginning to end. The few not-as-interesting parts were completely forgotten as soon as I read another one of Loos' little gems such as "Well, it's been three days since my debut party started but I finally got tired and left the party last night and went to bed because I always seem to lose all of my interest in a party after a few days" or "So, she found a box of liqueur candies that are full of liqueurs and she was really very delighted. So I finally got dressed and she threw the empty box away and I helped her down stairs to the Dining room."

If you've seen the movie, you should definitely read this as it gives a little more depth to Lorelei. If you've not, the book will still be a fun trip back to the 20's where bootleggers, gold diggers and millionaires party side by side.

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Summary: The best drama I've ever read
Review: I thought Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was a great book. Most books that are made into movies are not as good as the movie version, but I actually thought this book was a little bit better. I thought the book had great details to let you see what was going on. This book is set in a diary form and is narrated by Lorelie, a beautiful woman who loves diamonds and can trick men into buying them for her. I liked the diary form because this helped you know when everything was taking place. You can also really tell what kind of person Lorelei is just by the way the book is written. This book is like a big soap opera; Lorelei and Dorothy are always trying to trick someone into buying them something. They charm one man and then make him promises that they will come back and go on to the next. That is what makes you want to keep on reading, the fact that you don't know who they are going to trick next. This book is one of the best books I've read. Anita Loos does a wonderful job throughout the whole book describing Lorelei and Dorothy's adventures. It's just like watching a movie in your head. If anyone wants to learn how to get what you want from a man I suggest taking some tips from Lorelei and reading this book.

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Summary: One of the greatest novels and films ever...
Review: The book of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was an excellent book with a very unique plot. I would recommend this book to any of my friends, including males. Upon viewing the film first (starring Marylin Monroe), I was able to visualize the setting which made it a very pleasant reading experience. Lorelei was a woman with great expectations and acquired them no matter what the extreme. She could read a man like the back of her hand. She knew what she wanted and how to get it! She possessed great will power and was truly a woman leader of her time. I really admire her character as a true determined feminist. At first, she seemed clueles but later proved to be a woamn with great knowledge. I'm sure you'll enjoy this novel as much as I did.

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Summary: Stereotypical Humor
Review: The novel Gentleman Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos is an entertaining story about Lorelei Lee, a beautiful blonde woman who has every man in the palm of her hands. She is portrayed as a conniving gold digger who can receive diamonds and jewels at the snap of her finger. The journal entries by Lorelei Lee, which make up the novel, make it easier to know Lorelei's character. The saying "dumb blonde" has been a stereotype for as long as I can remember. I was not really sure where the stereotype came from until I read Gentleman Prefer Blondes. It is very humorous in the way that Lorelei is portrayed as a "dumb blonde." There is a lot of irony in the story that makes you wonder who the "dumb" characters really are. The story makes fun of sex in many ways and tries to portray blondes as being unintelligent and brainless, but I think that this novel portrays men as being stupid and foolish. I really admired Lorelei's character because she knew what she wanted and she was very good at getting it. I would recommend this novel to women that enjoy humorous stories about a woman's triumph over men. Gentleman Prefer Blondes was a very good novel, and I really enjoyed reading it.

Rating:
Summary: Stereotypical Humor
Review: The novel Gentleman Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos is an entertaining story about Lorelei Lee, a beautiful blonde woman who has every man in the palm of her hands. She is portrayed as a conniving gold digger who can receive diamonds and jewels at the snap of her finger. The journal entries by Lorelei Lee, which make up the novel, make it easier to know Lorelei's character. The saying "dumb blonde" has been a stereotype for as long as I can remember. I was not really sure where the stereotype came from until I read Gentleman Prefer Blondes. It is very humorous in the way that Lorelei is portrayed as a "dumb blonde." There is a lot of irony in the story that makes you wonder who the "dumb" characters really are. The story makes fun of sex in many ways and tries to portray blondes as being unintelligent and brainless, but I think that this novel portrays men as being stupid and foolish. I really admired Lorelei's character because she knew what she wanted and she was very good at getting it. I would recommend this novel to women that enjoy humorous stories about a woman's triumph over men. Gentleman Prefer Blondes was a very good novel, and I really enjoyed reading it.

Rating:
Summary: Using What She Had
Review: The novel Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is highly funny and full of mischief. Lorelei Lee is a likable character who knows what she is doing and uses her hair color to her advantage. She does like her gentlemen friends and above all else she loves the money that these gentlemen have. Lorelei even says, "Kissing your hand might make you feel very good but a diamond bracelet lasts forever." Her and her friend, Dorothy, finds themselves traveling around the world and causing all sorts of mischief. This book is enjoyable, like watching a sitcom. It cannot be taken too seriously. Anita Loos must have written this book for the humorous side that it takes. Lorelei Lee became the stereotype that blondes live with, but most people know that being blonde is no different than have green hair.

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Summary: Forget feminism and deep meanings - just enjoy it!
Review: This book is on my list of all-time favorites, not because of what it may or may not say to or about society (I think if you're going to get that deep about it you're missing out), but because I've read it four or five times and it still makes me laugh out loud. I, too, saw the movie first, and liked it, but the book is fantastic. I love the irony, the misspelled words, the subtle humour that sometimes makes me do a double-take before cracking up (even after four readings I still do this). It's a great book to read if you want to kick off your shoes, hang out on the deck in the sun, and just lose yourself for a few hours in Lorelei's adventures. Gentlemen: it was a male friend who recommended it - I think you guys would get a kick out of it too. Enjoy!

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Summary: Blondes DO have more fun
Review: You could say that author/screenwriter Anita Loos invented the chick-lit genre. Her entertainingly fluffy satire "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" certainly fits the bill, with its love-seeking heroine and amusing jokes. It never dips far below the surface, but its lightness is part of its appeal.

"A gentleman friend and I were dining at the Ritz last evening and he said that if I took a pencil and a paper and put down all of my thoughts it would make a book." Meet Lorelei Lee, a pretty blonde socialite with a love of jewels, men, and luxury. She has a married boyfriend, but is convinced to go abroad so her name won't be "smirched."

So Lorelei and her pal Dorothy head off to Europe, bumping into exalted people (like "Dr. Froyd") and winning the hearts of wealthy men, in between days-long parties. Gold-digging, millionaires, money and love all get wrapped up in the tangle of Lorelei's everyday life...

Lorelei first appeared in Harper's Bazaar, and a short story stretched out into a full-length novel that appeared in serials. A first edition sold out almost instantly. Now Lorelei has countless descendents -- sure, those determined gals have been updated for the twenty-first century, with jobs and Web access. But light women's fiction could be seen to stem from Loos's novel.

A satirical edge runs through "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," poking fun at the jazzy gals whom Loos had to deal with regularly. Loos doesn't spare anything -- the book is riddled with intentional typos, like "encyclopediacs," "safires" and "maskerades" (yet she can spell "champagne"). The shallowness of the flappers is best shown in straight-faced jokes about the latest Parisian styles of buttons. Loos's satire doesn't bite down to the bone, but it does scratch lightly in a deliciously catty way.

Lorelei has an entertaining mix of determination, idiocy, and a constant belief in her own towering intellect. She's so much fun it's hard not to like her, in spite of the fact that she's an utter airhead. She talks matter-of-factly about how she has "almost one of everything" (diamond-wise), and tries to reform the entire world (without success, needless to say).

Gentlemen may prefer blondes, and people seeking a fun light read may prefer "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." If you are in the mood for vintage chick-lit, Loos's witty little novel is a fun diversion.