Rating: 
Summary: Painfully Shrill
Review: I'm afraid the book reads life a serialization from the local alternative press; the main character lives in a world of imagined slights, forever aggrieved, forever on the attack. Might have worked if the writing were crisper, less predictable, less demographically driven. If these were actual people, living actual lives, maybe it would be worth the time. As is, it's just polemics tarted up in novel form. On the plus side, it is marginally better than that Devil Prada book!
Rating: 
Summary: Vivid and entertaining
Review: Back when Alisa Valdes was with the Boston Globe, I noticed and enjoyed her feature stories -- particularly a story about her girlhood, upbringing and her relationship with her Cuban-born Dad. The girl could write. She left Boston, and I next read her name a couple of years ago while heading home on an airplane from the West Coast. She'd quit the LA Times and somehow her mini-novel length resignation letter had been leaked to the local and national press. It was a kick-down-the-barn ...letter that most folks could only fantasize of writing. It was raw, insanely personal, full of her disatisfaction with her assigned diversity role in the Newsroom, the Times shortcomings, going off to a new life with her much younger lover and her coming baby, plus an amazing rant on Latinos failure to adequately acknowledge their Indian roots (early echoes of her novel's Amber). As I read this diatribe to my seatmate (a total stranger), we both concluded that this woman 1) was clearly in a major transition, 2) needed a vacation big-time and 3) should be writing NOVELS. I've just finished Ms. Valdes-Rodrigues' first novel and she can still write. It sounds like she's survived her transitions just fine. It's a big, tasty fruitcake of a first novel. Superior chick literature stuffed with a lot of great diaglogue, vivid situations, interesting angles and sarcastic wit. There have been so many novels and films set in Boston, yet she delivers a fresh take on the many social milieus and various Latin ethnic cultures that her six club-members inhabit and negotiate. It's good to see Boston's South End and Jamaica Plain get some attention. The heartfelt book has enough nuanced detail for a couple of novels. There's clearly a lot of Valdes in the passionate, frequently [ticked]-off Lauren, but the other women are interesting as well -- particularly Usnavys and her diminutive true love. That wispy Brad is a definite local type -- every September new crops of Brads arrive in U-Haul trucks and never seem to go home. This was a fun read. Looking forward to her next novel.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: I LOVED the Dirty Girl's Social Club. It's a brilliant debut as it breaks sterotypes about women from different cultures. It's well-written and crafted. Often a hyped book ends up as a disappointment but Alisa Valdes-Rodriuez makes good on a publishing promise. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: oh c'mon!!
Review: An abused wife whose friends don't notice the bruises and broken bones? A beautiful newscaster who is basically run out of town once she's outed in a contemporary city (uh, like Liz Smith? David Brudnoy?) This is so clearly an attempt to copy Terry McMillan and Amy Tan's success it's just silly.
Rating:
Summary: AWESOME
Review: This book is what I call easy and FUN!
A great group read. The girls are funny, bitchy and vivacious. Latinas will be able to relate to some aspect of this book.
Rating:
Summary: HELP ME! What am I supposed to read now????
Review: I am so upset! I finished this book last night and I don't know if I'll be able to find another book that even compares to this one. When I go to the book store, it seems like all the stories are either British, or they take place in New York. Dont' get me wrong --it's just that the story lines are pretty much the same (dull....zzzzz). LOL! Any recommendations out there? This was a great book! It took me about a week to get through it. These girls are so much fun. Lauren was my personal favorite, she's very real and will do anything for her friends. Usnavys cracks me up with her shallow and materialistic views on life. Rebecca is way too organized and doesn't know how to have a good time. Elizabeth is very sweet and good-hearted. Sara is a loving mom. Amber is strong and admirable. I got absorbed into each character and could understand their perspectives in every situation. They use spanish slang that kept me hooked throughout the story, so I'm not sure if it has the same impact if you don't speak spanish. I highly recommend this book! I can't wait for "Playing With Boys" to come out this Fall or "Sucias 2"...whenever that one's ready! :-)
Rating:
Summary: Cheers for the "Sucias"!
Review: At first, it took a few pages for me to get into this book. But once I started reading, I couldn't put it down. Images of friends and acquaintances, relatives and neighbors began popping into my head as I read more and more about each "sucia." I found myself laughing, crying, relating to each woman's experience, and wanting to call Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez and ask her how she managed to unearth so much that lies within each Latina that so many people seem to miss. I found myself identifying with some of the 'dirty girls', from Rebecca, who is a control-freak, success-oriented woman who just wants to be different from her mother, to Usnavys, who wants to be 'from the block' and give back to her neighborhood but still wants everyone to know that she 'made it' by shopping Neimans and driving the BMW. I related to Sara, and felt angry at times that her experience with violence is so parallel to what many Latinas endure right now. I felt empowered by Amber, who didn't let her threatened boyfriend keep her from obtaining her goals. I cried at the discrimination Elizabeth faced for her personal life. And I felt like Lauren, with all her problems and experiences, was really telling my story, too. As a Latina, it is difficult for me to find books that accurately depict my feelings and experiences in society, the way that I navigate America as a Latin woman, and how the 'other' really treat us, whether that be men from within our own culture to men who are not; or professionals in the workplace, or people at large. It's about time that someone opened eyes through creative text using humor and parody. This book transcends cultures and boundaries, so whether you are Asian, Anglo, or African American, you will still relate to their experiences and plights. This book would in fact be a better film than Terry Mc Millan's Waiting To Exhale, since it discusses more cultural and social issues at large that desperately need to be discussed in society. I was impressed by Valdes-Rodriguez's talent and brilliance, her energy and enthusiasm for what she is discussing, and I hope to read more from her in the future. I recommended the book to other "sucias" I know, in hopes that they will be inspired and moved as I was, as well. Read this book, and then share it with a girlfriend, your Mom, or your 'tias'.It's amazing.
Rating:
Summary: negative
Review: I expected the book to be funny. Instead, the opening chapter was one long complaint about Latinos being sterotyped, discriminated against, etc. It was "poor,poor,pitiful me" paragraph after paragaph. The following chapters were downers. Not until the last chapter did good things seem to happen--not the high=spirtited funny novel I had expected.
Rating:
Summary: Las Sucias
Review: I just loved this book- it was a fun read and I can't wait to see the movie. Well I'd actually love to be in the movie because it would be so much fun. Being un Cuban-American I related to it very well and could see how it translates across cultural bounderies. FUN! FUN! FUN!
Carinos
to all the other Sucias.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun, sassy, edgy, but with some loose ends...
Review: I have wanted to give this novel a whirl for quite a while but never got around to reading it until now. The Dirty Girls Social Club is about six spunky, vibrant Latinas -- or "sucias," as they call themselves -- dealing with career and relationship plights as well as addressing various takes on cultural politics, and dealing with their identities as Latin Americans. They have been friends since college and get together to catch up on their lives every so often. During the course of one year, a big, beautiful, sassy and somewhat materialistic Puerto Rican tries to decide on whether she should give her heart to a sweet, albeit broke gentleman; a bohemian and politically conscious musician tries not to lose her identity and beliefs as her CD skyrockets on the pop charts; an uptight, anal retentive magazine chief wonders why she'd married a phony, self-centered billionaire; a young housewife's life isn't as perfect as others think; a drop-dead gorgeous lesbian anchor is forced to come out of the closet before being ready; and a frustrated, opinionated Cuban American journalist deals with her dwindling love life and her headache-inducing neurosis. There are various twists throughout the novel.
The sucias are fun, intelligent women who have a lot to say about many things. As a Latina, I nodded in agreement with a lot of the things the characters said -- it is clear that the aforementioned arguments are the author's musings. I liked the novel's earnest humor and political backdrop. However, it was hard to take the author's work seriously when she herself stereotyped various characters (namely Usnavys). I realize that some of it was intentional, but some nationalities were shown on a better light than others. Also, there are a lot of loose ends in this novel. What happened to Elizabeth's feelings for Lauren? Why weren't the male characters in the story developed enough? What was Sara's take on her situation after all the changes she endured? What did Usnavys's job entail? There are many other things left undeveloped. I agree with various reviewers here that said the novel has too many female leads in a story that's only a little over 300 pages long. It was difficult for me to have any sort of affinity to the characters when their stories are told in parts. Other than that, I loved this novel. I couldn't put it down and loved reading about smart, successful Latinas, though I must add that the women should have been older. I, like the characters, am a Hispanic woman in my late twenties. I work in Public Relations and am a part-time writer. But I make nowhere near as much money as these ladies and neither do my peers, regardless of race. The women in this book sound like they are in their mid to late thirties. Anyway, this is a great chick-lit that should be appreciated as the lighthearted, compelling read that it is. I think Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez has a lot of potential and I shall give her second novel a whirl.
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