I just finished reading The Devil in the Junior League by Linda Francis Lee.
I recommend you don't. The book was terrible, two stars because the plot was coherent and there were not major holes. This book follows the turmoil of Mrs. Fredericka Mercedes Hildebrand Ware who discovers that her husband has been cheating on her, is leaving her, took all her money, and divorced her all without her knowing. You would think that the character would be crazy sympathetic, but she's not. Frede, as her friends call her, grew up crazy rich and is sure to remind you that, while she and her husband are rich, it's all because of her money. We're never told how she managed to make so much money, so I am forced to assume that it was given to her and she doesn't understand that people have to work.
The story is told in first person and that person is as full of herself as can be. She is quick to remind you that she's rich, that she's beautiful, that everyone is jealous of how rich and beautiful she is, she is the envy of her town, and nothing is ever her fault. Her mother is an overbearing crazy person who did not come from a well-to-do family, her father adores he any would kill for her honor, everyone in the Junior League just worships her and if they don't it's because they're jealous, and poor Frede has to live next door to some couple that just came into their money (through hard work) and they just don't understand the rules of society life. Oh, and she apparently knows three words of French and uses those three constantly to make her sound smart of sophisticated.
I cannot stress enough how obnoxious the main character is. I'm okay with unlikable and unreliable narrators. I'm good with flawed, human, main characters. I cannot stand prissy, know it all, condescending, arrogant bitches. Frede is such a person.
There are literal lists of dos and don'ts spelled out in the book as Frede explains just how tre uncooth everyone else is. Pilar, her former best friend who is now just oh-so jealous of her, is apparently some sort of traitor for moving to New York City (which is apparently the worst thing you could possibly do if you're a sophisticated Texas woman) and expanding her horizons before moving back home to Texas. Pilar wears dark clothing *gasp* and keeps her hair short and bluntly cut *the horror!* and is apparently gunning for Frede because Frede is Frede.
Nikki, the new neighbor, is married to a successful lawyer who earned enough money to build a huge mansion is Frede's exclusive gated community and used to be best friends with Frede and Pilar until they all went their seperate ways because Nikki's family was poor and Pilar was jealous of the most popular boy in school liking Frede more than her. Now Nikki of new money has to be given My Fair Lady style lessons in order to get into the Junior League which is the popular table of adult life. Poor little un-sophisticated Nikki does things like wear heels, wear brightly colored clothes, and likes bedazzling. Her lessons consist of learning to wear beige and low heels, wipe her mouth after ever single bite, never to talk about anything of any importance, and not to show her feelings.
Frede is forced to give Nikki the lessons because after her husband ups and leaves her with all her money and his mistress she can't afford a real lawyer, much less let anyone of consequence know what happened to her. She strikes a deal with Nikki's husband who, in exchange for getting his wife into the Junior League, will track down Frede's husband and make everything right again.
I won't bore you with the details of the plot but, of course, everything works out in the end for Frede who doesn't learn a damn thing and is still the egotistical bitch she was in the beginning. She's just also a hypocrite now. And nothing is ever her fault.
1. He husband tricked her into signing away her bank account and divorce papers by simply putting the documents in front of her and she signed without any thought to what she was signing.
2. He did it because he wanted to make his own money and to get out of her shadow.
3. He ran away with his mistress, not because he didn't love Frede anymore, but because he was being black mailed by the mistress. He begs Frede to take him back at the end.
4. Nikki turns into a duplicate of Frede, at which point Frede is appalled at how rudely she is being treated even though that is how she treats people through out the entire book and thinks it's okay.
5. Nikki is all but a shoe-in to the Junior League until PLOT TWIST, Pilar was building Nikki up so she could tear Frede down!
6. Pilar is still jealous of Frede for un-known reasons but now they are BFFs with Nikki again because of shenanigans.
7. Frede treats this artist as a prop for almost the entire book (calling him my artist and constantly bemoaning his super gayness because all male artists are guy in her eyes).
8. Then she finds out he's straight and he's in love with her because of course he is! She treats him like crap and keeps their love a secret to the point of driving him away until he, of course, comes back to her because she's just so amazing and he can't live without her and of course everyone loves Frede so she doesn't have to learn a damn thing in order to be a good person just wait for everyone to magically forgive her and apologize to her for doing nothing wrong when she was wrong the enter time and..... whoa, sorry. That point got away from me. In the end Frede has a man "waiting" for her to find herself even though she treated him horribly through out the entire book. She didn't deserve a new love. She didn't earn it.
9. Frede starts to dress and more like Nikki, while still somehow being of so superior to her. It's totally okay for Frede to speak more bluntly and dress in jeans and heels but it's still wrong that Nikki does it.
10. The book ends with Frede driving off to New York City to find herself. Which is in no way hypocritical of her even though she chides Pilar for doing it years ago and views it as a determent to Pilar's reputation and level of sophistication.
Bonus: There's a weirdly racist angle with Frede's maid, Nina. She explains how Nina was *given* to her when she got married even though Nina started out as her parent's maid. She openly admits to ignoring Nina multiple times and assumes Nina's own family can't stand her even though she's never met them. She refers to Nina ans my maid more than by her own name. And Nina's dialogue is written in stereotypical bad grammar English and Frede take time to explain to the reader how Nina doesn't pronounce words correctly. --'Missy Ware, where you been?' my maid asked me, pronouncing been like the legume, bean.-- Why is that necessary? It's condescending on Frede's part and just not needed in order to further the plot.
I'm from Texas. I know women in the Junior League. I know women who aspire to be in the Junior League and none of them are as vapid, shallow, pretentious, and out of touch as the women in this book.
Pass on this one, guys. Go read Good Christian Bitches instead.
Two out of five begrudgingly given stars.
I recommend you don't. The book was terrible, two stars because the plot was coherent and there were not major holes. This book follows the turmoil of Mrs. Fredericka Mercedes Hildebrand Ware who discovers that her husband has been cheating on her, is leaving her, took all her money, and divorced her all without her knowing. You would think that the character would be crazy sympathetic, but she's not. Frede, as her friends call her, grew up crazy rich and is sure to remind you that, while she and her husband are rich, it's all because of her money. We're never told how she managed to make so much money, so I am forced to assume that it was given to her and she doesn't understand that people have to work.
The story is told in first person and that person is as full of herself as can be. She is quick to remind you that she's rich, that she's beautiful, that everyone is jealous of how rich and beautiful she is, she is the envy of her town, and nothing is ever her fault. Her mother is an overbearing crazy person who did not come from a well-to-do family, her father adores he any would kill for her honor, everyone in the Junior League just worships her and if they don't it's because they're jealous, and poor Frede has to live next door to some couple that just came into their money (through hard work) and they just don't understand the rules of society life. Oh, and she apparently knows three words of French and uses those three constantly to make her sound smart of sophisticated.
I cannot stress enough how obnoxious the main character is. I'm okay with unlikable and unreliable narrators. I'm good with flawed, human, main characters. I cannot stand prissy, know it all, condescending, arrogant bitches. Frede is such a person.
There are literal lists of dos and don'ts spelled out in the book as Frede explains just how tre uncooth everyone else is. Pilar, her former best friend who is now just oh-so jealous of her, is apparently some sort of traitor for moving to New York City (which is apparently the worst thing you could possibly do if you're a sophisticated Texas woman) and expanding her horizons before moving back home to Texas. Pilar wears dark clothing *gasp* and keeps her hair short and bluntly cut *the horror!* and is apparently gunning for Frede because Frede is Frede.
Nikki, the new neighbor, is married to a successful lawyer who earned enough money to build a huge mansion is Frede's exclusive gated community and used to be best friends with Frede and Pilar until they all went their seperate ways because Nikki's family was poor and Pilar was jealous of the most popular boy in school liking Frede more than her. Now Nikki of new money has to be given My Fair Lady style lessons in order to get into the Junior League which is the popular table of adult life. Poor little un-sophisticated Nikki does things like wear heels, wear brightly colored clothes, and likes bedazzling. Her lessons consist of learning to wear beige and low heels, wipe her mouth after ever single bite, never to talk about anything of any importance, and not to show her feelings.
Frede is forced to give Nikki the lessons because after her husband ups and leaves her with all her money and his mistress she can't afford a real lawyer, much less let anyone of consequence know what happened to her. She strikes a deal with Nikki's husband who, in exchange for getting his wife into the Junior League, will track down Frede's husband and make everything right again.
I won't bore you with the details of the plot but, of course, everything works out in the end for Frede who doesn't learn a damn thing and is still the egotistical bitch she was in the beginning. She's just also a hypocrite now. And nothing is ever her fault.
1. He husband tricked her into signing away her bank account and divorce papers by simply putting the documents in front of her and she signed without any thought to what she was signing.
2. He did it because he wanted to make his own money and to get out of her shadow.
3. He ran away with his mistress, not because he didn't love Frede anymore, but because he was being black mailed by the mistress. He begs Frede to take him back at the end.
4. Nikki turns into a duplicate of Frede, at which point Frede is appalled at how rudely she is being treated even though that is how she treats people through out the entire book and thinks it's okay.
5. Nikki is all but a shoe-in to the Junior League until PLOT TWIST, Pilar was building Nikki up so she could tear Frede down!
6. Pilar is still jealous of Frede for un-known reasons but now they are BFFs with Nikki again because of shenanigans.
7. Frede treats this artist as a prop for almost the entire book (calling him my artist and constantly bemoaning his super gayness because all male artists are guy in her eyes).
8. Then she finds out he's straight and he's in love with her because of course he is! She treats him like crap and keeps their love a secret to the point of driving him away until he, of course, comes back to her because she's just so amazing and he can't live without her and of course everyone loves Frede so she doesn't have to learn a damn thing in order to be a good person just wait for everyone to magically forgive her and apologize to her for doing nothing wrong when she was wrong the enter time and..... whoa, sorry. That point got away from me. In the end Frede has a man "waiting" for her to find herself even though she treated him horribly through out the entire book. She didn't deserve a new love. She didn't earn it.
9. Frede starts to dress and more like Nikki, while still somehow being of so superior to her. It's totally okay for Frede to speak more bluntly and dress in jeans and heels but it's still wrong that Nikki does it.
10. The book ends with Frede driving off to New York City to find herself. Which is in no way hypocritical of her even though she chides Pilar for doing it years ago and views it as a determent to Pilar's reputation and level of sophistication.
Bonus: There's a weirdly racist angle with Frede's maid, Nina. She explains how Nina was *given* to her when she got married even though Nina started out as her parent's maid. She openly admits to ignoring Nina multiple times and assumes Nina's own family can't stand her even though she's never met them. She refers to Nina ans my maid more than by her own name. And Nina's dialogue is written in stereotypical bad grammar English and Frede take time to explain to the reader how Nina doesn't pronounce words correctly. --'Missy Ware, where you been?' my maid asked me, pronouncing been like the legume, bean.-- Why is that necessary? It's condescending on Frede's part and just not needed in order to further the plot.
I'm from Texas. I know women in the Junior League. I know women who aspire to be in the Junior League and none of them are as vapid, shallow, pretentious, and out of touch as the women in this book.
Pass on this one, guys. Go read Good Christian Bitches instead.
Two out of five begrudgingly given stars.
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