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Last Night at Chateau Marmont: A Novel
Last Night at Chateau Marmont: A Novel
Last Night at Chateau Marmont: A Novel
Audiobook12 hours

Last Night at Chateau Marmont: A Novel

Written by Lauren Weisberger

Narrated by Merritt Wever

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Devil Wears Prada, a compulsively readable novel about a woman whose struggling singer-songwriter husband is catapulted to fame, dragging them both onto the pages of celebrity gossip magazines—and changing their marriage forever.

Brooke loved reading the dishy celebrity gossip rag Last Night. That is, until her marriage became a weekly headline...

For five years, she’s worked two jobs to support her husband’s dream of making it in the music world. Finally, after countless gigs at Manhattan dive bars and toiling as an A&R intern, the soulful, enigmatic Julian Alter gets signed by Sony, where he logs long hours in the recording studio with no promise of success. But when he is invited to perform on a national late-night talk show, he is catapulted to stardom—literally overnight.

At first the newfound fame is fun—who wouldn’t want to stay at the Chateau Marmont or love being treated like rock royalty? But as Brooke’s sweet husband becomes increasingly absent and tabloid rumors swirl, Brooke begins to question the truth about their marriage and is forced to finally come to terms with what she thinks she wants—and what she actually needs.

Editor's Note

Fame & fortune strike…

The bestselling author of “The Devil Wears Prada” infuses this Hollywood fame and fortune story with her signature charm and pathos.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateAug 17, 2010
ISBN9781442304499
Author

Lauren Weisberger

Lauren Weisberger is the author of The Devil Wears Prada, which spent more than a year on the New York Times hardcover and paperback bestseller lists, and become a huge success as a film. Her other novels have also been bestsellers. She lives in Connecticut with her family.

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Reviews for Last Night at Chateau Marmont

Rating: 4.035714285714286 out of 5 stars
4/5

56 ratings14 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Again, I really enjoyed this author. I felt this book did a nice job of developing the characters and helping you understand their relationship. It was funny, an interesting look into the music industry, and had a strong leading female character. Also, I was glad the ending didnt go the way I predicted. Great read!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Cover Thoughts: I hate the title of this! I think it's verbose and it made me spend the majority of the book wondering when Julian is going to cheat. The rest of the cover though is okay. The fact that the shoe is most definitely a Louboutin clues me in into the genre. I also really like the placement of the keys. That to me shows that Brooke won't tolerate whatever happened "Last Night at Chateau Marmont."

    Why did I read this? I own and have read Lauren's other three novels and have LOVED them so when I discovered this gem on sale I knew I needed it!

    Thoughts: I have spent many a daydream on what it would be like to date/marry a rock star. In my daydreams it goes a little something like this: he serenades me on a daily basis, never strays, surprises me with trips and other famous people and life is bliss. Books like this ruin that daydream for me, because life is nowhere near as blissful as a dream. Weisberger does a really great job at reminding you of all the little details you forget about in your daydreams. In real life your rock star husband travels nonstop. He is surrounded by all kinds of people, many of whom you may never meet or may hate. The paparazzi will surround you and provide you with a daily headache and a contract-less reality-TV show. Additionally you will never be able to take people at face value ever again. Everybody always wants something. Life is actually quite the opposite of bliss.

    Brooke, who I picture in my head as Isla Fisher, goes from being a normal person just trying to make ends meet to the wife of the latest sensation (think Gotye and probably the only song you know of his and you get just how big Julian is). At first life is exciting. She gets to travel with her boy and gets to see him in his element the only foreseeable downside is spending time with J's jerky agent, Leo. Then some of Leo seems to rub off on J. It's a slow yet noticeable process and I couldn't help but feel offended for Brooke. Lauren writes in such a way that you feel like you are actually involved and invested in what is happening. There was many a moment where I wanted to reach into the book and give Brooke a big hug while ripping Leo and J and new one!

    While I enjoyed the story there were a few moments that made me pause and not in a good way. These moments were really just things that didn't quite make sense to me. For example, the first big break J gets is in LA. First night there and all of sudden they are hanging out with Bon Jovi, who lives in Jersey and who probably wouldn't be hanging out on the Jay Leno set, so how did they all meet up? It just seems like it's too good to be true.

    My second and I guess final issue has to do with tension. Throughout this novel there is a building tension in B & J's relationship and also with the paparazzi. I thought that the tension surrounding their relationship was handled rather well. The paparazzi tension, not so much. See there are all these hints that someone close to them is leaking information. I wanted it all to really hit the fan, but it just sort of made the fan sputter for about a half a second. The answer was revealed in passing and it wasn't as awesome as the tension and the hints had made it out to be.

    Overall, I really enjoyed this novel. It's a nice way to relax and I think it would make a pretty awesome chick flick!

    Advisory: This does have a little bit of language. One or two f-bombs is all I can recall. No graphic adult situations. No drug use or mention of drugs. Some nasty in-laws which is why there is some drinking.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It wasn't a bad read. I picked it up because I loved Devil wears Prada and really liked her other novels. The only thing I didn't really like about it was that Brooke was unwilling to tell her husband what she was really feeling. I thought she was shielding him too much. Personally, I think it would have been healthier for their marriage if she had been straight forward (but gentle) with him right off the bat.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Brooke & Julian have been living a relatively normal life for the past six years... that is, until Julian becomes an overnight celebrity when his music career takes off. Thrust into the fancy life of Hollywood's elite, Brooke finds herself at odds with herself & her husband when she reads in the tabloids what happened last night at Chateau Marmont. Will Julian's overnight celebrity status be enough or will this bump in the road lead to an uneventful split? Last Night at Chateau Marmont was a really good read for me. I loved all of the characters, even the little snobby one's that roam the Hollywood scene, but still, I thought the characters were amazing. I am a big fan of Julian & Brooke. I am going to be honest with you, when I picked up this book, I read the back cover & when I read the names Julian & Brooke, I immediately thought of One Tree Hill. So, yeah, now you know why I picked up the book. But I'm glad I did. Brooke is your average female, worrying about if she looks good enough, tells herself its okay to eat that really yummy looking cookie, since you walked all the way to the dang bakers just to buy it! And maintain a job, wait.... scratch that! Maintain two jobs! For her man! If that ain't love I don't know what is. This book was a bit of a roller coaster, but not those scary ones that practically rip your heart out by slowly climbing its way to its highest peek and keep you dangling at the top for the worst 30 seconds of your life. But this one did keep me wanting to know what Brooke would do next, how she would take all this fame in & how she would go about it. Likes & dislikes... hmm. I liked the relationship between Julian & Brooke, how they are with each other. Also, I liked the ending, it was more than what I was expecting. Which I won't go into detail here, for the sake of readers who haven't read the book yet. I can't really say I disliked anything, other than the slime ball manager of Julian's, but other than that I didn't really dislike anything. This book was a really good read, and I'm glad I picked it up! If you haven't read it yet, you should. I haven't read anything else by Weisberger, but I did watch The Devil Wears Prada and I thought that was really good.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Brooke and Julian are a young couple, they have been married for six years. Julian is a musician who suddenly is noticed and their life changes almost over night. Brooke has sacrificed to support them both over the years, but now struggles with following her dreams and career over that of her husband. There is scandal and publicity. Each of them have to deal with this and see if their relationship can weather the storm, and if they can find a way to work it out together. It is a sweet love story....chick lit.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Lauren Weisberger received critical acclaim and tremendous public notoriety when she penned The Devil Wears Prada. The success of that novel, and ultimately the movie version starring Meryl Streep, left Weisberger with some pretty big (and fashionable) shoes to fill. She is back with Last Night at Chateau Marmont and in her latest release proves that she can more than succeed in living up to her own hype. This book is a more personal, emotionally layered story about a woman whose life is thrown in a completely unexpected direction when her husband achieves sudden fame and success. With the perks of their new found celebrity status come obstacles and doubts that challenge their relationship and threaten everything they have built together. This is a real and honest story with authentic themes and an entertaining celebrity circus that keeps the pages turning faster than you can say Louboutin.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I've never read a book by Weisberger before, though I have seen the popular movie based on her debut novel. I didn't know if she would actually have talent or if she was just another snarky person whose success came from vilifying people she knows. Well, I figured it out. She does have some talent, and if she works on it, she might one day write truly great stories.She did a great job with the characters. I felt bad for Brooke at times during the story, but also felt that she was just as much to blame for her relationship problems as Julian. She was as uncompromising and had just as many unrealistic expectations as her husband. Of course, I could just as easily say that about many real world people who expect their friends and family to be perfect or to always do the right thing, and who view themselves as being infallible. Basically, they were very human. The fact that Weisberger made the characters so human was actually charming. Most writers don't do that.The actual story development was the part that I felt was lacking. Weisberger was telling a story about how a relationship basically falls apart and how you realize how much you love someone who can't always be there, but she would skip ahead and never complete some scenes. It was almost like reading a summary of what happened, instead of a story. That part was the most disappointing thing. If she could have made the story more complete in that one aspect, then I think it would have been a lot better.The book was far from perfect, but chick lit is never exactly highbrow entertainment. There were parts of the story that were lacking more than others, but it was a fairly fun (sometimes sad) read. It could have been better, but it could have been worse. Overall, I enjoyed it and would recommend it to someone who wanted a book that didn't require a lot of thinking.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Wasn't for me at all - when will I learn? Good that I felt it before I spent to much time on it.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I loved The Devil Wears Prada, but this didn't live up to it. It's slow at points, and the character development is weak, outside of Brooke and Julien.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Not too bad. Perfect quick read in between heavier choices....
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An emotional and touching story about two normal everyday people, who experience way more than 15 minutes of fame, when Brooke?s husband is thrust into the celebrity world after a successful Leno performance. Brooke is forced to question all the relationships in her life (for those leaking information to the press) and to the relationship with her best friend/husband, Julian. She?s told daily through tabloids and her husband?s people that she can?t pass muster with the celebrities Julian is surrounded by. Great story about what happens when one part of a couple is a celebrity and the other is just a ?civilian
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Lauren Weisberger is one of the queens of chick lit- her first novel, The Devil Wears Prada, was a huge success and lead to a movie of the same name. Ever since then, she?s been trying to recapture the same Prada magic. Everyone Worth Knowing was good, Chasing Harry Winston I enjoyed (even if a lot of others didn?t) and now there?s Last Night at Chateau Marmont, which I bought without knowing a single detail of the plot.I thought this book would be about celebrities, wild parties and shopping in LA. It does include all those things, but more as a sideline than the main plot. The plot focuses on Brooke, a dietician (yay for picking a heroine with a career) in New York, working furiously to support her struggling musician husband Julian as he tries to make an album that Sony want to publish. Brooke is constantly tired but has the utmost faith in Julian to make their dream come true. Because this is fiction, Julian?s wildest dreams do come true and he is catapulted to stardom overnight. Enter flying across the country, celebrity parties and paparazzi. Brooke?s work (which is very important to her) suffers as her role as Mrs Julian Adler increases (you can?t chuck a sickie when you?re attending the Grammys) and then the papparazzi deliver the final blow- Julian with a girl at Chateau Marmont. Does Brooke stand by him or give up the celebrity life?I found Brooke?s character quite insipid and whiny. We?re told repeatedly how important her career is to her but she doesn?t come across that way. She accepts the belief of others readily and seems to be able to make few decisions unaided. A stronger female lead may have changed the ending of this novel. Julian, described as ?John Mayer?-like (maybe a little too telling) comes across as increasingly insincere and again, incapable of making a decision, just going with the flow. This is what makes the ending unbelievable to me (sweet, but seemingly out of place for these characters).There?s a lot of name and product dropping here but it doesn?t reach the heights of Prada for me.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Again, I really enjoyed this author. I felt this book did a nice job of developing the characters and helping you understand their relationship. It was funny, an interesting look into the music industry, and had a strong leading female character. Also, I was glad the ending didnt go the way I predicted. Great read!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Sweet read, loved the ending. I like the exploration of marriage at a time when two committed people suddenly realize their biggest dream, and find out that reaching the goal is only the beginning.