Last Night at Chateau Marmont

A Novel

By: Lauren Weisberger

Narrated by: Merritt Wever

Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

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

Brooke was drawn to the soulful, enigmatic Julian Alter the very first time she heard him perform “Hallelujah” at a dark East Village dive bar. Now five years married, Brooke balances two jobs—as a nutritionist at NYU Hospital and as a consultant to an Upper East Side girls’ school, where privilege gone wrong and disordered eating run rampant—in order to help support her husband’s dream of making it in the music world. Things are looking up when, after years of playing Manhattan clubs and toiling as an A&R intern, Julian finally gets signed by Sony. Although no one’s promising that the album will ever hit the airwaves, Julian is still dedicated to logging in long hours at the recording studio. All that changes after Julian is asked to perform on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno—and is catapulted to stardom, literally overnight.

Amazing opportunities begin popping up almost daily—a new designer wardrobe, a tour with Maroon 5, even a Grammy performance. At first, the newfound fame is fun—who wouldn’t want to stay at the Chateau Marmont or visit the set of one of television’s hottest shows? Yet it seems that Brooke’s sweet husband—the man who can’t handle hot showers and wears socks to bed—is increasingly absent, even on those rare nights they’re home together. When rumors about Brooke and Julian swirl in the tabloid magazines, she begins to question the truth of her marriage and is forced to finally come to terms with what she thinks she wants—and what she actually needs.

©2010 Lauren Weisberger (P)2010 Simon & Schuster

Critic reviews

"Weisberger has insightful takes about the price of success in our celebrity-obsessed culture." ( Publishers Weekly)

Another great Weisberger novel

I'm really enjoying this story and love the characters, Brooke and Nola. This is right up there with her other novels. I love the humor and the serious lines as well. The only thing I can't enjoy is this reader - it's 'ok' but she really doesn't enunciate some words and it sounds rather unprofessional for a book reader. Example: "impordent" instead of pronouncing "important". Other than that, it's a fun book.

Merritt Wever was Better than the Story!

Don't get me wrong. I like to while away a few hours with chick lit as much as the next girl. I have read Lauren Weisberger before and find her romps just the right mix of fun and frolic. That said, this wasn't my favorite -- but it wasn't bad. I liked learning a bit about the music business, and getting to think about my own tendencies to read the headlines of tabloids at the grocery store. Howver, the story just felt a little bit under developed overall.

That said, Merritt Wever and something about her tone sort of constantly imbues such a real quality to Brooke. As her husband Julian is thrust into super stardom, you can hear Brooke screaming through Merritt's narration ... "are you kidding me with this man-child behavior right now?"

The book seemed to wrap up kind of neatly for me after a requisite period of struggle, but I'm not sure Brooke & Julian actually evolved as much as they just made it through enough pages to be released from their suffering.

One highlight of the book are the song lyrics which really gave a sense of believability to the story of the "one hit wonder," and I am sure I'm not alone in thinking someone should run with them and create a complimentary hit to accompany the book! So that is a real fun element of the book.

Good story but...

The story is good but if you don’t like the sound of people’s lips smacking or the sound of people swallowing this book might not be the one for you. I enjoyed the story but found my self distracted frequently by these things. Other than that it was good nothing phenomenal its a great light read.

Great book, bad narration

I love Lauren Weisberger, this person should not be reading her stuff. The way she pronounces important as “imporDant” is awful

Very entertaining! Good narrator

I've listened to this twice and it kept me intrigued each time. The narrator is very good and the story is interesting. I listen to audiobooks when I run and I definitely looked forward to listening to this one!

Great Read

Very entertaining, I enjoyed the story and the characters a lot. I could not stop listening (as apposed to could not stop reading, ha) I went for many jogs, cleaned and organized my room, cooked and many other things so I could keep listening!

Interesting story

I wasn't sure if I was interested in listening to it but I'm glad I did!
It really speaks to how tabloids are nothing but trash and gossip.

LIke watching TV, very entertaining!

Any additional comments?

A light listen, but very entertaining. Who doesn't love fantasizing about what it would be like for their boyfriend to become rock stars overnight? This is Weisberger at her best -- exposing an insider's view on a glamorous world most people can only dream about.

Meh

If you like Lauren Weisberger, this one is all that lovely, sumptuous joy and then an abrupt disappointment. Having been an avid fan and thoroughly enjoying the fanciful nature of her novels, the ending left a lot to be desired. It was almost as if it was cut off midsentence with some sort of half baked attempt to finish. We want more of what you do so well, Lauren! I don't want to do a spoiler alert but it left me a little miffed. All in all it won't be a waste of your day ...but don't plan on logging lots of hours for a satisfying read.

Bad Narration

Nothing ruins a good audiobook faster than a terrible narrator. I almost couldn't get through it but thankfully I did-very good book.