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)

Ughhhh

The main character is so unlikeable you almost don’t feel sorry for her. She comes off as such a weak character. I love this author but this book fell completely flat for me.

Skip this one! Boring!

I had high expectations for this book given it praise and having loved The Devil Wears Prada. The narrator is awful, there's hardly any inflection in her voice. The book is boring, I'm 2/3 of the way through and hardly anything has happened yet. Its been a waste of time and money.

Eh, kinda typical of Weisberger

This is Lauren Weisberger's fourth novel and to some extent either you like her style or you don't. The big splash of her first book is that it was a barely disguised roman a clef. In this book Weisberger wants the reader to know she's BEEN to the Chateau Marmont and it is awesome. I'm sure she's met some musicians but she clearly doesn't know enough to really write a character that is actually a burgeoning musician. (Or a nutritionist). If you are a Weisberger fan, this book will be up your alley. Anyone not already familiar with her writing (other than Devil Wears Prada) should avoid.

Characters were unlikeable

I had to stop with 2 hours left. The story was grating . I don’t even care how it ends

Ho Hum..........

It may have been a lot better with a decent reader doing the job, but Merritt Weaver should give up any further aspirations of being a reader, let alone an actor. The story sputtered and stuttered on until, yes, I just had to turn it off. I tried, I really did!

Horrible naration and slow story line.

The narator is dreadful and overpronounced every word. Story was also slow. Deadly combination

SO bad....

This book needs to be abridged....like, NOW. I'm trying to stay committed until the end, but I just don't know if I'll be able to make it. It's so Boring! Not only that, the writing is pretty bad. The author isn't great with the segues into new chapters/scenes/dialogue. Twice already, I've had to rewind, thinking that I skipped a chapter by accident. But no....it's just a jarring transition into a new scenario--kind of wierd.

The narrator is pretty bad too. Sounds like a first time reader--doesn't really give life to any character. Also, bc she doesn't really distinguish between different male and female voices, it's a little hard to know whose voice she's in at any given moment.

Don't waste your time.

Poor reviews for a reason!

“Last Night at Chateau Marmont” was a huge disappointment. The story never really took off. The segues were so abrupt I thought the audible player skipped chapters. The narrator (Merritt Wever) has a monotone quality to her voice and didn’t QUITE engage in the various characters of the story. I attempted to return this title (not having listened through to the end) but Audible didn’t allow the return for some reason. Don’t waste your credits or money on this title.

Couldn't wait to get to the end.

I enjoyed Lauren's smart witty writing and couldn't stop in the middle. That being said, I had a hard time stomaching the self depricating, too sweet, whiny Brook. She had an opportunity to hold onto her dignity and be a supportive loveing wife but she comes off as unable to handle what can truly be a difficult and stressful rise to celebrity. This is a smart women who is written to crumble on impact crying about not spending time with her very talented busy husband to the detriment of her own career. I don't know that I will read another Lauren Weishenberger book with this as example of how she writes women. Wally Lamb, penis and all, writes women made of stronger stuff.

Sophmoric rock & roll fantasy

Ultimately this was a boring and juvenile story of quasi over-priviledged people living out their fantasies. The question is: "would anyone REALLY care about these people?" The answer is most definately NO. The main character's (name already forgotten) continually whined over wanting to stay in a committed relationship while working professionally - while also dealing with her husbands newly discovered fun-filled career. Quick call the Disney people for that ever popular "happily ever after" ending. Mind numbing DRIBBLE!