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Spin (2009)

by Robert Rave(Favorite Author)

3.3 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0312544367 (ISBN13: 9780312544362)

languge

English

genre

Humor

publisher

St. Martin's Press

review 1: I first heard of Lizzie Grubman in 2001 in a feature in the mediaguardian which reported on her being charged with second degree assault after she drove her car into a crowd of people outside a nightclub. Grubman was THE PR lady in New York and had referrals from the creme a la creme including Madonna who Grubman’s hot shot entertainment lawyer father represented. Madonna famously quoted that if LIzzie has as many balls as her father then she was a real tough cookie. Love her or hate her (and most people do seem to hate her) Grubman is indeed a very colourful lady who is loose, brash and forceful. This takes me to Spin which is the story of Taylor Green, a midwestern boy who moves to NYC and gets a job with Jennie Weinstein, the city’s most prolific and notorious PR gu... moreru who is loose, brash and also forceful. There is huge speculation that Jennie is based on none other than Lizzie Grubman who Robert Rave worked for but he strongly denies this. Anyway back to the book, well needless to say Taylor does a cock a doop and begins to congratulate himself in landing such a plum job but sadly he is unaware that his nightmare us about to begin. For as well as writing press releases, organising press conferences and handling lucrative PR accounts, Taylor has to run the odd errand such as buying drugs for his boss and bribing high profile journalists into dropping salacious stories about his clients in replace of exclusive stories. However, the majority of his time is spent shielding from Jennie’s tyrannical rages. Part of him wants to leave and put Jennie’s abuse behind him but his severe upgrade in lifestyle ie the lure of restaurant openings, fashion shows, close access to celebrities as well designer clothes prove too much.Spin’s comparison with The Devil Wears Prada is inevitable hence slogans such as ‘The Devil Dubs Prada’ and ‘The male version of The Devil Wears Prada’. Except that while The Devil Wears Prada was a complete and utter snore of a book, Spin is utterly captivating. The characters are extremely well developed and I am talking about supporting ones as well as leading. Jennie’s complete and utter wickedness is irresitable in a kind of peverse way and the character of Taylor does the thing that the main protagonist is supposed to do in a book – he talks to you. Taylor is ambitious, hard working, clever, compassionate but also at times weak, lacking in judgement, power hungry and greedy but he lives and breathes in this book which makes you root for him. Overall Spin is a great read and gives you a superb insight into the dirty dealings that go on in the world of PR. There are plans for Spin to be made into a film with Robert Rave endorsing Zac Effron to play Taylor, nothing has been confirmed as yet but well you know Hollywood.
review 2: Taylor Green has lived a sheltered life. He is taken by surprise when he moves to the Big Apple and gets hired on as a Junior Account Executive at the notorious public relations company of Jennifer Weinstein. Jennifer is the biggest diva. She just may be bigger than the clients she represents. It isn’t long before Taylor gets swept up into the catty world of backstabbing, rumors, parties, and the all around kookiness that is the pr world of celebrities. Spin is Mr. Rave's debut novel. Spin is a combination of Friends and Sex in the City. It had that witty humor that I love, in addition to fabulous clothes and lots of juicy gossip. There were times when it felt like the characters were having weird acid trip moments. Which they probably were as it is easy when you are famous or hang around famous people to have access to all kinds of stuff. Though those times made for some very interesting moments…like the time when Taylor came walking out of a woman’s bathroom stall in high heels. I did find some of the characters to be a little too much into themselves for me. Taylor seemed like a likeable guy but I wanted to see him emerge more and stand up for himself. He did do this towards the end. I hope in the next book that he is as big as a persona as Jennifer, even though Ms. Weinstein is a b*tch. less

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