Beautiful Wasps Having Sex

by Dori Carter

"Producers are like feudal lords exercising droit du seigneur; they all want to have first crack at a promising virgin script. And like the poor young maiden, once a producer gets hold of a script, spreads its pages, and tosses it aside, it's never as valuable again." Speaking from experience is bruised, inveterate screenwriter Frankie Jordan, who spares nothing and no one in her razor-sharp vivisection of Hollywood -- a town with rituals, ceremonies, and sacrifices as strange as any savage culture. Not that the rest of Frankie's life is any less perilous. She's turning forty, her husband wants a divorce, men aren't noticing her anymore, and all she can think about is the script she can't finish. Along comes Jonathan Prince, a confident, Ivy League twenty-four-year-old agent trainee in butter-soft loafers who glides into Frankie's messy life. In a town that takes glee in the failure of others, Jonathan becomes her biggest fan, the only one who seems to recognize her brilliance. The lunacy of trying to sell her script is described in harrowing detail and perfect-pitch dialogue. But it's when her script finally does sell that the real nightmare begins. Frankie's career starts its painful descent as Jonathan's takes off, leaving Frankie completely unprepared for his cunning betrayal. Trying to discover why Hollywood attracts and rewards so many "little monsters," she's compelled to confront how Jews feel about themselves in a town that both loves and hates its own invention -- the beautiful WASP. Frankie ultimately comes to understand the forces that created Hollywood, Jonathan Prince, and herself. Biting, smart, and uncompromising, Dori Carter's Beautiful WASPs Having Sex is as truthful as any novel written about Hollywood, a modern classic that will stand beside The Player and What Makes Sammy Run as a revealing window on the madness behind the movies.

Genres: Fiction

336 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2000

Reviews

[Jesse Summers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book years ago after someone in a bookstore recommended it to me as a light read, and I still wonder if she was recommending it to me as a joke. I just remembered it the other day, and the title obviously made it easy to find again. It's got a couple of really great scenes, and the rest is a blur, so maybe it's a 2-star book that brought back 4-star memories.

[Alisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Notes for me:
Well, this is a fun one. I needed some escapism while I worried over Jack and this fit the bill. Frankie has a keen eye for the elaborate construction of other people's facades. Yet, she never seems overly judgmental or snide, just curious about how people tick. She is pretty fair with her own faults--she nails her own pathetic hope that Jonathan will champion her script even as she confronts him about his thievery of Mai Lei's script. She voices exactly how I feel about still pounding my head against the walls of this business until I'm bloody--if I give up now without any success, I've been wasting all those years I already put in. Not necessarily true, but it feels true.

I read the book with a Gentile perspective. I never really thought I had one until I read this book. The authors characters spend a lot of time examining what it means to be Jewish. I felt I had a small window into a rather cool club I don't belong to.


Carter creates some wonderfully memorable characters. Miriam, Hershel, Sparky, Jerry, Freyda. They all come alive with vibrant detail. They all seems so much more wild than any real people I've met in the business. Still, I'm not dead yet. :)

Carter lives in SB according to the book jacket. Would be curious to meet her one day.

[Regina · Rating 4 out of 5]

GENIUS!!! Dori Carter we need to meet for lunch, please!

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

i thought this book was pretty good. really it's only saving grace was that i thought it was hillarious. it had some great yiddish and jewish dialogue. you might only really enjoy this if "you're a big jew" (as my roommate would say, hehe).

there was no really distinguishable story line with a clear conflict, climax, and resolution. so if you're looking for a book just to follow some characters through a period in their lives, you might really enjoy this book. but you'll especially appreciate it if you know any alter kockers that kvetch to each other all the live long day. and if you didn't understand that last sentence, this book is NOT for you, hehe.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe if I was Jewish, lived or had lived in LA, or worked in entertainment I'd like this book more. I thought the relationship with Jonathan felt flat in about the last third of the book. Not that I needed a huge blowout, but it fizzled. Then she and the 'new guy' (name withheld so as not to be a spoiler) fizzled with no real explanation. I felt like I was reading an abridged version.

Oh, and the all caps thing throughout the entire book for people speaking with emphasis was . . . eh. I mean, I guess it got the point across, but it was hard to read over and over again.

[Anita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange title and a little off putting but it all makes sense after you get into the book. Not wasp as in flying insect. I found this book fascinating and very honest. The world of screen writing in Hollywood is a rough and cruel one, on top one minute and not the next. It is dog eat dog and not a place for someone with moral values it would seem. An interesting read and written in a very readable style. I enjoyed it.

[Russell · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book promises the discussion of an intriguing issue, how jewish identity interacts with the jewish writer's portrayal of the american template, the WASP.

The book does not even deliver this fascinating idea, though. It just ends up being another novelized memoir about the zany things that happen in hollywood.

[Desirée · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admit it. I bought this book almost solely based on the title alone. Once I read it though I was glad that I saw past the words on the cover.

This book enthralled me and scared me. *LOL* If this is an accurate representation of what Hollywood screenwriters face, I don't know if I ever want to have one of my books made into a movie. It's a mad, mad world.

[G-- · Rating 3 out of 5]

No WASPS, no sex. A cynical look at getting ahead in the entertainment industries [while being Jewish].

[Rebecka · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was an easy summer read and I had no expentations whatsoever. And yes, I bought it because of Chris.

[Notcathy J · Rating 2 out of 5]

"rather entertaining"