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Not Pretty Enough: The Unlikely Triumph of Helen Gurley Brown
A bold and deeply researched biography of a complicated cultural icon.
When Helen Gurley Brown published Sex and the Single Girl in 1962, it sold more than two million copies in just three weeks, presaging the self-help boom and helping to usher in the unapologetic self-affirmation of second wave feminism. Brown declared that it was okay, even imperative, to enjoy sex outside of marriage; that equal rights for women should extend to the bedroom; that meaningful work outside the home was essential for a woman's security and self-esteem. The book catapulted Brown into national renown, cementing her status as a complex and divisive feminist personality. And the ripple effects of her outspokenness about sex and her emphasis on friendships between women can still be seen today, on TV shows like Sex and the City and Girls, and in the magazine world as well. When she died in 2012, her obituary appeared on the front page of The New York Times, which noted that "the look of women's magazines today . . . is due in no small part to her influence." She may not always have been loved--but she was always talked about.
Brown's life story--a classic American rags-to-riches tale--is just as juicy as her controversial books. In this wonderful new biography, the writer and reporter Gerri Hirshey traces Brown's path from deep in the Arkansas Ozarks to her wild single years in Los Angeles, from the New York magazine world to her Hollywood adventures with her film producer husband. Along the way she became the highest-paid female ad copywriter on the West Coast, and transformed Hearst's failing literary magazine, Cosmopolitan, into the female-oriented global juggernaut it is today. Full of firsthand accounts of Brown from some of her closest friends, including Liz Smith, Gloria Vanderbilt, Barbara Walters, and more, as well as those whose paths she brushed--her 1939 prom date, a sorority sister from business school, Cosmo cover girls like Beverly Johnson and Brooke Shields--and writing from the woman herself, Not Pretty Enough is a vital biography that shines new light on the life of one of the most incomparable and indelible women of the twentieth century.
When Helen Gurley Brown published Sex and the Single Girl in 1962, it sold more than two million copies in just three weeks, presaging the self-help boom and helping to usher in the unapologetic self-affirmation of second wave feminism. Brown declared that it was okay, even imperative, to enjoy sex outside of marriage; that equal rights for women should extend to the bedroom; that meaningful work outside the home was essential for a woman's security and self-esteem. The book catapulted Brown into national renown, cementing her status as a complex and divisive feminist personality. And the ripple effects of her outspokenness about sex and her emphasis on friendships between women can still be seen today, on TV shows like Sex and the City and Girls, and in the magazine world as well. When she died in 2012, her obituary appeared on the front page of The New York Times, which noted that "the look of women's magazines today . . . is due in no small part to her influence." She may not always have been loved--but she was always talked about.
Brown's life story--a classic American rags-to-riches tale--is just as juicy as her controversial books. In this wonderful new biography, the writer and reporter Gerri Hirshey traces Brown's path from deep in the Arkansas Ozarks to her wild single years in Los Angeles, from the New York magazine world to her Hollywood adventures with her film producer husband. Along the way she became the highest-paid female ad copywriter on the West Coast, and transformed Hearst's failing literary magazine, Cosmopolitan, into the female-oriented global juggernaut it is today. Full of firsthand accounts of Brown from some of her closest friends, including Liz Smith, Gloria Vanderbilt, Barbara Walters, and more, as well as those whose paths she brushed--her 1939 prom date, a sorority sister from business school, Cosmo cover girls like Beverly Johnson and Brooke Shields--and writing from the woman herself, Not Pretty Enough is a vital biography that shines new light on the life of one of the most incomparable and indelible women of the twentieth century.
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First published July 12, 2016
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About the author
Gerri Hirshey
7 books17 followersGerri Hirshey is a journalist and author with 25 years of experience in newspapers, magazines and book publishing. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Esquire, GQ, and many more.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
July 23, 2016
As a white male of Medicare age, I may not seem the ideal candidate to review “Not Pretty Enough,” by Gerri Hirshey, the first in-depth biography of Helen Gurley Brown, the best-selling author and legendary editor of Cosmopolitan Magazine. But this is personal. Having spent a week with Helen as her book PR rep--the event was reported by Joan Didion in the Saturday Evening Post in 1965 (http://bit.ly/29RZGQS) and nearly 50 years later by me in 2012 (http://bit.ly/29RWQLX)--this in-depth multifaceted biography captures the complex woman I knew, albeit briefly. More important, this massively researched book properly demonstrates why Helen deserves recognition today as an important figure in the women’s movement of the last century.
She writes about a plain-Jane woman with an emotionally complex family background who worked her way from the obscurity of a tiny Arkansas town to global celebrity. It shows in detail how she worked hard at everything she did and used everything she had to become the success she wanted to be. The book’s title says much about her: her deep, wounding self-doubts about herself (a self-described “mouseburger”), her drive to do with what she had and succeed in spite of it, and for a long while, her pitch-perfect understanding of how many women were just like her—an understanding that she parlayed into a series of successful books—the most famous being “Sex and The Single Girl” and her editorial leadership at Cosmopolitan Magazine which in many ways turned out to be her personal vision of herself writ large for 32 years, and read by millions of women throughout the world.
Her success was not a fluke. The book give voice to her rise from a secretary to become one of the advertising world’s top copywriters-one of the few women to achieve that distinction in her era. It also shows how her partnership with her husband, famed motion picture producer David Brown (“Jaws,” “A Few Good men,” “Cocoon”) helped her shaped her messages both in her books and in the pages of Cosmo.
Then there was sex. Helen loved sex. To say she was unafraid to say, and do, sex on her own terms would be an understatement. She was quoted as saying to her readers, “Perhaps you will reconsider the idea that sex without marriage is dirty.” That was gritty stuff in mid-century America.
There’s no sniggering in the book about her sexual proclivities. Helen slept with a lot of men by everyone’s account, but Ms. Hirsey’s portrayal of that part of Helen’s life shows a woman fully in control of her life and sexuality, and if sex helped her get her to where she was, it was her decision: no victim here. She was more a 21st Century woman in her sexual views than a mid-20th Century product she actually was.
I don’t pretend to be a student of the women’s movement, but from what I understand, Helen deserves her place in the pantheon of women who changed America’s attitude about the role of women in society. While she doesn’t have the feminist cachet of Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and others, Ms. Hirshey makes it clear she well deserves inclusion in those ranks—but on her own terms.
The book is both well-writtten and incredibly well sourced. You have the feeling that the writer seemingly talked to everyone who knew her (even me!) and was able to virtually crawl inside Helen’s skin and give voice to who she really was. She apparently burrowed into virtually every person still alive who knew her, as well as every memoir, every written archive available (except, as she notes, some key documents gripped tightly by the Hearst Corporation, Cosmopolitan’s publisher). Indeed, the biggest flaw in the book is that she filled too many pages with background profiles not only of Helen but her husband, and countless other friends and lovers who popped up in Helen’s life.
Her joys and flaws are well documented. She loved dancing, she was a terribly picky eater, she was an exercise fanatic. The men who adored her were many, and she in turn made them feel as though they were the only person in the room when she turned her attention on them. (For the record, I was not one of them.)
The book succeeds brilliantly in the earlier part of Helen’s life from her childhood through the massive success of “Sex And The Single Girl” through her redefining the soul of Cosmo and her marriage to David. It’s in her later years, and even her death, where the book loses much of its steam. But for anyone, woman or man, with an interest in the latter half of the 20th Century, or whose lives were affected by the women’s movement, Cosmo, or by Helen herself, this book is a must-read. Highly recommended.
She writes about a plain-Jane woman with an emotionally complex family background who worked her way from the obscurity of a tiny Arkansas town to global celebrity. It shows in detail how she worked hard at everything she did and used everything she had to become the success she wanted to be. The book’s title says much about her: her deep, wounding self-doubts about herself (a self-described “mouseburger”), her drive to do with what she had and succeed in spite of it, and for a long while, her pitch-perfect understanding of how many women were just like her—an understanding that she parlayed into a series of successful books—the most famous being “Sex and The Single Girl” and her editorial leadership at Cosmopolitan Magazine which in many ways turned out to be her personal vision of herself writ large for 32 years, and read by millions of women throughout the world.
Her success was not a fluke. The book give voice to her rise from a secretary to become one of the advertising world’s top copywriters-one of the few women to achieve that distinction in her era. It also shows how her partnership with her husband, famed motion picture producer David Brown (“Jaws,” “A Few Good men,” “Cocoon”) helped her shaped her messages both in her books and in the pages of Cosmo.
Then there was sex. Helen loved sex. To say she was unafraid to say, and do, sex on her own terms would be an understatement. She was quoted as saying to her readers, “Perhaps you will reconsider the idea that sex without marriage is dirty.” That was gritty stuff in mid-century America.
There’s no sniggering in the book about her sexual proclivities. Helen slept with a lot of men by everyone’s account, but Ms. Hirsey’s portrayal of that part of Helen’s life shows a woman fully in control of her life and sexuality, and if sex helped her get her to where she was, it was her decision: no victim here. She was more a 21st Century woman in her sexual views than a mid-20th Century product she actually was.
I don’t pretend to be a student of the women’s movement, but from what I understand, Helen deserves her place in the pantheon of women who changed America’s attitude about the role of women in society. While she doesn’t have the feminist cachet of Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and others, Ms. Hirshey makes it clear she well deserves inclusion in those ranks—but on her own terms.
The book is both well-writtten and incredibly well sourced. You have the feeling that the writer seemingly talked to everyone who knew her (even me!) and was able to virtually crawl inside Helen’s skin and give voice to who she really was. She apparently burrowed into virtually every person still alive who knew her, as well as every memoir, every written archive available (except, as she notes, some key documents gripped tightly by the Hearst Corporation, Cosmopolitan’s publisher). Indeed, the biggest flaw in the book is that she filled too many pages with background profiles not only of Helen but her husband, and countless other friends and lovers who popped up in Helen’s life.
Her joys and flaws are well documented. She loved dancing, she was a terribly picky eater, she was an exercise fanatic. The men who adored her were many, and she in turn made them feel as though they were the only person in the room when she turned her attention on them. (For the record, I was not one of them.)
The book succeeds brilliantly in the earlier part of Helen’s life from her childhood through the massive success of “Sex And The Single Girl” through her redefining the soul of Cosmo and her marriage to David. It’s in her later years, and even her death, where the book loses much of its steam. But for anyone, woman or man, with an interest in the latter half of the 20th Century, or whose lives were affected by the women’s movement, Cosmo, or by Helen herself, this book is a must-read. Highly recommended.
December 17, 2016
The Martha Stewart and Helen Gurley Brown's of the world interest me a great deal. In other words, women who made it in a man's world
who came from poverty and had no family connections to help them rise. They did it the old fashioned way by working hard, ambition, determination, talent and more than a bit of cleverness and luck. Luck was in play but you make your own luck by being prepared when opportunity knocks. I admire these women; they were tough and they didn't whine, they just kept getting up every time they were flattened and kept moving forward. The only thing preventing me from giving this 5 stars is that there seemed to be more information regarding Helen's earlier life than after she had made her brand famous through books and her editing Cosmopolitan to great financial success. I thought it a bit odd since I would think there would be more to relate after she became famous. However, I enjoyed it. She was an interesting woman and she certainly made it her way.
who came from poverty and had no family connections to help them rise. They did it the old fashioned way by working hard, ambition, determination, talent and more than a bit of cleverness and luck. Luck was in play but you make your own luck by being prepared when opportunity knocks. I admire these women; they were tough and they didn't whine, they just kept getting up every time they were flattened and kept moving forward. The only thing preventing me from giving this 5 stars is that there seemed to be more information regarding Helen's earlier life than after she had made her brand famous through books and her editing Cosmopolitan to great financial success. I thought it a bit odd since I would think there would be more to relate after she became famous. However, I enjoyed it. She was an interesting woman and she certainly made it her way.
September 25, 2016
I started reading Cosmopolitan magazine as a child. I don't remember how I acquired a copy of it, but back then, it was a literary magazine, known for it's short stories and works by well known authors. I can't even imagine such a thing in today's market. It was delicious to read. You could spend a month on it. Then Helen Gurley Brown took over and it was cleavage, wrap dresses, sex, sex, fixing your apartment in shades of moss green, hot pink and white and food to eat in between sex. This was a can't put it down read. From lowly beginnings in Arkansas, and you are left wondering how on earth she ever clawed her way out of "that," and on to L.A. and taking her knocks, at home, in school and working for agents and PR and ad agency companies (all male dominated) and again taking her hits, but each time with very little down time, setting an agenda to follow to recover and succeed--and she did. A self proclaimed "mouseburger" (one of her favorite terms along with poppity poo--both of which drove her friends mad) she turned Cosmopolitan into a money making machine for the Hearst Corporation and she stuck it out until the bitter end when dementia began to take hold and she was required to leave, by then widowed and ill, but incredibly wealthy. She had sex, lots of it. She celebrated it. She shined her light into the dark corners of society. She remade herself. She made a good marriage, not by any means in the traditional sense, and in the end? She and her husband were buried outside the small town of her ancestors back in Arkansas. Her pink granite marker has the Cosmo pussycat on it. What a gal. What a life.
December 1, 2016
I feel sorry for the reviewers who found this wonderfully crafted biography"dry" or "too long." I loved the way I could sink into it and vicariously experience the 90 years that made up the very rich life of its subject, a ruthlessly sexual antiheroine whose larger than life story would be unbelievable if written as fiction.
I never recall reading a single issue of Cosmo, not am I interested in the people who were the New York A-List 40 years ago--or even 10 years ago when Helen Gurley Brown was still busy at her desk, but this book held my interest all the way through, precisely because it was about so much more thanher life.
This book should delight anyone who appreciates the best in biograpy or is interested in 20th century social history. Beyond that, the story it tells is a revelation about how much a person who started out with no advantage but brains can accomplish through unceasing hard work and determination.
This book also mades me realize just how dumbed down mass market publishing has become since the 1970s. The quality of the writers supposedly "trashy" Cosmo was publishing in the 60s and 70s is eye opening. People of every class and educational level used to read long, complex and engaging works back then with a degree of pleasure no distracted cell-enslaved young woman of today will ever experience.
Maybe you had to grow up before the onset of the Age of Distraction to fully appreciate this book.
I never recall reading a single issue of Cosmo, not am I interested in the people who were the New York A-List 40 years ago--or even 10 years ago when Helen Gurley Brown was still busy at her desk, but this book held my interest all the way through, precisely because it was about so much more thanher life.
This book should delight anyone who appreciates the best in biograpy or is interested in 20th century social history. Beyond that, the story it tells is a revelation about how much a person who started out with no advantage but brains can accomplish through unceasing hard work and determination.
This book also mades me realize just how dumbed down mass market publishing has become since the 1970s. The quality of the writers supposedly "trashy" Cosmo was publishing in the 60s and 70s is eye opening. People of every class and educational level used to read long, complex and engaging works back then with a degree of pleasure no distracted cell-enslaved young woman of today will ever experience.
Maybe you had to grow up before the onset of the Age of Distraction to fully appreciate this book.
May 21, 2017
A thorough telling of the life story an iconic women.
May 9, 2018
Even with limited ability to quote directly from HGB's papers, the author puts together a witty, smart book that deals with the complexity that was Helen Gurley Brown.
July 24, 2016
An intriguing look into a time when women were slowly gaining freedom in their personal lives and the woman who helped change things for single women of her day.
I would have given a higher rating but this felt too drawn out, with things that could have been summarized in sentences, stretched out to chapters.
I would have given a higher rating but this felt too drawn out, with things that could have been summarized in sentences, stretched out to chapters.
May 18, 2017
Interesting book that gets into the life of Helen Gurley Brown who was the editor of Cosmopolitan magazine for decades. Her story fascinates me because she grew up in the depression, went to the workplace when it was similar to the Mad Men atmosphere of the 1950's and found her own way to empowerment and you could argue through her version of feminism she inspired a lot of other women to advocate for themselves...
- She was born dirt poor in Arkansas. Her father was killed in an elevator accident at a young age and her mother who had been a schoolteacher brought up her and her sister who had been struck down with a polio like illness.
- When she was young she recounted the playground where the girls dressed the prettiest or looking the best got all of the attention. When her mother took her to the world's fair she became fascinated with Sally Rand who with four burlesque shows a day was making THOUSANDS of dollars. In the depression that was serious bank. Gurley took notice.
- They moved to California and with her sister ill she struck out on her own to be social. She got involved in everything. Her nickname was 'Good Time Gurley' as she became the life of the party.
- She had a blizzard of part time jobs before she landed at a politically connected ad agency. This agency handled Eisenhower's political campaigns and had a lot of government contracts...the came up with 'Smoky the Bear', She worked for the CEO but was also sleeping with him and others.
- Gurley Brown shared a LOT about her views on sex. And in her judgments the only comparison I can think of in how she used sex was Cleopatra. She saw sexuality as an equalizer and a way to extend herself into new things that she wanted to be a part of. She dated pilots who would take her places. She had affairs with generals who would take her to Europe.
- She was really good as a writer and after the CEO's wife badgered her to give Gurley Brown a chance she was given some of the company's safer accounts. She wrote copy for Sunkist promoting the health benefits of orange juice. She managed the marketing for a swim care line and doubled their sales. She wrote clear emotional pitches that resonated with women in making buying choices.
- She finally in her 30's wanted to settle down and found David Brown (a film producer and VP of publishing). She stalked him, went after him and wrestled him down until he married her. She also had been writing a book which he helped publish called 'Sex and the Single Girl'. In the 60's the book wasn't just revolutionary it was a blockbuster. It was made into a film and Gurley Brown was going to create her own magazine but David Brown got her a deal to be the editor of Cosmo.
- Hearst publishing didn't think she could run the magazine but she kicked ass. She would often be found sleeping under her desk. In five months she turned the magazine to profitable. She upped the subscribers by 500,000 and the sell through rate where it was sold was 90%. She was giving buyers (in particular women) what they wanted. Short snappy headlines (many written by David Brown) helped sell the magazine through its runs over and over again.
In her position she became not just a feminist icon but a voice for women. Every time I have ever looked at Cosmopolitan magazine I have often rolled my eyes because the headlines are the same. But that is what sold. Can't argue with the results. This book comes from a lot of her private papers and she comes across as a wild character...
- She was born dirt poor in Arkansas. Her father was killed in an elevator accident at a young age and her mother who had been a schoolteacher brought up her and her sister who had been struck down with a polio like illness.
- When she was young she recounted the playground where the girls dressed the prettiest or looking the best got all of the attention. When her mother took her to the world's fair she became fascinated with Sally Rand who with four burlesque shows a day was making THOUSANDS of dollars. In the depression that was serious bank. Gurley took notice.
- They moved to California and with her sister ill she struck out on her own to be social. She got involved in everything. Her nickname was 'Good Time Gurley' as she became the life of the party.
- She had a blizzard of part time jobs before she landed at a politically connected ad agency. This agency handled Eisenhower's political campaigns and had a lot of government contracts...the came up with 'Smoky the Bear', She worked for the CEO but was also sleeping with him and others.
- Gurley Brown shared a LOT about her views on sex. And in her judgments the only comparison I can think of in how she used sex was Cleopatra. She saw sexuality as an equalizer and a way to extend herself into new things that she wanted to be a part of. She dated pilots who would take her places. She had affairs with generals who would take her to Europe.
- She was really good as a writer and after the CEO's wife badgered her to give Gurley Brown a chance she was given some of the company's safer accounts. She wrote copy for Sunkist promoting the health benefits of orange juice. She managed the marketing for a swim care line and doubled their sales. She wrote clear emotional pitches that resonated with women in making buying choices.
- She finally in her 30's wanted to settle down and found David Brown (a film producer and VP of publishing). She stalked him, went after him and wrestled him down until he married her. She also had been writing a book which he helped publish called 'Sex and the Single Girl'. In the 60's the book wasn't just revolutionary it was a blockbuster. It was made into a film and Gurley Brown was going to create her own magazine but David Brown got her a deal to be the editor of Cosmo.
- Hearst publishing didn't think she could run the magazine but she kicked ass. She would often be found sleeping under her desk. In five months she turned the magazine to profitable. She upped the subscribers by 500,000 and the sell through rate where it was sold was 90%. She was giving buyers (in particular women) what they wanted. Short snappy headlines (many written by David Brown) helped sell the magazine through its runs over and over again.
In her position she became not just a feminist icon but a voice for women. Every time I have ever looked at Cosmopolitan magazine I have often rolled my eyes because the headlines are the same. But that is what sold. Can't argue with the results. This book comes from a lot of her private papers and she comes across as a wild character...
June 11, 2019
4.5 stars. An incredible true story of an amazing life. The author put a lot of work into researching all the papers and interviewing all the surviving friends and coworkers of her subject. How lucky to have so much material to work from (and fortunate timing, as many of the interviewees were in their 80s)! She presents it in a straightforward chronological fashion, with no fancy verbiage or intellectual analysis. As the reader gets to know "plain Jane" HGB throughout the course of the book, it becomes clear that this is a good match of style and subject. After the journey of reading the book all the way through, by the time it gets to the end the last sentence packs a wallop.
Anyone who reads my reviews will not be surprised when I say this book could have use more pictures. But the book is quite generous, over 400 pages and then almost 50 pages of notes.
No surprise, there is a lot of astonishing sexism (such as (under)pantsing women coworkers as a routine office distraction, for instance!), not just experienced by HGB but also perpetrated by her. Unlike the last biography I read, where that author would just throw in an undeveloped line here or there that the subject had encountered sexism, this author gives many concrete examples. She gets an A!
There are lots of disturbing socioeconomic disparities as well, which is something that always sticks out for me even if it isn't discussed as such in the text. I would have enjoyed the story of the struggling single girl even if it had been fiction, but after HGB married her rich and well-connected husband, without whom her big successes would not have been possible, I could not emotionally connect with the material (other than to feel personal sadness that so many talented women's lives still go to waste due to lack of access to the means of success). The ensuing cast of famous people was entertaining to read about anyway.
Almost forgot: There is one section before HGB gets married where she finally gets a relatively good, relatively long-term job at the L.A. branch of the ad agency that owns McCann Erickson. She gets to work on the Sunkist account. She is a secretary who is promoted to copywriter. Then another company poaches her to work on a makeup account, but later lowers her salary because they think women should not get paid too much. The author of this biography starts this section of HGB's life with a view of a museum exhibition for Mad Men that includes a copy of HGB's book Sex and the Single Girl, said to have been a creative influence on Mad Men. Given the details above, they could as easily have said that HGB's personal history was an influence. If you know Mad Men, you know what I mean!
I was surprised to find out HGB's husband had produced so many blockbusters, perhaps more surprised at what "cheapskates" they were -- the woman coworker and friend who brought him Jaws to be optioned for the movies got a free promotional t-shirt as a thank you. Geez, how about a finder's fee, considering the movie had made almost half a billion (yes, that's billion with a "b") as of the date of this biography? And yes, the author is right to include HGB's husband in her story, as she wouldn't have had the life she did without him.
Anyone who reads my reviews will not be surprised when I say this book could have use more pictures. But the book is quite generous, over 400 pages and then almost 50 pages of notes.
No surprise, there is a lot of astonishing sexism (such as (under)pantsing women coworkers as a routine office distraction, for instance!), not just experienced by HGB but also perpetrated by her. Unlike the last biography I read, where that author would just throw in an undeveloped line here or there that the subject had encountered sexism, this author gives many concrete examples. She gets an A!
There are lots of disturbing socioeconomic disparities as well, which is something that always sticks out for me even if it isn't discussed as such in the text. I would have enjoyed the story of the struggling single girl even if it had been fiction, but after HGB married her rich and well-connected husband, without whom her big successes would not have been possible, I could not emotionally connect with the material (other than to feel personal sadness that so many talented women's lives still go to waste due to lack of access to the means of success). The ensuing cast of famous people was entertaining to read about anyway.
Almost forgot: There is one section before HGB gets married where she finally gets a relatively good, relatively long-term job at the L.A. branch of the ad agency that owns McCann Erickson. She gets to work on the Sunkist account. She is a secretary who is promoted to copywriter. Then another company poaches her to work on a makeup account, but later lowers her salary because they think women should not get paid too much. The author of this biography starts this section of HGB's life with a view of a museum exhibition for Mad Men that includes a copy of HGB's book Sex and the Single Girl, said to have been a creative influence on Mad Men. Given the details above, they could as easily have said that HGB's personal history was an influence. If you know Mad Men, you know what I mean!
I was surprised to find out HGB's husband had produced so many blockbusters, perhaps more surprised at what "cheapskates" they were -- the woman coworker and friend who brought him Jaws to be optioned for the movies got a free promotional t-shirt as a thank you. Geez, how about a finder's fee, considering the movie had made almost half a billion (yes, that's billion with a "b") as of the date of this biography? And yes, the author is right to include HGB's husband in her story, as she wouldn't have had the life she did without him.
May 11, 2017
I enjoyed this book far more than I expected to. I began it with a feeling that it would be boring, and that I would give it a try and drop it. But it was fascinating, and so well written that I am putting this author's other biographies on my 'to read' list. Helen's life reflected so many of our societal upheavals - the sexual revolution, the women's movement, the AIDS crisis - that re-examining them through the lens of her life was an engrossing experience. Here was a woman who was not always right but always her true self. Strongly recommend to readers of biographies and anyone interested in the life of a strong woman.
March 11, 2020
I did the audiobook. I wanted something to listen to on the way to and coming back from work to get my mind off traffic, and I guess it did that. I casually followed HGB's career through the years, from her appearances on The Tonight Show to reading Having It All and of course, being a big fan of Cosmo in my younger years. Still, this book was TMI, just lots of things I didn't need or really even want to know. Sometimes I think it's better to just know what a celebrity wants to present to the public rather than every detail of their personal life.
January 5, 2018
An exhaustive view of a groundbreaking woman
I came to read this book after reading Sex and the Single Girl and wanted to know about HGB. This book provides an exhaustive overview of her long life, warts and all. I learned a lot about her and my respect for what she did for women is increased-though I wish the modern Cosmo was more like her vision(hers wasn’t so nearly as sex-obsessed as it is now)
I came to read this book after reading Sex and the Single Girl and wanted to know about HGB. This book provides an exhaustive overview of her long life, warts and all. I learned a lot about her and my respect for what she did for women is increased-though I wish the modern Cosmo was more like her vision(hers wasn’t so nearly as sex-obsessed as it is now)
June 14, 2017
If you liked Helen Gurley Brown, than you will enjoy reading this. What I remember most of her was that she was worked at Cosmopolitan’s as editor from 1965 until 1997. Plus I have almost all of her books, and if I don't have them I read than all. She was one of the reason why I started to read Cosmopolitan.
September 16, 2017
It was lengthy and detailed but the writing was good and it told the story I was curious about. I would have given it four stars but I tired of the writing style which seemed to mimic HGB's. I didn't realize how much I was into it until I teared up during the epilogue "Take Me to the Ozarks". A nice ending.
September 26, 2017
Wonderful, insightful look at the unapologetic, life-force-of-a-woman Helen Gurley Brown. I really enjoyed this in-depth view at her early life and background prior to helming Cosmopolitan Magazine. I received this book via Goodreads Giveaways and am so grateful to have been able to read (and review) it!
May 24, 2020
It's rare that one can call the same book both "fast-paced" and "thoroughly researched." It's 426 pages without notes yet goes down so easy it's more like reading a string of articles than swimming through a fat tome. A fascinating read on a complex figure. Loved this.
March 14, 2021
I have always wondered about her life, and the early parts made for fascinating reading. I would have enjoyed the Cosmo part of her life, I'm sure, but the book seemed to just taper off. I was sorry to read that her marriage was not quite the fairy tale she made it appear.
June 1, 2017
I didn't care for it. But just not interested. Wasn't the writer. Book club selection.
May 14, 2018
Interesting story, but tough vocabulary bogged this down for me.
September 30, 2021
Comprehensive coverage of the one and only HGB. Loved every minute of it!
August 11, 2025
3.5 stars
This was an interesting read. I had never heard of Helen Gurley Brown, but this book covered her whole life. I found it had a little too much info, but it was interesting.
This was an interesting read. I had never heard of Helen Gurley Brown, but this book covered her whole life. I found it had a little too much info, but it was interesting.
March 3, 2020
This story was full with so many elements I love; secrets, journalism, Hollywood, feminism. This is a unique look into all these things and how they evolved in a certain chunk of time in the last century for Helen Hurley Brown. If you are a fan of MAD MEN, this tells the story of the mad women of this time. It feels well written and complete. I enjoyed this book.
October 10, 2016
Because I have (and have had) a visceral revulsion to "Cosmo" for years, I expected to find more to hate in this biography of the leading light of the magazine. I was surprised to discover that there was much more to this notorious lady-- she was an early, and strong proponent of women's right to work and abortion (as well as sexual liberation, but we all knew that!), and her paths crossed with an incredible constellation of women "stars"-- writers, celebrities, and others-- in both positive and negative ways. The author's writing gets a bit tiresome-- I mean, really, do you have to refer to her as HGB all the time? and the addition of dates would have helped anchor the stories (especially since HGB's careers spanned many decades). The author's review of "HGB's" lack of reaction to the AIDS crisis was a revelation to me, and as much a commentary on the public reaction as HGB's. Nevertheless, this book helped me see "HGB" as a member and contributor to the feminist movement.
July 13, 2016
Helen Gurley Brown's book about lesbians might be the most entertaining nonfiction that never actually got written.
Brown's proposal for such a book as a follow-up to her 1962 debut advice guide, "Sex and the Single Girl," is almost a throwaway detail about halfway through "Not Pretty Enough," Gerri Hirshey's new biography of the legendary Cosmopolitan magazine editor. It's just one of many illuminating details uncovered by Hirshey that link Brown to modern conversations about relationships, the workplace, branding, body imagery and the media.
Read more from my review for The Associated Press here: http://apne.ws/29Hql2w
Brown's proposal for such a book as a follow-up to her 1962 debut advice guide, "Sex and the Single Girl," is almost a throwaway detail about halfway through "Not Pretty Enough," Gerri Hirshey's new biography of the legendary Cosmopolitan magazine editor. It's just one of many illuminating details uncovered by Hirshey that link Brown to modern conversations about relationships, the workplace, branding, body imagery and the media.
Read more from my review for The Associated Press here: http://apne.ws/29Hql2w
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November 28, 2016I enjoyed this biography of HGB and learning about where she came from and how she got to be the editor of Cosmopolitan magazine in the early 1970's. Her early life was hard due to the death of her father and her family struggled to make ends meet. The relationship with her mother was also complicated and colored her whole life and self image. I found it fascinating that for all of her cutting edge ideas about women and sexuality, she was closed minded to many of the social issues affecting our society and culture at the time when she could have been a supporting force in the media. I found this biography fascinating and worth the time it took to read it.
December 24, 2016
This is the definitive biography of Helen Gurley Brown. She grew up in a "man's world", where she was her bosses actually took away a third of her pay at an advertising agency, because the "men" were complaining she made more than them. She was the original "Samantha Jones", of "Sex and the City". She was very much ahead of her time. She was born in rural Arkansas, but made her way up the secretarial ladder with over 17 jobs in Los Angeles, before becoming a copy editor, and marrying David Brown at the age of 37, and writing her books, "Sex and the Single Girl", and "Sex and the Office", before becoming Editor-In-Chief of "Cosmopolitan Magazine."
September 18, 2016
Helen Gurley Brown has a fascinating life story but this author's writing style leaves much to be desired. I can't figure out if she's trying too hard to fit an actual history lesson into the story, fit Helen's story into the events of the day or she's interjecting too much of her personal opinion. Whatever it is, it's not smooth or seamless. While I'm only half way through the book I felt compelled to read the current reviews and write a review so soon because this writing style is so unusual and irritating.
October 15, 2016
This book describes the rise of Helen Gurley Brown from a poverty stricken dysfunctional family in rural Arkansas to the successful head of Cosmopolitan Magazine in New York City. It describes the difficulty of a well qualified woman to succeed in a male dominated industry. While I could not condone Helen's views of morality and sex I have to admire her determination to succeed and overcome her upbringing. She certainly earned it from her dedication to hard work right up to the end of her life.
I found the book a little tedious with more detail than I wanted to know.
I found the book a little tedious with more detail than I wanted to know.
February 7, 2017
I was around 12 or 13 when I read Sex and the Single Girl. This was 1973ish, about a decade after it was written and it was already pretty dated. Still, I kind of enjoyed Helen's voice, silly as it was, and I enjoyed this bio about her, silly as she was. What's wrong with being silly, anyway? And her life's work - showing women how to enjoy their lives and work and bodies
on their own terms was NOT silly, not at all.
on their own terms was NOT silly, not at all.
August 5, 2016
This was a very well written & entertaining book about a woman who many people just don't know what to think of. So many bios get lost in the minutiae of fats and dates. Hirshey does an exellent job of presenting the essence of HGB and breathing life into her story.
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