Written by the author of "Hollywood Husbands", "Hollywood Wives", "The World is Full of Married Men" and "Lovers and Gamblers", this is a novel about the glittering world of rock parties and concerts, the stretch limos and mansions of the power-brokers.
There have been many imitators, but only Jackie Collins can tell you what really goes on in the fastest lane of all. From Beverly Hills bedrooms to a raunchy prowl along the streets of Hollywood; from glittering rock parties and concerts to stretch limos and the mansions of power brokers-Jackie Collins chronicles the real truth from the inside looking out.
Jackie Collins has been called a "raunchy moralist" by the late director Louis Malle and "Hollywood's own Marcel Proust" by Vanity Fair magazine. With over 500 million copies of her books sold in more than forty countries, and with some 30 New York Times bestsellers to her credit, Jackie Collins is one of the world's top-selling novelists. She is known for giving her readers an unrivalled insider's knowledge of Hollywood and the glamorous lives and loves of the rich, famous, and infamous. "I write about real people in disguise," she says. "If anything, my characters are toned down-the truth is much more bizarre."
Being a huge fan of Jackie Collins, I expect great things from her novels. They are simply the best guilty pleasure a book lover can have. Terrible language, far fetched plots and irritating characters, but boy can we not get enough of them. It's like binge watching reality TV, you know you shouldn't and it probably isn't good for the soul but you can't pull your eyes away.
So it saddens me to say, I am hugely disappointed with this book of hers. It just lacked everything I expect from one of her novels. Yes there was the bad language, the annoying characters but what was seriously lacking was a far fetched plot. Or just any plot really. This almost felt like a writing exercise Collins decided to publish to make a bit more money, I mean where was this going? There was no ending at all? Cleo had the potential to be a huge character involved in a huge plot with a big twist but this novel was just so lacking. Literally by the first chapter I knew where this was going. Normally when I read Collins, I know for a fact it won't turn out how I imagine, this author has no qualms about killing characters or destroying their lives, so what the hell was going on in this? It was so mundane, so bluh. Nothing about this excited me, I only kept going because usually there is a huge twist or incredible ending. For me this just felt flat like a glass of cola left on the side overnight with no fizz to think of.
I gave this 2 stars, a star because I love the author and a star because I actually like Cleo, but as a character she deserved a much bigger and better story to be involved with.
I have never heard of Jackie Collins before and post reading this book, I realised why. This is what is actually referred to as cheap literature but boi, there's no denying that we love reading something stupid once in or let's make it most of the time for me. I finished this book within couple of hours. I remember picking up during a sale in the month of November (I remember that because I write dates on the day the book was purchased) To be honest, it was never on my reading list but my maid accidentally dropped it from the wrack while cleaning the room. I picked it up and as usual I didn't have much to do so I thought of giving it a try. Well! This cheap literature turned out to be unputdownable. It's all about Hollywood, multiple marriages, suicides, depression and casual sex. Casual is an understatement here. These men in the book if had a chance wouldn't have mind sleeping with a sheep for that matter. Overall! Not as bad as I described it. Interestingly, it has a story as well. Read, take your chances. Only inspiring character Cleo. One hell of an independent woman. No spoilers, right
Why was this book even on my kindle? But I thought I’d give it a chance. I vaguely remember reading a Jackie Collins 30 years ago... it couldn’t be that bad.
How wrong can I be? Happy to admit it was almost a total waste of my time. I finished the book by means of sheer optimism... surely something meaningful must happen? But no, I found myself musing over how shallow Collins’ life must be if this is her idea of entertainment. Various cliched women falling for or being chased by various cliched men. And nothing happens... seriously... nothing. It’s just the ramblings of a woman deluded into thinking she has writing skill.
I’ve been a fan of JC since I was a teenager and this is my second “reading“ of this book. The narration by JC’s granddaughter is a lovely touch, and the narration is great. India does different voices for the characters and they are really well done.
An addictive story, well recommended for any fan of Jackie Collins.
The world is full of divorced woman by Jackie Collins. I loved listening to this audiobook. I loved the story and most of the characters were great. I loved the narrator India Thain. She had each character down perfectly. Brilliant. 5*.
Jackie Collins books are what I call my guilty pleasure! As an English/Drama graduate I feel I ought to read more high brow novels but a bit of Jackie Collins is always a pleasure. This is one of her early books and although not as well written as some of her more recent books, it was still an enjoyable, escapist read. The only thing I don't like is the amount of bad language ( swear words) but I expect the people she bases her characters on do talk in this way.
It was well written. Lots of characters with various situations and interactions. But it was more the content I did not care for. It was definitely a 70's book. Lots of infidelity, divorce and marriage and divorce. Not your typical HEA. The female leads ended up single with a career. Definitely a 70's era.
I love all Ms. Collins' books. This is one of her earliest. The best part of reading these books is trying to figure out who she based some of her regular characters on.
Jackie Collins' books are my comfort blanket. I'm always guaranteed a great read and fabulous characters. This was no different. Loved the independence of Cleo James too.
Thank you Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for the fabulous audiobook version of this novel.
When Cleo James finds out in the most graphic way possible her husband Mike is cheating on her she wastes no time with recriminations and moves on. She's already set up with a series of interviews with 5 of the most famous and eligible men in movies. And now she's free she can have some fun for a change. She doesn't need or want marriage. Meanwhile the hottest nude model of the moment Muffin wants marriage desperately but her boyfriend/manager Jon would rather carry on as they are. He and everyone else thinks she's stupid but Muffin knows what she wants and will and can do what she has to. Shes determined to get everything she wants...
So firstly let's remember this was released in 1975, the very year I was born and it was a very different world. Sexism was prevalent in ways we cannot comprehend now, despite it still going strong today if in a more low key way. Jackie Collins railed against this, in life and print but includes a lot of the suspect behaviour of the time. She didn't pull any punches or sugar coat anything, documenting the behaviour women have not just put up with but accepted as the norm. But the message is no more. Take control.
But what this story is really about is something we still recognise now. Are women able to have it all? At the beginning Cleo wants a happy marriage and above all children with Mike but she wants her career too. Muffin wants fame and fortune but respect and love too. Can she have that when her currency is her sexuality? 44 years on and five years after we lost the fabulous Jackie I don't think theres a clear answer yet.
This isn't the best of her novels, my personal opinion is that her renaissance began with Lovers and Gamblers and then of course the fantastic Santangelo series. But it's a very enjoyable guilty pleasure all the same, with full of larger than life characters and a fabulous plot as one would expect from JC.
I listened to Lucky from the Santangelo series recently and thought they'd picked a narrator that sounded similar to JC however I have since learnt the narrator India Thain is her grand daughter, hence why I was picking up the same tones. She does a fair job with this, she has a great range of accents and inflection without been OTT. But with this audiobook I found the end of chapters a little jarring. It felt as if she would continue but then suddenly "Chapter 22" and I'd be thinking wait what? Did it skip? I suspect this may have been recorded before Lucky as there is a clear difference between the two. But I hope she'll be doing more as she's really very promising. I'd love to hear Chances, Rock Star and Lovers and Gamblers....hell I want them all on audio! Be more Jackie? Yes but we want more Jackie and if we can't have new books then this is a great way to experience her work again and again.
As you can imagine from the title of the book, it reveals the plot line a bit. Cleo is as independent as the 70s allows a woman to be. Mike faintly reminds me of Don Draper, but he lacks the depth Don's character shows. He screws around, foolishly convincing himself that he would get away with anything. (spoiler alert) Muffin and Jon's portrayal of give-and-take financial love borders on pedophilia. Almost all male characters here are portrayed vain, superficial, and with most with only two goals in mind: 1. Get into her pants 2. Grab all the money from her as much as you can. At the end of the day, all divorced women gets what they want; without the help of any husband, contrary to the 70s' belief that a husband and a picture-perfect home is everything that a woman needs. What makes me remember a book after I finish reading it? Well, during the small window just after reading the last line is when the whole story, the whole book flashes inside my brain. This defining moment makes it worthy or not worthy of remembering the book. After reading this book, I can only remember what Cleo James went through, and how far she has come; my brain totally skipped all other parts, the chapters with Mike having sex with random women, the chapters of the superstar Marty having his teenage tantrums. I can vaguely remember all those people Cleo met during her journey. And all these sex and drama is too much for me to handle, maybe I am not too comfortable with Jackie Collins' style of writing. I felt some of them were unnecessary and was just added for an extra "jest." The sexist attitude and comments by the male characters sometimes infuriated me. But I had to remind myself that I am reading a book of 1975. This is not one of the books to remember for a long time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
“The World is Full of Divorced Women” is Jackie Collins at her boldest — glamorous, scandalous, and unapologetically honest about women’s desires and ambitions. Beneath the glitz, though, is a surprisingly progressive message: women can thrive after betrayal, heartbreak and divorce.
I loved how the book portrays women not as victims of circumstance, but as powerful individuals capable of reinvention. The 1970s backdrop makes it even more striking, because Jackie was ahead of her time in writing female characters who sought liberation — in career, in love and in selfhood.
Yes, it’s dramatic, yes, it’s sexy in that Jackie Collins way, but it’s also empowering. Even today, it reminds us that a woman’s worth isn’t tied to a man — it’s tied to her courage to choose herself.
Cleo James - The betrayed wife who evolves from heartbreak into independence. She represents reinvention — proof that starting over can be powerful.
Mike James - Her unfaithful husband, symbolic of the selfish, ego-driven man who underestimates women’s resilience.
Muffin (Billie Farewell) - The ambitious TV personality — sharp, unapologetic, ambitious. She embodies female ambition in a male-dominated industry.
Together, Cleo and Muffin show two faces of liberation: one through breaking free of betrayal, the other through breaking glass ceilings.
I enjoyed the book not only for its page-turning drama but also for its feminist undertones. Jackie Collins gave women a glamorous mirror to see themselves as more than wives or victims — as individuals who could own their futures.
I ended up reading this while & after watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which shares a parallel style to the same theme: f*ck men, women are soldiers, and the whole patriarchic illusion of It's a Man's World is ironic and hollowly laughable.
It was a bit of a hard read because I wanted to personally beat up every male character for their too-close-to-home behavior. For the sake of this being what I consider a dramatic satire, though, I was able to power through.
Powerful, heavy, yet light in the comical depictions of their villainous quips and confidences. I found it very refreshing to see all the women win by stomping their enemies to filth with grace.
It helps to remember that every word of this came from a powerful & angry woman living through this experience personally. I feel as though it is easy to be caught up in the terribleness, irrationality, and just downright cheap nature of these characters/dialogue/subplots. That's what it feels like to be a woman, though, sometimes. It feels as ridiculous in the moment as it feels when reading it all unfold.
Cleo James is offered a job to interview 5 of the most famous bachelors in movies after finding out that he husband has been cheating on her. Now that she’s free to do as she pleases, she doesn’t need marriage but does want to have some fun. Meanwhile muffin, an up and coming nude model wants nothing more than to get married. However her boyfriend sees her as a cash cow and wants to keep things as they are. But she knows what she wants and just how to get it.
This book didn’t really grab me and I didn’t feel anything towards any of the characters. Lots of lies, cheating, marriage and of course as the title suggests divorce. It was irritating how the female characters gave into the male characters too often. Plus the sex scenes were boring and left me wanting more.
The narration by Jackie Collins granddaughter India Thain was good, good voices for all the different characters and there were many.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Audio UK for the free copy of this audio book.
I’ve never read a Jackie Collins before so I thought I’d give this a go.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t for me at all. The characters are all so vapid and stereotypical and I didn’t like any of them. The one called Muffin really annoyed me, she was so immature and her name annoyed me too.
At the time, I imagine all the sex references would have been quite scandalous but I just found it tiresome and boring.
The plot is non existent and it just goes round in circles with everyone trying to one up each other. Nothing much happens and I found it all so boring. It’s not a short book either and everything felt dragged out.
I listened to the audiobook version of this and the narrator was really good. Sadly, I didn’t enjoy the story at all.
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Audio UK for allowing me to listen to the audiobook in exchange for a review.
it was okay ... and it did keep me interested till the end, definitely not a rave with me, but the storyline was quite a rave for the characters - only two prominent ones, Cleo and Muffin (yep that was her name...). Sex and infidelities abound and definitely a lot of divorced women! Cleo James was a hot journalist with a hot husband but their wants were on different paths even after four years of marriage and, yep, you guessed it she divorced him. Now Muffin was child-like but with the body of a woman; a hot London model whose journey with her photographer boyfriend definitely leads her on to a painful road to maturity! Both these ladies are searching for their happy ever after but face good and bad relationships, breakups and the realization that men do have their uses but are not ultimately necessary to fulfil these two ladies!
The narrator of this book is actually Jackie Collins granddaughter. She has done a great job of bringing the characters to life without going over the top. With a Jackie Collins book you know your going to get a story with lots of sexual reference. After all that’s why we read them. Perfect for holidays. The beauty of this audio book is can you fully enjoy the book without giving away to everyone what the book is. Your own guilty pleasure. Great women in this book. Although a little dated but very enjoyable Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for an honest review
When I first started this book, I didn't think I'd like it as much as I ultimately did. This was a soap opera in a book. And even though I haven't watched soap operas in years, I dug that about it. It was an entertaining read about the utter debauchery and total disregard (and disrespect) for the sanctity of marriage or monogamy. These characters were very... free. I enjoyed how they were all directly or indirectly tied to each other. At times I actually laughed out loud. This was my first Jackie Collins book but I will be checking out more.
This was very well narrated with a fabulous array of voices to distinguish the characters. The 2 stories, which are utterly scandalous with a huge amount of promiscuity offer an insight into how the rich and famous/ wannabe famous live. Although interesting storylines in principal, I found the characters hard to bond with due to their desperate and frustrating actions. Nonethless, it was an interesting perspective on relationships and how they can become bland or are seen as throwaway, when ultimately it is the one thing most of them seem to crave.
I thought this would be a fun trashy book. It was written in the mid ‘70s and is dated. Everyone is obsessed with and having sex but not in an erotic way. Except Cleo, who has a little dignity but not much sense, getting involved with men who can’t stay faithful. I thought this would be more of a female empowerment story. The airhead, Muffin, was especially offensive. There are too many characters, and they all end up connected to each other in one way or another, which was amusing, but all of them are unlikable except Cleo.
As I've never read any of Jackie Collins books before, I felt now was the time. But I went for the audiobook. What an ear opener for a first timer to the world of Ms Collins. I popped on my eye mask and vanished into her world. This isn't the genre I would normally listen to but I carried on, I listened to the end. Unfortunately this book wasn't for me, I didn't like the characters or storyline. #netgalley
Ok I love Jackie Collins and this audio did not disappoint. Narrated by Jackie’s Granddaughter this was a saucy romp through the love life’s of the rich and famous full of the usually tongue and cheek and filth that we all love from Jackie and it certainly made my husband blush in parts when he walked into the room. I also loved the interview with the narrator as well to give us a glimpse into the amazing author who so many of us love.
One of the most awful books I've ever read. There are so many different stories going on, and none of them seem to belong together. All the women are in terrible marriages with cheating husbands. No one has a happy ending, or at least I'm not sure as the story abruptly cuts off. Thought about quitting the book, but it did it for me. Will not read this author again.
My first Jackie Collins book.. this book was ok.... if it wasn’t so well narrated I would have put it down and given up.. there didn’t seem to be a plot as such and I didn’t engage with the characters. If you are after an easy listen then this is fir you but I like a plot and an ending to tie up the book.
it's a long time since last I read a Jackie Collins book and was happy to listen to this audiobook. i consider Jackie Collins' books a sort of guilty pleasure: you don't expect anything to complex but you will surely get a highly entertaining story. Recommended. I liked the narrator and it was well told. Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
It's been many years since I read a Jackie Collins novel and "The World Is Full Of Divorced Women" didn't disappoint. It's gloriously trashy and bursting at the seams with sex. Collins' work is partly hilarious, wholly satisfying and very evocative of time and place. The audiobook is brilliantly narrated by India Thain.
I would honestly say that this book serves no real importance or purpose if you're searching for one. But if you want a light gossip and Hollywood filled book, this might just be for you. Many characters and slight depth but you know you're reading this because you can't put it down now and hate your feminine side for loving it.