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Paper Dolls
Fifteen-year-old Laurie Caswell tries to escape from her boring life into the world of high fashion modeling when she is befriended by a famous teenage model.
- GenresYoung Adult
144 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1984
36 people want to read
About the author
Susan Beth Pfeffer
92 books1,936 followersSusan Beth Pfeffer was an American author best known for young adult and science fiction. After writing for 35 years, she received wider notice for her series of post-apocalyptic novels, officially titled "The Life as We Knew It Series", but often called "The Last Survivors" or "Moon Crash" series, some of which appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 3, 2020
My review:
9/3/2020
This is a real cautionary tale. Lauren is about as all-American as you can get and one day she is spotted by a modeling agent and signed for a contract.
Suddenly, she is thrust into the world of modeling. Not hard to believe. How many models have been "discovered" that way? Quite a few to my surprise including one super model who was discovered in a night club. Go figure.
So Lauren starts to really make a name for herself. She is also drifting further from her old life and everyone is worried about her.
The story also involves her friendship wit h another model by the name of Tarin. Tarin and Lauren hate each other when they first meet but slowly they form a bond and become best friends.
There was a movie I saw by same name so it made me read the book. It does tell of the dangers of the modeling industry and that's not a bad thing.
This is YA people but an engrossing and good story. Why just a three?
Well..it is predictable as anything. And it does read like an after school special, not that there is anything wrong with that. But it is also short..would have liked more in depth follow up.
It is an enjoyable read however. Ultimately, 3.5 tars would be my rating for this one.
9/3/2020
This is a real cautionary tale. Lauren is about as all-American as you can get and one day she is spotted by a modeling agent and signed for a contract.
Suddenly, she is thrust into the world of modeling. Not hard to believe. How many models have been "discovered" that way? Quite a few to my surprise including one super model who was discovered in a night club. Go figure.
So Lauren starts to really make a name for herself. She is also drifting further from her old life and everyone is worried about her.
The story also involves her friendship wit h another model by the name of Tarin. Tarin and Lauren hate each other when they first meet but slowly they form a bond and become best friends.
There was a movie I saw by same name so it made me read the book. It does tell of the dangers of the modeling industry and that's not a bad thing.
This is YA people but an engrossing and good story. Why just a three?
Well..it is predictable as anything. And it does read like an after school special, not that there is anything wrong with that. But it is also short..would have liked more in depth follow up.
It is an enjoyable read however. Ultimately, 3.5 tars would be my rating for this one.
February 26, 2011
Don't judge, I was twelve! ;-) And interstingly enough.. I can see why the film-to-book dramatization here was probably even decent.... it was authored by none other than Susan Beth Pfeffer, (Life as We Knew It series). WOW... what a pleasant surprise that was when I looked that up.
May 19, 2011
My favorite book circa 1984 - That would make me 12ish!
It sits in my Hope Chest along with my other all time favorite books I held on to. Almost time to dig it out my daughter is 11!
It sits in my Hope Chest along with my other all time favorite books I held on to. Almost time to dig it out my daughter is 11!
April 30, 2013
I tend to love older books about modeling, but this one was just OK. I had to downgrade it because it was ridiculous.
Laurie becomes a popular model overnight; really. Nobody becomes famous that fast, at least not in the 1980's. One day Laurie is spotted and several days later she is in a big commercial, within several pages she is on the cover of Glamour, and there seems to be some confusion as to whether 3 weeks or 3 months have passed.
There is another more popular model named Taryn, and she and Laurie hate each other, they have a fight after a photo shoot and somehow during the fight they become best friends. Really? OK.
Laurie's boyfriend and her friends at school are suddenly all too young for her and they start drifting away. The boyfriend wants Laurie to act sexy like she does with the guys she models with, but Laurie refuses. The girls are in awe of her at school and eventually resent her.
Laurie loves modeling so much, but spends most of her time complaining about how it ruined her old life and she could never go back to it.
Out of the blue Laurie starts to feel like a hooker. What? She hates all the make-up and the sexy put-on that the story just spent pages telling us she loves. She ends up at some older guy's house in the biz and he tries to take advantage.
Laurie doesn't want to model anymore. Sigh and sigh. The flow of the book is odd, in one way it moves slow and in another way the author seems set on hurdling Laurie to stardom that many beats are missed, and then she seems set on hurdling Laurie back to innocence that more beats are missed.
Laurie becomes a popular model overnight; really. Nobody becomes famous that fast, at least not in the 1980's. One day Laurie is spotted and several days later she is in a big commercial, within several pages she is on the cover of Glamour, and there seems to be some confusion as to whether 3 weeks or 3 months have passed.
There is another more popular model named Taryn, and she and Laurie hate each other, they have a fight after a photo shoot and somehow during the fight they become best friends. Really? OK.
Laurie's boyfriend and her friends at school are suddenly all too young for her and they start drifting away. The boyfriend wants Laurie to act sexy like she does with the guys she models with, but Laurie refuses. The girls are in awe of her at school and eventually resent her.
Laurie loves modeling so much, but spends most of her time complaining about how it ruined her old life and she could never go back to it.
Out of the blue Laurie starts to feel like a hooker. What? She hates all the make-up and the sexy put-on that the story just spent pages telling us she loves. She ends up at some older guy's house in the biz and he tries to take advantage.
Laurie doesn't want to model anymore. Sigh and sigh. The flow of the book is odd, in one way it moves slow and in another way the author seems set on hurdling Laurie to stardom that many beats are missed, and then she seems set on hurdling Laurie back to innocence that more beats are missed.
June 1, 2021
This is still on my shelf 40 years later
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews