Today I’m giving away a copy of Everybody Rise: A Novel, which a large�number�of my friends on GoodReads put on their TBR pile. I received a copy of the book last week but haven’t yet had the chance to read it. I plan to the week the boys go back to school, despite the cover.
Because let’s be honest, the cover is atrocious. I thought maybe it would look better in person, that my maybe my email attachment was broken, but no. It’s a horrid, bright, ugly thing. It’s also appropriate. The book is set against the backdrop of New York’s wealthy elite. The preppy, happy colors turned acid, the crystal chandelier out of focus that isn’t quite right, and the harsh, black typeface suggest that money doesn’t buy everything and that appearances aren’t what they seem.
I hate giving away a book I haven’t read–I’ve actually never done it before–but I will because of the reviews and movie deal.�You can read an excerpt of the novel�here.
In a tightly plotted narrative, Clifford shows how Evelyn’s tenuous initiation into this most elite of social networks coincides with an increasingly desperate effort to secure her footing there…Clifford details the manners of the old-money set with a reporter’s well-trained eye. (The New York Times Book Review)
A smart tragicomedy about a young woman attempting to infiltrate the “Primates of Park Avenue” crowd. . . . Ferociously incisive class commentary. . . . a 21st-century fable of one woman’s reconstruction. (The Washington Post)
A compulsive, up-close-and-personal read about the first cracks in the greed-and-bleed U.S. economy that went flying off the rails so spectacularly a short time later. (Library Journal)
A sharp and witty cautionary tale. . . . Clifford’s shrewd look at upper-class dynamics in modern day New York society takes up the torch of Edith Wharton. . . . Filled with scandal and schadenfreude, Everybody Rise will keep readers flipping pages. (Book Page)
A masterful tale of social climbing and entrenched class distinctions . . . Tense, hilarious, and bursting with gorgeous language. Stephanie Clifford is a 21st century Edith Wharton. (J. Courtney Sullivan, New York Times bestselling author of The Engagements and Maine)
A superb debut. Everybody Rise is a 21st century version of a grand 19th century novel–a smart, moving tale of class, ambition, and identity. (Malcolm Gladwell)
Full of ambition and grit. Clifford provides sharp-eyed access to a moneyed world and its glamorous inhabitants. (Emma Straub, New York Times bestselling author of The Vacationers)
A boom-time dramedy of manners featuring a bright young cast of haves and desperately want-to-haves, all clinging to a very rickety social ladder. Clifford’s lively and biting debut gets to the quick of ambition at its most corrosive. (Maggie Shipstead, New York Times bestselling author of Seating Arrangements)
Gossip Girl fans, rejoice! Behold the literary version of a Jenny-esque narrated story, had she met Blair and Serena in her mid-20s. Cue lies, affairs and mounting debt. (Marie Claire, Summer-Reads Roundup)
The summer’s most anticipated beach read…a funny, sharply observed debut novel about young one percenters in New York…a buzzy Tom-Wolfe-meets-Edith-Wharton novel of young Manhattan. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Author Stephanie Clifford has been described as a modern-day Edith Wharton. (Elle Magazine, Culture Calendar)
Addictive: think Prep meets The Devil Wears Prada. (Good Housekeeping)
The Edith Wharton comparison has me cautiously optimistic.�Also, I want to read the book that garnered�a 7-figure deal and movie rights a year before publication.
Edited to add: I’m going in assuming I’ll hate the book. Hah! Sorry, but that’s my technique for overhyped releases. If I go in expecting to read a “masterful tale” worthy of all its 5-stars, I’m going to be disappointed. I have mixed feelings for the authors of books with great hype. While I’m happy for their success, I pity them as well. Too much hype sets�up unreasonable expectations and leaves many readers�disappointed. Look at that one book I read, Luckiest Girl Alive. What a disaster! I know of no avid reader who enjoyed what was supposed to be the “it” book of the summer. Who knows if they’ll do the movie now.
Ms. Clifford, best of luck to you. Please don’t take too much offense when I say I’m going in expecting to hate your book and that it’s cover is frightful (it is, you know it). I’m only trying�to ignore the hype and tip the scales back to center�so that I can give your book�the unbiased review it deserves when I’m finished.
The book hits stores yesterday�but, if you’re willing to wait a week, I’m giving away a copy of the book along with a $50 BaubleBar card to one winner.
Some rules, to make things easier:
- Giveaway open to US addresses only by leaving a comment on this post.
- Must be 18 years of age or older.
- Prizing and samples provided by St. Martin�s Press.
- Giveaway ends August 25, 2015.
- Winner announced on this post on or shortly after August 26, 2015.�
The winner is Christie. Congratulations!
Sounds interesting. I’ve added it to my list. You’re right…that cover is awful.
I just heard about this on Twitter yesterday. I went to reserve it at my library but they didn’t have it. I’m intrigued.
This is the first I’ve heard of it! I’d love to give it a shot & I actually don’t even hate the cover.
This sounds really interesting; if I like it, I may try to get my book club to read it too!
This book does look intriguing – sounds like a interesting beach read! I might pick it up even if I don’t win. :)
Hmm. I tend to pick books by their cover (I know..) and I definitely wouldn’t choose this one based on that green and pink mess.
Well, I am late to the party — never heard of it, and it already has a movie deal. Now I’m intrigued, too! And, even as bold as it is, that cover would have been easy to pass up….
I would (probably) not pick this one off the shelf (uhmmm…cover = not my style), unless it was getting lots of buzz from my *regular* internet-recommenders. But, since you are stepping outside the usual by giving away a book without reading it first, I figured I’djoin the party and read it if I *win*. (Thx for stretching my book boundaries!)
Oh, who are we kidding, I love reading about moneyed people. Especially for free. Because I am the opposite of moneyed. (Not the OPPOSITE, but I’m probably an alien creature to the subjects of the book.)
I loved your comments about the cover. I haven’t heard about this one yet but it sounds like a fun change from my usual historical reads!
i love your reviews and look forward to this one after you’ve read it!
Sounds like ‘gossip girl’ doesn’t it? I haven’t heard about this, but sounds very interesting – would love to win. thanks!
Hadn’t heard of this book. Thanks for sharing; despite the garish cover.
I saw this at target yesterday, but I didn’t know there was so much hype over it. Public enthusiasm has me inherently skeptical, but I’ll give any book a few chapters worth of a try!
This will be a nice break from the Percy Jackson my son talked me into reading this summer!
There is something to be said for crazy-colored covers! I am thinking of a couple of Jonathan Safran Foer books…?
I’ll play! Especially since I haven’t read anything for fun in a while.
Sounds interesting…I’m looking forward to your review:)
I want to take a break from reading textbooks for grad school and read a fun book! The reviews of Gossip Girl and Devil Wears Prada are right up my alley! Also – BaubleBar is amazing!!!
I’m in a bookclub and always looking for my next pick!
Renea
Des Moines, IA
The description doesn’t intrigue me either. If I read that in the library while browsing, I would most certainly pass it up. However, since you and Book Riot are doing the same giveaway on the same day, I now want it. Ha.
ETA: Upon further reflection, with that cover, I probably would not have even picked it up in the library to even read the description. Looking forward to your review!
This is on my to-read list and I’m totally into the cover. But I have a Mrs. Roper side to me that I can’t deny.
Yup – Awful looking cover indeed … I am hoping I win it so I can find out for myself if what’s on the inside makes up for it. :)
Looks like a fun read!
Would so enjoy to celebrate start of school by curling up with this!
And really that is the BEST cover they could come up with?
I actually kind of love that cover. And it certainly does the job of capturing attention. It’s already on my reading list and I am a skeptical sucker when it comes to comparisons to Edith Wharton.
I just heard about this book, and I must say that I am curious! I have a soft spot in my heart for trashy chick lit, especially when it involves NYC socialites. Also, I read Luckiest Girl Alive after seeing it on your Instagram, and I was also unimpressed.
Well, that cover means there’s no way to be unobtrusive if I read this on the train! I’m willing to give it a chance :) Oh, and BaubleBar is awesome. Thanks for a fun giveaway!
I’m already in line for this book at the library because I love a good rich kids gone bad story. And … I happen to love the cover, too. To each their own?
I don’t normally buy books based on hype. I’ve been disappointed more than once. That’s why I use the library, rather than buying books all the time. There’s no guilt with a library book if you don’t like it. I’m will to try the book, however, even though that cover would normally turn me off.
Haha — I actually don’t think the cover is so bad! :) I’d like to give the book a try.
You have me intrigued. I, too, use the approach that when anything is hyped too much that I go in thinking I’ll hate it. It works sometimes. I wish I had used the approach with Gone Girl. I went in with high expectations and disliked the book immensely. I think it would have had a better shot had I lower expectations.
Thanks for the giveaway! It looks like it could be a fun “light” read :)
The reviews sound amazing and the comparison to Edith Wharton has me intrigued. It sounds like my kind of book can’t wait to read your review.
I’ve been super-excited about this book. I’m totally buying into the hype and I’m fully aware. I just really need it to be that well-written “story about a young woman” who learns the truth about life (that bad things do happen to good people and really great things happen to horrid people) while comedy ensues. Too much to ask? probably…
I’m game to try it. Hope you internal de-hype works for you!
I haven’t heard of it either, but I’ll give it a try. Some new baubles would be nice, too :)
That is an awful cover, but I’m still intrigued.
Interested :-). And I kind of like the cover — makes me want to eat frozen yogurt. The kind with all the toppings that charges by the ounce.
This book is getting so much buzz and I’m obsessed with the cover. Dying to read it.
I hadn’t heard of it until now, but you’ve for me intrigued. I’ll be waiting to hear more.
i don’t mind the cover either, seems pretty standard for the genre? I almost always prefer the original cover to a book rather than the movie based cover anyway! (From the description, I’m already intrigued by possible movie casting)
Thanks for the giveaway! I liked Luckiest Girl okay.
never heard of this; nice review
I’m in! Who knows? Might be good!