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Confessions of an Heiress
by Paris Hilton with Merle Ginsberg
Dos and don'ts from Paris Hilton.
Everyone - at least everyone in America - by now has at least heard of Paris Hilton. The girl is everywhere! She's on television, in cell phone ads, and in her Fox "reality" series The Simple Life. She makes cameo appearances in several movies. She's constantly being photographed for magazines and gossip pages. She's recording an album. And now she's a writer.
I started Confessions of an Heiress with an open mind--and low expectations. How can I describe it? Funny? If you're going by the subhead on the jacket cover, "A Tongue-in-Chic Peek Behind the Pose," then yes Hilton is damn funny. But I already knew that from watching The Simple Life (though I have to admit I stopped watching after the first season).
Is it disturbing? It's that too, but I'm having trouble putting my finger on why. It's certainly glamorous. There are pages on pages of photos of Hilton striking her familiar pose.
What Confessions isn't is insightful. Hilton mostly tip-toes around all aspects of her personal life, except when she is writing about her relationship with her sister Nicky. "Even though Nicky is a little quieter than I am, and probably more serious," writes Hilton, "we've always had fun together and trusted each other in a world where it can be really hard to trust people."
What she couldn't have avoided was mentioning the notorious sex video that made its debut on the Internet, and which she refers to once only as "something I'm not too proud of." Even then it's only to explain a joke from when she was on Saturday Night Live, which pretty much sums up Hilton's attitude for just about everything-- have fun but be able to laugh at yourself, too.
Confessions of an Heiress lacks one thing: a confession! Instead, it is more a how-to guide for girls dreaming of a jet-set lifestyle, partying all night at clubs, and being constantly in the paparazzi's photo lens.
What it lacks in confession, Hilton makes up for with lists. There are "Instructions on How to Be an Heiress," twelve things an heiress would never do, "My Wardrobe Dos and Don'ts," and "My All-Time Favorite Places and Parties." My favorite is the Paris Diet, which consists of French fries, pastas, sushi, chocolate and popcorn yet is somehow linked, Hilton muses, to the Atkins Diet.
In her introduction, Hilton writes: "I do take my family seriously. I take my dog, Tinkerbell, seriously. I take my work seriously. But I don't take myself all that seriously"--which is okay because neither do most people, and the sentiment doesn't improve after reading the book.
I applaud Hilton for her sense of confidence and self-esteem and her willingness to show young girls how she attains and keeps those qualities. As for the rest of Confessions, it's mindless and senseless, but like its writer and subject, it's fun.
Title: Confessions of an Heiress
Author: Paris Hilton with Merle Ginsberg
Publisher: Fireside
ISBN: 0743266641
Review written by: John Neal
Reviewer's Rating:5
Reader's Rating: 7.47
Reader's Votes: 17
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