Synopses & Reviews
"My name is Eliza H., and I am a celebraholic."
So begins this cautionary tale of how celebraholism can ruin one's life-- or at least one's twenties.
Once, Eliza dreamed of walking down the aisle (at the Oscars) and having a meaningful existence (every minute of which would be chronicled by People magazine). But by her twenties, her soaring ambitions have been reduced to friendships with two people who have some small chance at fame: Danny, a gorgeous and sadly untalented actor, and the unscrupulous Dinah, who has no attribute she will not exploit.
Oh, and not to mention a lot of E! True Hollywood Stories and The National Enquirer.
But when her boyfriend dumps her because she has no life, Eliza resolves to try to kick her celebraholism once and for all. Consulting a sham shrink and going cold turkey on People, Eliza seems to be on the rough road to recovery when the unexpected happens: Dinah's boyfriend, white rapper Lylo, is involved in a hit-and-run accident that claims the life of a beloved citizen-- bringing Dinah tantalizingly close to fame...and jail.
Can Eliza get Danny his big break as a cute but expendable sidekick in action flicks? Will she save Dinah from taking the fall? Or will this finally be the opportunity for the Barbara Walters interview she's waited for her whole life? Hip, humorous, and self-aware, this sublimely witty novel parodies today's cult of celebrity with hilarity and sympathy.
Review
"Frederick's desperate characters aren't particularly sympathetic, but readers may laugh and sometimes shudder anyway....Gimmicky intertextual tidbits may annoy, but overall this is an entertaining look at America's cult of celebrity." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Funny moments, smooth writing, trivial concept." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"A fun-filled foray into a plague that is sweeping the nation. For anyone who's ever voted for an American Idol, used the word Bennifer in a sentence, and can correctly name all of Julia Robertss ex-fiances, Fredericks deftly captures the wanna-be in us all." Melissa De La Cruz, author of How To Become Famous in Two Weeks or Less
Synopsis
Eliza always dreamed she'd be famous. But by her 20s, she's settled for a dead-end publishing job and friendships with two people who have a small chance at fame: Danny, a gorgeous yet sadly untalented actor, and the unscrupulous Dinah, who has no attribute she won't exploit. As she obsesses over the lives of the rich and famous, she neglects to get a life of her own. So she tries to kick her celebraholism with the help of a sham shrink and going cold-turkey on People. Hip and self-aware, this novel parodies celebrity news and is filled with quizzes and lists, so readers can discover if they're celebraholics too.
About the Author
Emmi Fredericks has been a celebraholic ever since she asked the doctor who delivered her, "Are you someone?" She is a graduate of Vassar and should know not to read things like
The National Enquirer, but she does and is no longer ashamed of it. She lives in New York City with her husband and basset hound. Her young-adult novel,
The True Meaning of Cleavage, was published in 2003, but it has no famous people in it.