A review by documentno_is
The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand

challenging reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Largest Gripe: 
  • Okay, so having a Lithuanian character named Irina was weird because that’s not a typical Lithuanian name, maybe Irma would have been better. Irina is a typical Russian/Polish/Ukrainian name though… Hilderbrand couldn’t be bothered to even search most popular baby names Lithuania ? It honestly totally took me out and rubbed me the wrong way. It’s not like no Lithuanian has ever been named Irina, but rather than saying like yeah my half Russian half Lithuanian coworker, and then even mentioning she is a recent immigrant so it would be worth noting her name isn’t Lithuanian? Then of course she makes them into typical caricatures of post-Soviet Slavic women who “hunt” rich men ? These are the kind of jokes that should be made from inside the house, and the poor research and xenophobia completely discredits almost everything Hilderbrand said after. I'm so tired of the "slavic bimbo" trope, especially when the woman in question supposedly isn't even slavic!

Otherwise:
  • the rest of this novel was hallmark sweet, a fun and serious story about relationships between women. Like a more uppity version of Bridesmaids meets New England drama. 
  • I felt like the complexities of female friendships were really ironed out in this one, I loved the juxtaposition between the "perceived" Hollis and how she was depicted as almost equally genuine to her outward persona if a little vanity obsessed. "The matching dresses just look better in pictures," was a funny trope- lambasted by her 'realer' childhood friend for harping on aesthetics but her friend becomes a willing participant when given the financial opportunity to engage in the frivolity. 
  • I wasn't entirely sold on the waffling between distant/close third for this novel, I understand the stylistic choice of following Hollis as an outsider and then as "the inside" but all it really accomplished was adding emotional distance between characters I already had trouble connecting with.