Scan barcode
A review by illstoptheworldandreadwithyou
Let's Call Her Barbie by Renée Rosen
3.0
Told from the viewpoints of the different players involved in bringing Barbie to market, Let’s Call Her Barbie is a fictional account of Mattel as a business with Barbie as its centerpiece and the personal lives of those in her immediate orbit.
Rosen novelizes the lives of the main players: Ruth and Elliot Handler, owners of Mattel, Jack Ryan, the main engineer behind Barbie’s design, and Charlotte Johnson, the fashion designer behind some of Barbie’s most iconic outfits, as well as some of the other players in the Mattel offices and these figures' home lives. Rosen adds an additional fictional character to the plot: Stevie, a fashion designer who works on Barbie’s famous wardrobe and becomes an integral part of Jack’s plot line in the book.
Going in, I knew this was a novel—a work of fiction—but I didn’t realize how much of a piece of fiction I would be reading. The main player with whom I most connected ended up being the one that was entirely conceived by the author’s imagination.
I was originally going to highlight what I thought were interesting factoids about the different models in the Barbie product line, various outfits, the Barbie Dreamhouse, and what happened to Allan, that doll I never realized once existed until the Barbie movie, but after reading the author’s note and interview in the readers guide, I’m not sure which of those things I learned are facts and which are fiction.
While this is an interesting topic, I could tell that a lot of work had gone into researching the subject matter of the novel, and I liked the feminist aspects, ultimately, the storytelling fell flat for me.
Just because it didn’t work as well for me, that doesn’t mean it won’t work for you.
I received an advance copy of the book from Berkley. All review opinions are my own.
Rosen novelizes the lives of the main players: Ruth and Elliot Handler, owners of Mattel, Jack Ryan, the main engineer behind Barbie’s design, and Charlotte Johnson, the fashion designer behind some of Barbie’s most iconic outfits, as well as some of the other players in the Mattel offices and these figures' home lives. Rosen adds an additional fictional character to the plot: Stevie, a fashion designer who works on Barbie’s famous wardrobe and becomes an integral part of Jack’s plot line in the book.
Going in, I knew this was a novel—a work of fiction—but I didn’t realize how much of a piece of fiction I would be reading. The main player with whom I most connected ended up being the one that was entirely conceived by the author’s imagination.
I was originally going to highlight what I thought were interesting factoids about the different models in the Barbie product line, various outfits, the Barbie Dreamhouse, and what happened to Allan, that doll I never realized once existed until the Barbie movie, but after reading the author’s note and interview in the readers guide, I’m not sure which of those things I learned are facts and which are fiction.
While this is an interesting topic, I could tell that a lot of work had gone into researching the subject matter of the novel, and I liked the feminist aspects, ultimately, the storytelling fell flat for me.
Just because it didn’t work as well for me, that doesn’t mean it won’t work for you.
I received an advance copy of the book from Berkley. All review opinions are my own.