Book Club Friday: Valley of the Dolls

This week I am reading Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann.  This is the story of three Gucci clad, pill ("dolls") popping woman whom Susann modeled after Judy Garland, Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe. 

Plot summary via:

In 1945, Anne Welles moves to New York City from Lawrenceville, Massachusetts, and finds employment with a talent agency representing the Broadway musical Hit the Sky. She meets Neely O'Hara (who changed her name from Ethel Agnes O'Neill), a vaudeville star living in her building, and recommends her for a role in the show’s chorus. Jennifer North, a showgirl with limited talent regarded for her beauty, appears in the play as well. The three women become fast friends. Over the next twenty years, the women embark on careers that bring them to the heights of fame and eventual self-destruction.

I was drawn to read this book because it's the "all time pop-culture classic" and it has gotten rave reviews. 

The book is an easy read so far.  I love the way Susann transitions from one setting to another.  She doesn't draw it out like some books do, talking for two whole pages about the weather, scenery and such going from point A to point B.  She gets to the point. 

I have yet to get to the juicy, pill popping part but I am on my way.  Neely is turning into quite the successful singer and Jennifer and Anne are known but not super popular but they all live together at this point in the book (was I supposed to give that away?).  I'm sure once they all hit the big time, the pill popping madness shall begin.