Being Audrey Hepburn by Mitchell Kriegman Review

Being Audrey Hepburn, by Mitchell Kriegman
Publication: September 16, 2014, by St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 336
Format: Hardcover Finished Copy
Source: Publisher
Rating: ½

In Being Audrey Hepburn, Clarissa Explains It All-creator, Mitchell Kriegman, tells the story of a 19-year-old girl from Jersey who finds herself thrust into the world of socialites after being seen in Audrey Hepburn’s dress from the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Lisbeth comes from a broken home in the land of tube tops, heavy eyeliner, frosted lip-gloss, juiceheads, hoop earrings and “the shore.” She has a circle of friends who have dedicated their teenage lives to relieve the world of all its alcohol one drink at a time.
Obsessed with everything Audrey Hepburn, Lisbeth is transformed when she secretly tries on Audrey’s iconic Givenchy. She becomes who she wants to be by pretending to be somebody she’s not and living among the young and privileged Manhattan elite. Soon she’s faced with choices that she would never imagine making – between who she’s become and who she once was.
In the tradition of The Nanny Diaries and The Devil Wears Prada, this is a coming of age story that all begins with that little black dress… 

If someone asks me to choose over Marilyn Monroe or Audrey Hepburn, I'd definitely choose Audrey, who's for the win. She's changed fashion and acting history, and although I haven't watched any of her movies, everyone knows her and Kriegman has written a novel personally addressed to those who don't know who she is and those are obsessed with her. It doesn't really matter, as we'll all end up loving her and searching her up on Google the moment after they finish the book.

Says Audrey... I can imagine her actually saying it, though.

I guess you can say that this one's summary and storyline was very predictable, but real at the same time. It came out of a "real girl's" mind, and she just wanted to have a different role in the world and live on with fashion taste and popularity. Lisabeth is a Jersey girl, and doesn't feel that she fits in with her family. Her dad left when she was young, her mom is an alcoholic, and her brother and sister are complete wastes, as they always find a way to get into trouble. She works in a diner and is obsessed with Audrey Hepburn, whose movies are her remedy and the only way to save her at times. Then one day, her best friend tells her to use Audrey's Givenchy dress that she wore in Breakfast at Tiffany's, and to go into a party. Little does she know that there will be fear of getting caught, and an instant ticket into popularity and being in famous celebrity magazines. 

Here, Kriegman has gotten readers to wonder what their ticket to being an A-lister would be. I won't even tell you mine, as it's completely unreal. But I guess that the unrealism worked in this case because I was looking for cuteness and a story that can only get a girl to dream. In some cases, the author got Lisabeth to act like a normal girl who just found her way around to being someone different. She owns a blog, cries when she's upset, helps people when they're vomiting in the bathroom because they took too many drugs... you get the story.

The fact that Lisabeth had such an obsession really got me to wonder what my remedy is. No, I don't idolize anyone so much to that point, but books are things that send chills down my spine and are things that I'm able to look back to. I guess people don't understand your opinion unless they share it, too, and that surely was the case for Lisabeth. I think that her best friend, Jess, and her grandmother only "got her," and that's even better. The less people know, the more mysterious and self-conscience you become.

"Breakfast at Tiffany's was the one-hour-and-fifty-five-minute version of my hopes and dreams and all the lurking dangers in-between. I'll never forget the first time I ever heard Holly Golightly talk about the mean reds. I immediately realized that there were mean reds around me all the time."

Lisabeth's character and her thoughts were the real point of this book. Yes, she did have ten minutes of fame, but I believe that she kept running back to whom she really is. I believe that she didn't have to go back to the plans that her mother made for her, but to what she really wanted to do in life. And hey, that's a lesson for everyone. 

In a way, I picture this being a book that Audrey herself would actually read. Everything about it was almost-wonderful, though the romance wasn't too good. You see, the boy-band-guy who works at a diner with Lisabeth isn't my type, and I don't find Jake to be the right girl for her. Sure, he's a teenage heartthrob who she'll squeal about since he woke her up at 5 AM, about to throw a rock at her window... and yes, they ended up together, but I didn't approve of this. AND THAT OTHER KISS? WHAT WAS THAT!? I guess that Kriegman wanted Lisabeth to have a few rebellious streaks inside of her and to do things that she normally wouldn't, but I was shocked.

Mmm, hmmm, the plot was interesting, but I was shocked myself to see how some of it wasn't needed. I guess that about 50 pages could've been cut out from the beginning-of-the-middle, and nothing would be missed. *laughs* That's another negative.

What we actually got from this was a small-town girl who's sick of where she lives. Jersey isn't the place for her, and she has big dreams. There was people in her world who love her, and who always support her decisions and what crazy things she up to do. Yeah, she isn't sure with what she's going to do in her life, but she has time. My favourite character was her grandmother and her rosé champagne, hah.

"Flipping through Nan's scrapbook was one of my favorite things to do. Nan's photos were like a drug to me; they made all the darkness go away—all the ingenues and dashing young men, their faces golden with hope and possibility. I didn't know anyone in my family who believed in hope besides Nan."

I must say, Kriegman is a talented author who's absolutely knowing what he's doing here. We have a dreamy young girl exploring the world in a New York setting. We have a sucky romance and some boring points in the plot, but most of all, we learned how to be Audrey Hepburn and her legacy which she has on many people, young and old. You don't have to be a fan to read this, just go for it if you'd like a light fluffy novel with realism.