Expose Lit

Expose Lit are novels which gives us an insight into an industry which is based on the author's experience. 

Ondo Lady, 2009

We have Chick Lit, Lad Lit and Chick Noir but over the years we have witnessed the growth of Expose Lit. It is rather akin to roman a clef which is a depiction of real life experiences without revealing the sources, however Expose Lit has a variety of characteristics. It features a small town rookie who moves to the big city in order to persue their dreams, lands an entry level position in sexy glam industry and has a tyranic larger then live boss who is extremely demanding as well as back stabbing colleague. The dilenma of the story features whether or not the protagonist will go over to the dark side in order to get what they want. It was the release of The Nanny Diaries in 2002 that set the trend in the genre with the book being a huge success on both sides of the pond. Then a year later another book would send Expose Lit exploding into the mainstream media. The Devil Wears Prada caught the imagination of readers in the literary world in the story about a young upstart who lands a role as as assistant for a demanding editor. Since then everyone has become intruiged about the goings on in glam industries such as book publishing, PR, magazines, music, film and TV. Every so keen to meet demand, the book publishers have been releasing titles after titles to satisfy readers. A lot of these books have gone on to become successful films ie The Nanny Diaries, The Devil Wears Prada and The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing (which was renamed Surburban Girl.) The others remain great pieces of fiction.

Here are my top Expose Lit books. 

Spin by Robert Rave
Robert Rave worked in PR as an assistant for Lizzie Grubman. This book is a fantastic and riveting read with great writers and characters. There are rumours that Spin is to be made into a movie with Zac Efron playing the lead. 

Pop Tart by Kira Coplin and Julianne Kaye
This is the tale of Jackie O'Reilly, a make up artist who befriends teen pop star, Brooke Parker. Kira Coplin has written for US Weekly and now works as filmmaker in LA and Julianne Kaye is a very successful make up artists who has worked for many artists such as Britney Spears; so they really know what they are talking about. Great book and a fantastic insight into the music machine. 

Schooled by Anisha Lakhani
This book is basically the real Gossip Girl and exposes the deception and corruption that goes on in posh private schools in New York. Anna Taggart starts a new job as a teacher at Langdon Hall with all the best intentions of nurturing her students but finds herself sliding down the slippery pole of backhanders and designer gifts. A fantastic read.

The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
Not read this book but 10 out of 10 for pioneering the whole expose lit thing. Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Krause both worked as nannies in New York so this book was really their memoirs. The Nanny Diaries was released in 2002 and gained No 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. A film was released in 2007 staring Scarlett Johanason but sadly it was a flop. 

The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger 

The ultimate Expose Lit which tells the story of Andrea Sachs, a midwestern girl who moves to the Big Apple in order to become a journalist for the New Yorker. Strangely enough she finds herself at the biggest magazine on earth and working for a boss with the biggest ego. Lauren Weisberger was an assistant at Vogue for Anna Wintour. The book was published in 2003 and was adapted into hugely successful film in 2006. My verdict is great film but shame about the book. The characters here are lacklustre and the narrative really drags. 

Twin of Tribeca by Rachel Pine

Just started reading this and so far so good. Karen Jacobs is a junior publicist at Glorious Pictures where she is treated like crap. The company is owned by the Waxman Brothers who run the company with an iron fist. Rachel Pine worked as a publicist at Miramax which is owned by the Weinstein brothers so knows all about the Hollywood machine. 

Because She Can by Bridie Clark
Clare Truman is offered a job as an editor with Vivian Grant, one of the most formidable women in publishing. Sadly her dream job turns into a nightmare when her boss shows her true colours and begins showering her staff with relentless workload and mental and verbal abuse. Bridie Clark has worked in the book publishing industry for years and under hot shot publishing maverick, Judith Regan who this book is rumoured to be based on. Because She Can is a blatant attempt to cash in on the success of The Devil Wears Prada but it fails miserably. The story is weak and the characters are super bland.

So with a sequel to The Nanny Diaries aka The Nanny Returns, out in December it looks like the genre of Expose Lit is set to run and run.

Pop Tart

She was America's sweetheart until the love affair turned sour. Hmmm how many times have we come across this scenario? Young wide eyed bushy tailed singer is rocketed into stardom and becomes the media darling and then it all goes terribly wrong. Hence the tale of Brooke Parker, a 16 year old schoolgirl whose debut album catapults her into fame and becoming the world's most famous teenager. Her face is adorned on the cover of glossy magazines and on celeb blogs, she appears on numerous TV shows and is invited to every top event. A millionaire before her 18th birthday, Brooke resides in a luxury mansion in Hollywood and is decked out in designer clothes. Sounds like a dream come true right? Actually no - because behind Brooke's perfect life are a team of image makers; the people who create and define her. Her manipulative manager, bitchy stylist and no nonsense PR manager; all of which have a huge stake in Brand Brooke and will stop at nothing to see a return on their investment. Told from the view of Brooke's make-up artist, Jackie O'Reilly, Pop Tart shows how Brooke goes from being a bubbly and carefree teenager to a moody, needy one who has lost her zest for life. It demonstrates how fame and success contains a toxic element that makes those in the showbiz industry lose any sense of values and loyalty.

Interestingly enough Pop Tart is written by Kira Coplin and Julianne Kaye. Coplin is a writer, film maker and pop culture journalist who has penned for US Weekly, CosmoGirl, The New York Post and OK. Kaye has worked as a make up artist on celebrities such as Eva Mendes, Scarlett Johanesson and Britney Spears, so we can safely say that they both know what they are talking about. I thought this book was super, well written and thoroughly engaging. The characters were well developed and I really empathised with the protagonist, Jackie. I will be blunt here and state that this book is quite clearly based on Britney herself; there are too many attributes that relate to Ms Spears life for it to be a coincidence. Such as Brooke's broken relationship with boy band member, Jesse, her rivalry with fellow teen song bird, Jessica Rader and her fake friendship with socialite, Alexis 'Lexy' Young. Even the cover of the book which contains a blonde teen seductively sucking on a lollipop is very a la Britney. Remember the controversial Rolling Stone cover of Britney wearing a sexy school uniform?

I love the whole expose fiction book scene that the publishers seem to be embracing, think of the Babylon series, The Devil Wears Prada and of course The Nanny Diaries. Bring on the expose lit.

You can check out Julianne Kaye's blog here.

I also found a video on Youtube with the Julianne and Kira where they discuss the book and the concept behind it. Check it out below.