The Knockoff: A Novel

I rarely write reviews but this book is worth the time and the effort.I won’t reiterate the story as there have been so many reviews before mine. It’s beautifully crafted. It’s an easy to relate to, witty, and satiric, story .I found it to be quite subtle in it’s inferences. It’s by no means laid out for the reader in a step- by -step fashion, and we all draw our own conclusions.It’s an easy to relate to story built around the mega impact of technology, racing ahead at warp speed and how we cope, or don’t. Who are we is a strong underlying question running through the book… are we the people we present on social media, or are those merely the people that we wish to be. How do we mesh with people of a different generation or mindset; how little does it take to divide us…or bring us together ?Is it the technology that creates issues, or is it our humanity… or lack of…?I thought the author really nailed it, in very astute, clever and occasionally facetious dialogue throughout the book, and it was fascinating to watch ( read) the story play out. The story lines in ‘All About Eve” and The Devil Wears Prada are related but neither of those was a new concept.This book has elements of both, but is far more strongly is grounded in how we think, present, and act in / with the technology available to us in just a few seconds, when thoughts and emotions are perhaps not so easily thought through. It's insightful and perceptive, as the author pits the discriminating against the wily, the exploitable against the scheming.Perhaps Einstein said it best (but certainly not first): It has becomeI rarely write reviews but this book is worth the time and the effort.I won’t reiterate the story as there have been so many reviews before mine. It’s beautifully crafted. It’s an easy to relate to, witty, and satiric, story .I found it to be quite subtle in it’s inferences. It’s by no means laid out for the reader in a step- by -step fashion, and we all draw our own conclusions.It’s an easy to relate to story built around the mega impact of technology, racing ahead at warp speed and how we cope, or don’t. Who are we is a strong underlying question running through the book… are we the people we present on social media, or are those merely the people that we wish to be. How do we mesh with people of a different generation or mindset; how little does it take to divide us…or bring us together ?Is it the technology that creates issues, or is it our humanity… or lack of…?I thought the author really nailed it, in very astute, clever and occasionally facetious dialogue throughout the book, and it was fascinating to watch ( read) the story play out. The story lines in ‘All About Eve” and The Devil Wears Prada are related but neither of those was a new concept.This book has elements of both, but is far more strongly is grounded in how we think, present, and act in / with the technology available to us in just a few seconds, when thoughts and emotions are perhaps not so easily thought through. It's insightful and perceptive, as the author pits the discriminating against the wily, the exploitable against the scheming.Perhaps Einstein said it best (but certainly not first): It has becomeappallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. This book points us in the direction of a healthy balance

I'm about half-way thru and some questions have come to mind. The book starts Chapter one in August 2015. That is the future, since this only June 2015, right? OK here we have a woman, Imogen, who is very savvy, very knowledgeable about running a magazine yet--- she is totally clueless about things that she certainly should know. What happened to the floppy disks, she wonders. Don't people use them anymore? She couldn't understand where they went and what replaced them. She doesn't know that the floppy disk has been gone for years and years? She doesn't know about the disc drive in a computer, yet she uses a computer? She has a young daughter that does YouTube videos, yet Imogen doesn't know what Twitter is or how to use it? How can she be so far behind the times, yet have social contacts and a working staff who uses technology?Then we gave Eve, an unlikeable person all around, but when Imogene comes back to work after a 6 month leave, she is willing to follow and do everything Eve says to do, even tho Imogen is Editor in Chief. Even as far as spending the night in a Days' Inn sleeping in the same bed as Eve. Just because Eve said that was the way it was going to be. When Imogen comes back to work after being off on sick leave, she's like Rip Van Winkle after his long sleep. She knows nothing about what is going on. Doesn't she have friends who would have called her and kept her up to date? All this makes for a strange plot. The Editor in Chief being led around by a nobody. So far all I want to do is shake Imogen and tell her to use that brain she has and Speak Up. She might not know much about technology, but she surely should have enough gumption to tell Eve where to go. I hope the story line improves because Imogen is such a wimp I'm beginning to question whether I am going to finish the book or not.

Fun, funny, sarcastic inside look at what happens when a successful fashion magazine is turned over to a soulless, amoral, social climbing shrew with an MBA, Eve. (As in "All About...") Imogen, a seasoned, highly regarded EIC of "Glossy", returns to work after 6 months away battling cancer. What she finds when she returns is a Bizarro World version of what she left. Eve was her assistant before leaving for Harvard. Now she's back and running the show. Imogen''s beloved mag is being turned into an app, loaded with all that crap that clutters our devices and our minds: What's "trending", pointless quizzes, and above all, the insistence that we "BUY IT NOW". Imogen nay have been the queen of the fashion world for a couple of decades, but suddenly, at 42, she is a dinosaur. Not only does she not understand the technology, but the mores and behaviors of Eve and her terrified minions are unfathomable to her Eve is so wicked, so awful, so...diabolical, It's delicious! You simply cannot wait for her comeuppance.There's loads of name dropping, and characters who are easily recognized, even with the names changed.Yes, there are the happy coincidences that grease the wheels of the narrative, but so what? And there were some threads that are never unraveled, but all in all, I found it, especially as a woman of a certain age, quite a fun romp

This was a really funny read. I think if you're in my age (bracket) Im 41 You will find it just as funny as I did. The millennials will also appreciate it. It was a quick read & I read it in just a couple days. Great writing. Made me LOL!

well well, ...underwhelmed - in one word. Don't know what I expected, but this wasn't worth my time.Can't agree with comments/reviews on the cover of the book. The Devil Wears Prada it ain't! Remember this as a hilariously funny and well written book. This here ain't literature. It may be a "knockoff-Devil-2015" but just to add Apple, apps, Instagram etc. won't make this one a writer nor this sth to remember. Read the whole book though. Until about 1/3 into the book I was wondering and waited... About half way through I thought it gets a little better and so I read on. End comes as you would think, Imogen, the EiC (editor in chief) wins over evil Eve. They tried, but seriously - in vain in my opinion. It's like a (very long) article you would expect to see in a fashion magazine, read and forget about it. Not worth to stretch this to a whole book.

It's a quick read but I laughed a lot. I could picture myself inside every well written scene. Great weekend/summer novel.

I've read this book a couple times, and I enjoyed it so much that I also bought the audio book version. This book is really funny. It makes me very fortunate for my wonderful co workers.

This is a fun, light hearted book that is easy to read and hard to put down! The details on fashion, NYC and tech allow the reader to escape into a fantasy life.