Now having devoured her sophomore translated novel with the same vigor in which I consumed her English debut, I can say with full confidence that nobody can write a compulsively driven main character like Maud Ventura. This time, we are laser focused on Cléo who is determined to reach stardom in the music world, come Hell or high water. The daughter of French academics, Cléo is incredibly intelligent and uses the same razor-sharp focus to reach the highest of marks in school, but this is just what she does while she passes the time, waiting for the right moment to reveal her secret: her sultry voice and need for fame. At 23, Cléo reaches overnight success, now it’s just a matter of maintaining it.

Through Cléo we watch with rapt attention the unveiling of a “monstrous” female celebrity behind closed doors. She has always been, at her core, easy to dislike, calculating, selfish, and judgmental, but that isn’t the persona she wears for her fans — the people who have the power to make or break her. In the public eye, Cléo is grateful, aloof, and engaging, begging the question: what are celebrities really like underneath the mask they wear?

This novel is one part sociological experience and two parts the fly on the wall, taking it all in. While an obvious departure from the manic housewife featured in My Husband, there is still that signature intensity I’ve come to expect and admire from Ventura’s work. The thoughtful, subtle twists are always a delight, too.

You’ll have to put up with a fair amount of not-so-riveting detail about what’s required for a pop singer to make her way to the top in Maud Ventura’s “Make Me Famous” – it is a novel about ascension to stardom, after all – but if you hang in there you'll be rewarded with a couple – yes, a couple – of very much riveting climaxes, even if I found the second one somewhat unconvincing.
It finds the protagonist, one Cleo Louvent, on an island that’s been promoted to her as a respite or escape from the frenetic pace of her celebrity life, free of all the usual distractions, which would make for a welcome break for the rest of us, but not, I felt, for someone so driven as she has been presented – indeed, I found it implausible that she would consider a getaway of any sort.
More in keeping with how she is presented, I felt, is the other climax, which has to do with her relationship with her latest assistant, Linda, whom she treats abysmally, though it’s far from the only instance of her bad behavior which she dispenses democratically to anyone and everyone. But unquestionably it’s Linda who bears the brunt of Cleo’s nastiness, to where her lover calls her a tyrant and I wanted to take a poke at her. Particularly egregious, for instance, is when Cleo tells her to kneel before her and apologize and kiss her feet and realizes she has wet herself.
It’s to author Ventura’s credit, though, that through all this, she’s able to make Cleo not a complete monster, but to some extent simply someone who’s driven to fame at whatever cost and one who, with her obvious intelligence and talent, has a low tolerance for anyone not similarly endowed. Still, she’s hardly someone to be admired in a novel which, in the vein of the movie “The Devil Wears Prada” (which is in fact cited in the novel), is an engrossing consideration of the corrosive effects of unbridled ambition.

“Fame isn’t a victory, it’s a vengeance.”

This book had so many elements that keep me interested and immersed. POV is from a woman that is very vain and self focused stopping at seemingly nothing to become famous. Ventura does such an incredible job of laying out the inner landscape of a woman who has numbed herself to reality and sees the world revolving around herself. The reader gets to go along for the ride of this unreliable narrator and see how her perception of life and herself colors the way she interprets the world. This is my second read from this author, and she manages to give these books a thriller type of suspenseful feel to them which I very much enjoyed. Looking forward to her next book!

I wouldn't say it was fun reading about a sociopath, but it was never boring. The ending seemed abrupt, even though it was telegraphed throughout the book. All the little hints and teases about The Bad Thing That Happened, and then suddenly it happened pretty much when the book was almost over. Stuffed into the last ten minutes of a two hour movie, basically. A lot of the book seemed written on a speed-run (this happened, then this happened, which led to this, and now it's been three months) but it felt built into the main character's mindscape.

Wow….this scratched an ITCH!!!! If you like weird, self absorbed female characters who are unreliable narrators and say the most out pocket shit….you’ll Love this. Think the vapid nature of Perfume and Pain by Anna Dorn, the blasé feeling of Eve Babitz, and the attitude of Magnolia Parks. Our main protagonist is deeply unlikable and because of that…I loved her????? This writing was quick and witty and so good. 5 stars EASILY 💋💋💋

Also: Maud Ventura!!!!!! HELLO??? What was that ending!!!

I love books that are set in Hollywood, specifically the music business. The main character, Cleo, is a piece of work, and I mean that in the best and worst of ways. In a moment of self reflection when she's on vacation, on a super exclusive island in the middle of nowhere, we get her narration of he rise to fame and fortune as she's completely isolated and alone. We get the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. Cleo doesn't play fair and she has no moral compass, which makes her an infuriating but easy to root for character. The pacing kept me hooked, and the writing was precise and clean. I enjoyed this book and look forward to more from Maud Ventura.

I really enjoy Maud Venturas writing style and literary voice! When I first encountered My Husband- I read it in about one sitting because of the pace of the story and I feel similarly to make me famous. A definite page turner! I also hate to admit I do judge books by their covers and in a world where every book cover looks the same- I LOVE Venturas. I want posters of them all!

At age four, Cléo Louvent tells her father that she wants to be as famous as Céline Dion. The only child of Franco-American academics, she is determined to become a celebrated pop singer against all odds. Despite her father’s warning to be careful of what she wishes for, Cléo ruthlessly climbs the ladder to musical success. As the novel opens, she is 32 and a global superstar. (Think Taylor Swift.) Cléo is also exhausted from fighting to stay on “top of the pyramid,” and is taking her first real vacation (costing her a half-million dollars) alone on a remote South Pacific island away from prying eyes, cell phones, the paparazzi, and her team’s incessant requests. In her solitude, she reflects on the journey that brought her here. French author Ventura’s first novel, My Husband, depicts a wife’s unhealthy obsession with her spouse. Her second portrays the making of a fame monster. The narcissistic and sociopathic Cléo is an awful person, an unreliable narrator extraordinaire, but she is also fascinating and darkly funny in her observations of celebrity culture. (“You have to reach a certain level of fame before you are allowed to be rude.”) Her eventual comeuppance is chilling but oh-so-satisfying. An intense and compelling psychological study on the costs of fame and ambition.

What an ending! I loved My Husband but I think I love this book even more. Maud has a way of making her characters so incredibly unlikable but you’re still siding with them at the end. I really enjoyed her showing Cleo getting everything she wants but the dirty underbelly of fame and how you no longer belong to yourself. This was gripping from beginning to end and I can’t wait to read more from her in the future

This is an incredible book - delicious, fun, and twisty. It is tantalizing to be inside the mind of the main character - Cleo. I have enjoyed reading about unwell women and this is one of them.

I'm so glad Maud has written another novel. I enjoy her writing style. Make Me Famous features glamourous settings and a character study of a very interesting female main character. I was lost in the pages in a good way. Meaning, I couldn't put the book down. The story is insightful, and it was like taking space in the character's head. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

First of all, I love this cover and hope that Maud's team keeps them coming. After being delighted by "My Husband" I was excited to see what unhinged female Maud tackled next and I was so excited to see it would be a famous singer. Cleo was such an infuriating interesting character and full of absolute shit (complementary). I did lose interest about half way through and it felt like more work than I wanted to spend on the story.

Cleo has wanted fame for a long time. Now that she has it, she can’t stop striving and scheming if she wants to stop on people’s minds. All that fame chasing leaves her a bit exhausted so Cleo books a three-week holiday to a remote island so she can recharge in peace and compose a new album. As Cleo recuperates, she reflect on her success.

It was entertaining (and a little frightening!) to follow Cleo’s inner monologue and reminiscences. The conclusion was a surprise and I loved it!

Thank you to HarperVia and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

3

Setting: USA / France
Rep: queer protagonist

Cléo sure is one hell of an unlikeable character, which makes this a difficult read - it's a bit of a slog, wading through 350 pages of her being an absolute bitch to everyone around her. I liked the ending - yes it's abrupt but it feels deserved.

Make Me Famous begins with superstar musician Cleo Louvent absolutely exhausted by fame. Consequently, she proceeds on an ultra exclusive vacation to a secluded island where she will be absolutely alone for three weeks. As she progresses through her journey, she looks back at her past, describing her ascension to megastar and outlining her mistakes.

Throughout the book Cleo becomes a petulant, vindictive narcissist, her character easy to despise. Having worked around famous actors, I found much of the references to fame to ring true, but I think some of some of the scenes are excessive. This book should have been shorter and it would have still made its point. Not a book I enjoyed at all and I felt the ending came out of nowhere. I’m rating Make Me Famous two stars.

I received this advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review and feedback.

Sadly I could not finish reading, what I read of it was great HOWEVER when I requested the book to read and review there were no trigger warnings for SH.

ARC provided by NetGalley

Unhinged women is my favorite genre and Maud Ventura hits it right on the mark EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. This is probably the most interesting view on fame and celebrity that I have read in a book in a long time. I can't get enough of Maud Ventura's writing, I become so involved and so absorbed into the story. I'm always sad when it ends, Definitely will be recommending this book for months to come.

I’m obsessed with everything Maud Ventura writes. She is truly a master at the “unhinged women” subgenre that has taken social media by storm, and this book is no different.

Make Me Famous is a novel that shows that just because you get everything you’ve ever dreamed of, it doesn’t necessarily mean happily ever after. Cléo, the fame-hungry musician at the center of this story, is a raging narcissist, but her rise and fall is very entertaining to read.

Like Ventura’s first novel, the epilogue packs quite the punch. Definitely had me shocked at the ending. Overall the book was a very juicy, powerful reading experience.

4 stars.

In this, the sophomore effort from the author of the hit MY HUSBANDS (which I didn’t read), which was translated from the French by Gretchen Schmid, Cleo Louvent (nee Johnson) is the daughter of a French academic and an American Egyptologist and an overachiever raised in Paris. All she has ever wanted is to be famous and she has worked toward that end from a young age. After floundering for awhile she finally made it, becoming a global sensation as a singer/songwriter, but for Cleo it was fame for the sake of fame. How do you stay on top?

The perspective is from Cleo at age 33, on a three week solo vacation available only to the ultra rich, but very spartan, just a hut, supplies, a satellite phone in case of emergencies and herself. Other than that she is totally disconnected from the world so she can work on her fourth album and she’s also looking back over her life, especially the last six months, where it all seemed to start going wrong.

I enjoyed this. The ending was a bit abrupt and a bit of a surprise to me, interesting. I am wondering if, in some small ways, Cleo’s life mirrored a bit of Maud’s when Maude was suddenly lauded last year for her debut novel (not exactly a stadium of fans, but I’ll bet things are different for her now.)

I was beyond excited to read an early ARC of this upcoming new book by Maud Ventura. The story is about Cléo, one of the biggest stars in the world, and splits into two narratives: one being her rise to stardom, a rise that only she could see coming and the other taking place in the present, with Cléo on an isolated vacation with a lot of time to think about her life. The character is such an unlikable one that I commend the author for being able to do such an amazing job of writing in the first person perspective.
Cléo is the definition of an unlikable character and unreliable narrator but I enjoyed her portrayal. The book has a lot to say about fame and ambition and what it takes to make it in a cuthroat business, but my favorite part of the book was following the voice of Cléo. Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVia for providing me with this ARC copy in exchange for my honest review and feedback.