Customer Rating:  
Summary: Haven't I seen this film before?
Comment: Admittedly, I am a Danielle Steel fan. I first discovered her books in 1993 and have read several since then.
When I initially heard the title of the book "Bungalow 2", I began to wonder if I had suddenly missed out on "Bungalow 1". Obviously, after reading more into the storyline, I discovered this title refers to the "on location" set that the lead character, Tanya Harris, has left her family for. A devoted wife and mother, Tanya is branching out from her San Francisco suburb and taking on Hollywood's grit and grime to create the screenplay she's always dreamed of.
The book meanders a bit, but eventually fleshes itself out around Chapter 10. The irony of the matter seems to lie in the character, Tanya's previous occupation: an author of short stories. It seems Danielle should've channeled her main character's past to create a tighter, leaner, and overall stronger piece. I almost became too bored to finish the story altogether!
You won't see any TV movies from what ultimately came across as a romantic "mad libs" of sorts. Replace these names and faces and you have every other Danielle Steel book she's written before. They're eating caviar and replacing old romances with newfound ones.
The problem here seems to stem from the lack of depth overall. Plot is repeated, ad nauseam, to the point where you're mentally tired of the characters' life and plight. Steel chooses to use tears and repetition to endear you to the protagonist instead of facts, dialogue and detail. Even when she does tend use detail, it streams along in meandering paragraphs that easily gloss over specifics.
This rambling piece of literature is definitely not one of Danielle Steel's best works.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Where was the editor?
Comment: The perfect wife, the perfect husband, three perfect children, a perfect house, a perfect life. So starts Bungalow 2, one of a myriad of novels authored by Danielle Steel, the queen of romance. Tanya Harris, our heroine, is a freelance writer, producing articles for numerous magazines as well as scripts for the occasional soap opera. Her husband Peter, a successful attorney, is handsome and devoted to her. Tanya has everything she's always wanted, both materially and emotionally, with the exception of working on a screenplay for a movie.
One day her agent calls with great news - she's been offered a screenplay. To top it off, it's not just any movie, but one produced by Douglas Wayne, a top Hollywood producer whose work is practically guaranteed an Academy Award. The only glitch? Tanya would have to leave her suburban home to live in Los Angeles while the movie is being filmed. Will she take the job? If she does, how will her family survive without her for nine months? Will she return to her perfect life or will the glitter of Hollywood lure her away?
The premise of Bungalow 2 is an interesting one and could easily entice readers bored with their own suburban lives. What would it be like to work with a famous Hollywood producer? To interact daily with A-list actors? Be treated like royalty by staff and live in a gorgeous apartment at the Beverly Hills Hotel? While these are all fun daydreams, the problem with this novel quickly becomes apparent within the first few pages. The first 20 pages of the book describe Tanya's perfect life, over, and over, and over again. The whole book reads like a first draft with so much text that has yet to be re-worked or deleted. Not just ideas, but whole phrases, are repeatedly used within the span of a few pages. For example, when talking about Megan, Tanya's spoiled daughter who hates her mom for leaving, Peter explains how Megan will forgive Tanya "...when you come home" (pg. 145). Then, on the next page, "When you come home..." followed on the next page by "I think it will get better when you come home." Of course, Peter is also going on and on for several pages about the same thing - when Tanya comes home, all will be well. It could have been said in one page. There are probably 50 pages of text that are redundant and should have been removed. Where was the editor when this book was being produced?
Many of the characters in Bungalow 2 were rather one-dimensional and it was hard to understand how anybody could like them, particularly Tanya Harris, a woman of deep moral convictions. Of course, few people read Steel's books for their complex character development. The Hollywood life is an interesting backdrop and for that, it can be a fun read.
Quill says: If you can skip over all the repetitive text, Bungalow 2 is an entertaining, fluffy, beach read.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Danielle Steele
Comment: I haven't read this book either. I just buy them for my sister to read.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Oh, it's really the worst book ever. Oh it was awful.
Comment: Being between books and at my precious Mother-in-laws, she gave me this to read. It was my first venture into a Danielle Steel novel. I did read it from beginning to end. I was totally unaware that such God-awful writing was even available. The characters were developed by a narrator's voice (rather than dialogue... which was cliché AT BEST) and I didn't particularly like any of them. It was utterly predictable and I've never read anything she written before. Oh it was just awful. I finished the book out of loyalty to my MIL (who said later that this book was, in fact, awful but that at one point DS had been a decent novelist.)
I had to put this here to stop others from the torture of this book. You want light, easy reading that is fun, try The Devil wears Prada. That was a cute, fun book. I think I'll just go back to 1776 and Liberal Fascism, thank you very much.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Better than others
Comment: I liked the story of Bungalow 2 much better than some of Ms. Steel's recent novels. There was tension and conflict and the story was resolved satisfactorily. There is still something of the old Danielle Steel style still missing here. The story is mostly "told" and not "shown", although this is not quite as offensive as other of her novels of late. All in all, Bungalow 2 is a good story and, while not written as well as her earlier novels, it was somewhat enjoyable.
J. A. Fulkerson, Author
For Love of Teddy, a novel
Teenagers and drugs don't mix
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