Stylistic Analysis of ‘Everyone Worth Knowing’

NAME: April King STU ID: 1200015542 PHONE: 13******* EMAIL: 18********@QQ.COM

Contents 1. Plot summary 3 2. book review 3 3. stylistic analysis 5 3.1 narrative technique 5 3.2 lexical level analysis 5 3.2.1 Extreme words and exaggerating words 3.2.2 Standard, common and concrete words 3.2.3 mind words 3.3 Semantic (or rhetorical) Analysis 5 3.3.1 Parallelism 3.3.2 contrast 3.3.3 repetition 3.3.4 paradox 3.3.5 irony 3.3.6 simile 3.3.7 synaesthesia 3.3.8 climax 3.3.8 imagery 3.4 syntactical 7 3.5 textual level analysis 7 3.5.1 writing techniques 3.5.1.1 fdt (Stream of conciousness) 3.5.1.2 fds and ds 3.5.1.3 Direct Characterization and Indirect Characterization 3.5.1.4 internal conflict 3.5.1.5 change of literary form 3.5.2 paragraph level analysis 4. referrence 9

Like The Devil Wears Prada, Everyone Worth Knowing is essentially a morality play in which an unglamorous young single woman is suddenly thrust into a glamorous New York industry and slowly starts to get comfortable in it, despite keeping herself at a distance, at the expense of her relationship with family and friends, only to decisively reject it and begin to get what she really needs. Unlike its predecessor, however, the novel depicts far more decadent behavior from its wealthy elite, including casual sex, the frequent use of various illegal drugs and women starving themselves to the point that they frequently pass out from sheer hunger.

1. Plot summary
Shaken by the news that her best friend Penelope has gotten engaged to Avery, who neither she nor Penelope's other friends think is right for her, Bette Robinson suddenly quits her job at UBS, the investment banking firm where she has worked in the five years since she and Penelope graduated from Emory. However, she does little to find a new direction in life until her uncle Will, an aging nationally syndicated entertainment columnist, introduces her to event planner, Kelly.
Shortly thereafter, Bette finds herself working for Kelly's firm, Kelly & Co., planning parties, eating and drinking at the city's most fashionable night spots ... and becoming a regular subject of a popular online gossip column, whose anonymous author seems determined to link her romantically to wealthy playboy Phillip Weston. While she does find Phillip somewhat attractive, much like the heroines of the romance novels she secretly indulges in, and the association becomes of great benefit to her in her new job, she is later drawn to Sammy, a bouncer at Bungalow 8 who turns out to be from her hometown of Poughkeepsie and harbors ambitions of being a chef.
The two connect on a trip to Istanbul, and Sammy's culinary skills impress Bette's parents, former 1960s radicals, on a Thanksgiving trip back to Poughkeepsie. But he, too, is tied to a wealthy socialite, and dreams of escaping the high life to open a small restaurant. Bette, meanwhile, finds herself growing distant from Penelope and her other friends, and must choose between the person she once was and the one she is becoming.

2. Book Review
"It's who you know" never rang truer than when a New York Daily News entertainment and society columnist, a.k.a. Uncle Will, cleverly arranges for his recently unemployed niece, Bette Robinson, to sit beside Kelly & Company's reigning public relations queen at a private party. Before you know it, Bette is working for Kelly, who has "an office of people whose job it is to know everyone worth knowing," where "going out is part of your job" and hiring "gorgeous guys as bartenders or security or waitstaff at private parties and events" is complete with DJs, champagne cocktails and very VIP guests chosen by the List Girls in Kelly's office. Philip Weston --- a British playboy crowned "Nightlife Adonis" and regular on the international party scene --- plunges Kelly into the world of nasty and untrue stories in the gossip columns fed by the unscrupulous and anonymous "Ellie Insider."
Weisberger's main character, Bette Robinson, is an avid fan of mass market romance novels depicting "agony, ecstasy, and a happy ending --- who could ask for more?" Ooohhh yes, the "ideal" man. Bette's monthly meetings with her romance readers book club lends a thread of female bonding to Bette's whirlwind fantasy world of public relations girls and guys, described by Weisberger as "possessing unnervingly good looks," converging daily to purge the gossip columns for publicity hits for their high-paying clients who want their names associated with the A-list celebrities, events and products.
While Everyone Worth Knowing has all the elements of a second New York Times bestseller for Weisberger, the repetitive A-List, elite party scenes attended by P. Diddy, Candace Bushnell, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kid Rock, Jessica and Ashlee Simpson, and other assorted celebrities become a blur and less impressive among the coke snorting, centerfold-seeking females being fawned over by the VIP entourages who inhabit the dark corners of Manhattan's trendiest nightclubs. Unlike THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, there is no female boss from hell, but Bette's boss, Kelly, is very happy to take advantage of Bette's regular mention in the gossip columns and the free publicity it brings Kelly & Company, despite the embarrassment it brings to Bette and her family.
Weisberger brilliantly weaves Bette's romantic fantasies garnered from reading "over four hundred" romance novels, starting with HOT AND HEAVY in her teens, into her character and the romantic relationship she has with Sammy, the handsome bouncer who unhooks the red velvet rope outside the world famous Manhattan nightclub Bungalow 8. Weisberger misses an opportunity to write a more detailed hot and heavy bedroom scene between Bette and Sammy. While Weisberger writes Bette's thought, "It was, I had to admit, a sex scene straight out of a Harlequin," the scene lacked sufficient build-up and passion and consisted of one paragraph, contrary to Bette's addiction to romantic fantasies.
Weisberger's Harlequin romance mass market paperback humor is a welcome respite from the Playboy party, the Blackberry event and Hitch premiere details. When Bette says, "Obviously she could use a few hours with The Very Bad Boy" (the title of her romance book club's monthly selection) after a "very petite woman who resembled a school librarian" swears at her for accidentally bumping into her, I identified this as the type of comment I too would have shared with a fellow romance reader and best friend.
In addition to Bette's bizarre lifestyle of planning parties for In Style in Manhattan and the Association of Istanbul Nightclub owners in Turkey --- which of course requires her to accompany a carefully selected group of people from Kelly & Company's 35,000-member VIP lists on a private jet --- Bette tries to help her best friend Penelope see that the man who gave her two engagement rings, one flawless 6-carat family heirloom and one 3-carat "wearable" ring, is a very bad boy.
For Bette, everyone worth knowing, amidst the nightly crowds of celebrities and VIP guests, is Sammy, who measures up to the "ideal" man. Sammy makes his share of relationship mistakes, but what makes him "ideal" is when Bette vows to quit reading "those goddamn Harlequins" because "they just made it too easy to maintain totally unreasonable expectations." Sammy surprises her with a scene right out of a romance novel. It's hard to give up the "ideal" when we find men who really do fulfill our romantic fantasies.
Call it fate, call it destiny, call it chemistry, call it romance, call it a happy ending --- by the time this novel is over, "the stars are gonna shine on two lovers in love." The next time you wonder if the "ideal" man in romance novels exists, know that Bette found one with "looks utterly begging to be on a dust jacket" and one who left her "breathless with anticipation."

3. Stylistic Analysis 3.1 Narrative technique
As a work of postmodernism, Everyone Worth Knowing is written in first-person point of view, or called psycho-narration. And Bette, the protagonist of this novel, in the description of Chapter 3 is gradually getting bored and annoyed of her daily life, especially after her friend - Penelope’s engagement party and wants a change.

3.2 Lexical Level Analysis 3.3.1 Extreme words and exaggerating words * So instead I sat inside my shower-sized cubicle at UBS Warburg-as I hand every day for the past fifty-six months-and death-gripped the phone … * I was being berated by a “minimum”, someone who only invests the million-dollar minimum with my division and is therefore excruciatingly demanding and detailed-oriented in a way that forty-million-dollar clients never are. * Yes. Yes. Yes, I will absolutely have him call you the moment he returns from the meeting. * … ninty percent of which he spent accusing me of things that were entirely beyond my control … * … but lately Penelope and I had brazenly begun sneaking out for ten, twelve minutes a day to retrieve our own take out and cram in as much whining and gossip as possible.
All these extreme words reflects Bette’s being fed up with her client’s bad attitude, with this job and even with her life 3.3.2 Standard, common and concrete words
It is, on the one hand, really easy to understand, on the other hand, can give a concrete picture of what is being described. * Paragraph 8.
This Paragraph uses a serial of verbs to picture Bette’s “CIA” task, excited and tense. 3.3.3 Mind words (See 3.5.1.1)

3.3 Semantic (or rhetorical) Analysis 3.4.4 Parallelism
In Paragraph 4, Bette asks herself two questions as follows, * Were his insistence on using the word folks and his constant reference to “thinking outside the box” more or less annoying than his inclusion of the phrase thinking caps? Did he craft and send emails just to add to the all-pervasive misery and hopelessness of my days?

3.4.5 Contrast * In paragraph 2, the client’s actions – “slammed down the phone”, is a sharp contrast with Bette’s words. This is the contrast between the response of clients and Bette. * I mumbled something about the bathroom to my fellow cubicle dwellers, who were too busy transferring their own facial grime to their telephones to even notice, and walked confidently toward the halfway. This is the contrast between the colleagues’ work attitude and Bette’s. * Bette’s wiping her makeup off the receiver in paragraph 2 with her colleagues’ “transferring their facial grime to their phones” This is the contrast between the colleagues’ work attitude and Bette’s. * I’d abided by the no-leaving-for-lunch policy my first few years at UBS Warburg and dutifully ordered in each day, but lately Penelope and I had brazenly begun sneaking out for ten, twelve minutes a day to retrieve our own take out and cram in as much whining and gossip as possible. This is the contrast about Bette’s work attitude in the past and now. 3.4.6 Repetition * “Yes. Of course. Yes. Yes. Yes … Yes. Certainly. Of course. Yes. Naturally. Yes. A pleasure hearing from you, as always. All right, then. Bye-bye.”
The repetition of word “Yes” shows Bette’s compliance when facing clients’ complaints. 3.4.7 Paradox * I went to send Aaron a quick email begging him to return Mrs. Kaufman’s call so she would finally stop stalking me and was surprised to see that he was back at his desk, busily blast-emading us his daily inspirational bullshit.
Two words, one positive and the other is just the opposite, combine together, showing Bette’s difficult situation that she has to cater to her supervisor holding back the dissatisfaction to him. 3.4.8 Irony * “Oh, I’m sorry I forgot, I should be thrilled that five years of slave labor have turned out so well. I mean, look at us, how glamorous is this?”
This sentence expresses Bette’s anger toward the company’s regulation. 3.4.9 Simile * Penelope worked in the real-estate division two floors above me and was already in the elevator, but like two well-trained CIA operatives, we didn’t so much as glance at each other.
This simile describes Bette and Penelope’s carefulness when they sneak out, however, making the situation a little bit ironic. * I followed as best I could in my ugly, uncomfortable heels, the humidity hit my face like a wall.
The “wall” feeling reflects Bette’s discomfort living in this life. 3.4.10 Synaesthesia * … but restrained myself as an overweight woman wearing a skirt suit worse than mine and a pair of white leather Reeboks over her tights spilled hot sauce down the front of her embroidered, ruffled blouse. I saw myself in ten years and nearly lurched forward with queasiness. 3.4.11 Climax * “It’s sad enough we don’t get to go out to lunch at some point in the midlle of a sixteen-hour sixteen-hour workday, but it’s fucking pathetic that we aren’t even permitted to pick out our food ourselves.” 3.4.12 Imagery * I wanted to say “Two rings?”
“Two rings” here refers to marriage. See 3.5.1.4.

3.4 Syntactical Chapter 3 are mostly consisted of long, complex sentences and subordinate clauses, making readers have a clear picture of what Lauren is describing gradually. However, there are also some paragraphs contains both short, simple sentences and long, complex sentences. Take Paragraph 6 as an example.
Lauren also strives for variety in her use of syntax in paragraph 6, whose effects can be created from varying long, complex sentences with short, simple ones. * I hung up and resumed staring listlessly at the email. I wasn’t … chance. I’d abided … as possible. An IM popped up on my screen.
This paragraph is for the transition from the description of the office hour to Bette’s following “escape" meeting with Penelope. Except for the first and the last sentence, the rest of this paragraph uses compound sentences. The first long sentence express Bette’s being fed up with Mr. Bell’s quote and a desire of escape. The second one uses some common, concrete words to make a contrast with protagonist’s job attitude in her “first few years” and “now”, indicating that Bette has already taken actions to make a change to her life.

3.5 Textual Analysis
It is crystal clear to see that Everyone Worth Knowing is a realistic novel, which has a strong sense of fact or actuality. In this novel, the term realistic is used to refer to the presentation of ordinary, easily observable Bette’s or some people’s surrounding her life which give readers an impression of fidelity to realistic experience. 3.6.13 Writing Techniques
3.5.1.1 FDT (Stream of Conciousness)
The extract contains a number of the classic markers of free direct thought (FDT) which have been commonly identified in critical treatments. In particular, the entry to Bette’s consciousness is signalled by cues such as a frequent use of mental words, coupled with modality, which suggest an internal point of view, * The week following Penelope’s engagement party was nearly unbearable. * I pondered this for a few moments , desperate to think about anything other than the seven A.M. meeting announcement. * I wasn’t exactly sure how Mr. Bell’s quote applied to my life or why I should care, but I did know planed escape for lunch, now was my only chance.

questions which she is asking herself, * Were his insistence on using the word folks and his constant reference to “thinking outside the box” more or less annoying than his inclusion of the phrase thinking caps? * Did he craft and send emails just to add to the all-pervasive misery and hopelessness of my days? * I wasn’t exactly sure how Mr. Bell’s quote applied to my life or why I should care, but I did know planed escape for lunch, now was my only chance.

and the co-temporality of narrative past tense with present time deictics. * It was my fault, of course: there are many ways to piss off your parents and rebel against your entire upbringing without enslaving yourself in the process, but I was clearly too stupid to find them. * I was being berated by a “minimum”, someone who only invests the million-dollar minimum with my division and is therefore excruciatingly demanding and detailed-oriented in a way that forty-million-dollar clients never are.
The entry into Bette’s consciousness through the technique of free direct thought is also marked by the characteristic combination of the presence of first-person pronouns and past tense.
3.5.1.2 FDS and DS
In Everyone Worth Knowing, the collective consciousness of Bette and Penelope is highlighted by a number of experiments with speech and thought expression. Some paragraphs consist entirely of free direct speech (FDS), * “Does it matter?”
“Someone’s in a great mood today.”
“Oh, I’m sorry I forgot, I should be thrilled that five years of slave labor have turned out so well. I mean, look at us, how glamorous is this?” … “It’s sad enough we don’t get to go out to lunch at some point in the middle of sixteen-hour workday, but it’s fucking pathetic that we aren’t even permitted to pick out our food ourselves.”
“This is nothing new, Bette. I don’t know why you are getting so stressed about it now.”
“Just a particular lousy day. If it’s possible to distinguish one from the next.”
“Why? Anything happen?”
The conversation continues with no indications of who is speaking, though there are occasional narratorial interventions which reveal a road-stand context.

direct speech (DS), * “What are you having?” Penelope asked…
“It’s all some sort of meat on a stick or dough-filled smething,” I said tonelessly, surveying the smoky meats.”
Both DS and FDS carry the flavor and vividnesss of the original, and feature no filtering of the utterance through the narrator, which is why these are classed as belonging to the narrator’s end of scale. The further we get from the original utterance, the more control the narrator claims over the speech report.

and Indirect Speech (IS) * … this time from Mrs. Kaufman’s nephew, at lasted a record fifty-seven minutes, ninety percent of which he spent accusing me of things that were entirely beyond my control while I said nothing or, occasionally, just switch things up, agreed with him that I was, in fact, as dumb and useless as he claimed.

3.5.1.3 Direct Characterization and Indirect Characterization
In presenting and establishing character, Lauren uses both Direct Characterization, such as the ude of names-Bette and Penelope- and appearance, and Indirect Characterization, such as Bette’s dialogue with the client and with Penelope (Paragraph 2, 9-16) and actions of Bette (Paragraph 8).
3.5.1.4 Internal Conflict
Within the protagonist’s own character, there is a gradually intense conflict between Bette’s real life with high pressure everyday and almost no leisure time，and her desirable and relaxing life. What’s more, in the last paragraph, Bette wants the marriage-“two rings”-, but she is also afraid be-“an overweight woman wearing a skirt suit worse than mine and a pair of white leather Reeboks over her tights spilled hot sauce down the front of her embroidered, ruffled blouse.”
3.5.1.5 Change of Literary Form
There is an email from Mr. Bell inserted in this excerpt, which can be seen as the Change of literary form and, furthermore, the representation of postmodernism. Also, in this email, Mr. Bell’s tone is really lighthearted, confirming Bette’s description-“inspirational”- is just to the point and is a sharp contrast to Bette’s internal feelings-“misery” and “hopelessness.”

3.6.14 Paragraph Analysis
This Chapter can be divided into three parts. (All the paragraphs here are counted without the inserted letter from Mr. Bell.) * First part: Paragraph 1 to 3.
As Bette’s interior monologue, the first paragraph evokes an “unbearable” atmosphere of the setting, most of which uses loose compound sentences to involve readers in the “shower-sized cubicle”, holding the receiver in their hands. It also contains some negative words, such as “unbearable” “rebel against” “enslaving” “stupid” “deanth-gripped” “berated” “excruciatingly”, some of which are extreme ones。 The literary connotations of these words point towards evoking the sense of the activity and place and also expressing her resentment to her daily work and hates of dealing with those “excruciatingly demanding” lower-class clients. However, the following paragraph, the dialogue with one of Bette’s clients, shows an opposite attitude.
The author only pays attention to Bette’s response in her negotiation with Mrs. Kaufman in paragraph 2, which make it more clearly to see how Bette do her job everyday. It is really ironic that she can only show compliance when facing clients’ complaints. And the following words confirms that, especially the second example, which uses the repetition of word “Yes” to highlight Bette’s unwillingness to do this job make a 铺垫 for her magnificent changes of the future life.
“… I truly understand your concern over the market’s slight decline …”
These three paragraphs shows a scene that Bette deals with her client, Mrs. Kaufman, and her feelings with this job and with the cliens hard to please. * Second part: Letter to Paragraph 6.
This part tells Bette’s response to the email sent by her supervisor, Mr. Bell, and Mrs. Kaufman’s nephew’s call. * Third part: Paragraph 7 to 17.
This part describes the Bette’s meeting with Penelope, Most of which is the conversation between Bette and Penelope and Bette, that shows Bette’s anger for her job and her fear of keeping leaving this kind of life.

4. Reference
[1]Murray, N. 2012. Writing Essays in English Language and Linguistics , Cambridge University Press.
[2]M. Short, 2013. A Stylistic Analysis of Drama (English Language Series) ,Pearson Publisher.
[3] Mario Falsetto, 1994. A Narrative and Stylistic Analysis (Contributions to the Study of Popular Culture, No. 39) , Greenwood Pub Group.

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[ 1 ]. Wikipedia “Everyone worth knowing” Major Themes
[ 2 ]. Wikipedia “Everyone worth knowing” Plot Summary
[ 3 ]. Bookreporter “Everyone worth knowing” Review