Book review: Power Play

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Book review: Power Play

Danielle Steel's latest novel Power Play probably proves she's lost sight of what is a good read - and that the bestselling doyenne in no mood to give up writing bad fiction

By Sushmita Bose (Features Editor)

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Published: Thu 7 Jan 2016, 11:00 PM

Last updated: Fri 8 Jan 2016, 1:00 AM

I've been quite astonished how prolific Danielle Steel has been of late. It's almost like, you turn a corner, and there you see it: her latest 'bestseller' being brandished around in some bookstore.
Not difficult to fathom really. Steel is scraping the bottom of the barrel for content that could constitute a book - even an airport bestseller - but she's doing so on reflex because she doesn't care: she knows the inevitable formula to a quick fix - she's made it into a template these days.
And yet, Power Play, her latest quickie that you could finish on a 90-minute flight (and have time for a snooze), has been accorded decent ratings on all book barometers. Goodreads, for instance, gives it a 3.7/5 score, which just goes to show that 'easy does it' - even sans noticeable flair - is a top draw.
The book tracks the separate lives (interconnected very tangentially) of two top-performing corporate honchos: Fiona Carson and Marshall Weston. Their sunny Californian lifestyles are the stuff Hollywood dreams are made of: private jets and gated mansions, and beach houses in Malibu. The man-woman one-upmanship game is also on, and no surprises whose side the author is on; but, honestly, it's rather silly to read about how the woman CEO is far more responsible, at work and in life, than the swollen-headed male counterpart - judgements drawn on the basis of a few superficial stereotypes; characterisations have been created just to fall in line with the skewed gender assumption.
Power Play is also interspersed with jaw-droppingly inane lines like: "You're the most beautiful woman I know. You're better looking than most movie stars I work with. but you are 30 years old. I've been watching you go through this since you were 22. One of these days, you're going to wake up and be 40 or 50, and you'll have wasted your whole life away with a guy who sees you two days a week, is still with his wife and keeps you in the closet."
Nothing much happens by way of plot direction, except romantic liaisons, breakups, and family fights; at times you cannot believe the protagonists are running two of America's largest corporations.
Having said all of these, reading the book is more of a "seriously?" shaking of the head, not passionate outrage at the state of literature. All you need is a sense of humour to tackle the kind of power plays that unfold in (allegedly) corporate America; and you need to have some time to kill (which I did have).
That aside, Power Play has another sticky factor: romance, breakups and marriages - bad or good - have become level playing fields. Middle age is the new dawn of life waking up in West Coast-style splendour. Jackie Collins - God bless her soul - would have approved.
sushmita@khaleejtimes.com


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