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Editorial Review Product Description
ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH displays one woman's search for love in the glittering playgrounds and jetset life-style of people with enough money and power to believe ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH. The heroine, January Wayne, grew up without a mother, sharing Dom Perignon champagne and caviar with her famous father, big-time producer Mike Wayne, and meeting the right people: the fabulously wealthy Deirdre Milford Granger; Karla, the mysterious ex-movie queen whose private passion was almost as legendary as her passion for privacy; Tom Colt, the bestselling author with a rugged reputation; and David Milford, Deirdre's young cousin - considered 'the perfect match' for a real-life fairy-tale princess like January...'ONCE IS NOT ENOUGH is spectacularly successful...Luscious January Wayne can't make it with a guy because she has a thing for her glamourous celebrity dad, Mike...There are plane crashes, drug orgies, motorcycle accidents, mass rapes, attempted abortions, suicide, evil doctors and assorted other activities; and I couldn't put the damn thing down.' LIBRARY JOURNAL ... Read more Customer Reviews (24) 
Trashy?Sure but it's fun!
January Wayne is the daughter of a big time play and movie producer Mike Wayne.She also has a very unnatural attraction to him.When he gets married to rich Deirdre Milford Granger she is upset and searches for love and meaning in her life with other people.Among the huge cast of characters is David Milford who supposedly loves her; Karla a mysterious and reclusive movie star (obviously modeled after Greta Garbo); Linda Riggs, a fashion magazine editor desperately searching for love...and sex and Tom Holt a masculine man who she sees as her father.
OK--this is Jacqueline Susann so you know it's not great literature.However it is a lot of fun to read.It moves quickly and has believable characters and situations. Also it's full of some VERY strong material.There's sex, drugs,orgies, nuns being raped, lesbians and VERY frank sex talk.Also it takes place in 1970 and 1971.It captures EXACTLY what it was like in New York at that time.It captures the mood and tone of the times.There's plenty of talk about nudity in plays, the generation gap, fashions, "vitamin" shots etc. etc.Among other things this is a perfect time capsule of that time and place.
Also this has to be her best written book.I found "Valley of the Dolls" boring and terribly written."The Love Machine" was better but THIS is just great.She improved as she went along and, by this book, she was a pretty good writer.Sadly, this was her last book (unless you count "Doloros" and "Yargo" published after her death) but she went out on top.Yes it's trashy but it is FUN!My only complaint was the ending which was REALLY strange--but it sets the stage for "Yargo".HIGHLY recommended.
Not as good as others
I loved Valley of the Dolls and enjoyed Love Machine.Once is not Enough starts slow.There are spurts of page turning, but it's also really easy to put down and walk away from.Good for the Jacqueline Susann enthusist but for a first time reader I'd recommend the two previously mentioned titles.
great book
Fantastic book.If you ever loved reading valley of the dolls you really need to read this book about the author. Such an interesting life cut too short.I am sure she would have continued to write fabulous books.Great read.
Susann takes on a new era
Jackie Susann's final novel published in her lifetime is the story of young January Wayne, a girl with an Electra complex so big, you'll blush."Enough" is a terrific read. It goes quickly, is maddeningly involving and, if I may be so bold, is better written than Susann's classic "Valley of the Dolls."Sure, this is tried and true Susann territory with the milquetoast heroine and the usual stew of sex, drugs (in this case "vitamin shots")and deceit is in place but even so, this time something's different.
In "Enough," New York is no longer a glamorous city but a place becoming overrun with junkies and whores, Broadway shows feature (simulated) sex and nudity (but that's nothing compared to the downtown theater scene!) and movies are less escapist than a reflection of the growing desperation of the late 60s/ early 70s.Susann, to her credit, bravely takes on this new era but you can't help feel that she really doesn't know what to make of it.Some of the attempts at youth culture and lingo seem less than authentic (Did people really say, "How about throwing on some slacks and coming over!" back then?) and other incidents appear to have germinated in stories that Susann may have heard being whispered in passing at a party and wrote down ("Did you hear about the types of parties those kids have nowadays?")And despite featuring a heroine in her early twenties, Susann has January get involved in a bad accident and spend three years (not so coincidentally the "revolutionary" years 1967-70) in a Swiss hospital that does not allow television, radio or newspapers. Perfect - a young heroine who's a tabula rasa with no knowledge of the youth movement.Golly, what a neat trick!
The characters in the book are a fun lot, though I felt Karla was exceptionally frustrating as "the lesbian who wasn't" and David Milford was as stiff as they come (and the casting of George Harrison as David in the film version makes perfect sense.)Look out for the characters of Linda Riggs and Tom Colt allegedly based upon Gloria Steinem and Norman Mailer, respectively.Try not to laugh when you come upon Tom Colt's "ailment", perhaps one of the funniest cases of literary revenge ever.
If you only have read and enjoyed "Valley of the Dolls", you should definitely check this one out.It's a lot of fun but you won't feel especially guilty for enjoying it.
Great beach reading.
After reading mixed reviews on this book, I decided to read it anyway. I thought the characters were better developed than those in Valley of the Dolls, and I found this book to be just as entertaining.
I will admit that I was almost stopped reading the book because of the almost incestual father-daughter love plot line, but fortunately for everyone, it cools off.
All in all, this was a fun book to read.
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