What do you think?
Rate this book
Namedropper
Meet Viva her bedroom walls are plastered with posters of silver-screen legends, and underneath her school uniform she wears vintage thigh-high stockings. Her best friends are a drugged-out beauty queen and an aging rock star. She lives in London with her gay uncle Manny.
A bitingly funny and fiercely intelligent first novel, Namedropper takes you on a rowdy romp from London to Los Angeles, where Viva and her two best friends search for love, experience, and Jack Nicholson. It's a wild ride as she uncovers the icon in every person she meets.
A bitingly funny and fiercely intelligent first novel, Namedropper takes you on a rowdy romp from London to Los Angeles, where Viva and her two best friends search for love, experience, and Jack Nicholson. It's a wild ride as she uncovers the icon in every person she meets.
240 pages, Paperback
First published May 7, 1998
9 people are currently reading
574 people want to read
About the author
Emma Forrest
9 books149 followersEmma Forrest is a British-American journalist, novelist and screenwriter. She currently resides in Los Angeles, CA.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
December 4, 2013
Namedropper follows Viva as she falls in love for the first two times, realizes the cracks in her friendships that will seemingly last forever, and hurdles towards the end of days in school. The most enjoyable part of this novel is the narration. Forrest’s Viva is fully realized. Her conversational tone and unselfconscious, confessional style is believable in the way only a teenage girl writing in the voice of another teenage girl can be. She is dizzying, without the hint of self-deprecation that she thinks she has. Even though the reader is allowed to see the flaws in her self-absorption, you grow attached to the narrator as though she is truly the reader’s friend. We are able to see the irony, but can indulge in the silly fun. The character development is incredibly strong with Viva: this is a coming of age tale, so her unique observations on life change throughout the novel.
Believable in its hyperbole, Namedropper is a dizzying read, one that won’t take longer than two hours. The voice is so clear and strong, I will remember this novel for quite a while. As a writer, I hope to be conscious of setting a clear voice and developing strong characterizations.
Believable in its hyperbole, Namedropper is a dizzying read, one that won’t take longer than two hours. The voice is so clear and strong, I will remember this novel for quite a while. As a writer, I hope to be conscious of setting a clear voice and developing strong characterizations.
June 14, 2023
I genuinely cannot review this as I normally would. This is book is a 90s child. And hindsight says that’s not a good thing. There are quite a few topics that are discussed in a very lacklustre way, if they are discussed at all. In other words, close to 80% of its prose was “out of pocket” so to speak. Insane sentences that would never make it into a book by today’s industry standards. But if you take a step back and look at texts like Tom Sawyer, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Haruki Murakami’s writing in general, you realize that they are all a product of their time and local culture. They’re dated. Now that does not mean that a reader has no right to feel upset whilst reading, or for the sensitive topics to be factors that deter someone from reading the text altogether. What I want to say is that this book is something you read if you are the type that can go to a comedy show and laugh while the entertainer makes jokes at your expense, no matter what about.
If you are going to read it, and if your frontal lobe has not yet finished developing, a word: THIS BOOK IS !!NOT!! A ‘TRY THIS AT HOME’ KIND OF THING. ABSOLUTELY DO NOT!! FOLLOW IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THESE CHARACTERS!! Thank you.
I read it because I found it at one of the bottom shelves at the BMV, tucked away, and thought the premise was funny enough for me to take it home instead of letting it sit there for another decade. It was a mindless coming of age summer contemporary where eye shadow glitter was described in loving detail. And with the warm weather approaching, I was sold. It’s Mean Girls as a book, basically. A travel-sized chick flick.
Now, I was not born in the 90s. And I also did not grow up reading pop magazines of the early 2000s. So reading this gave a glimpse of both. And goddamn.. y’all had it ROUGH with the eating disorder and self harm shaming. No trigger warnings or anything. Just raw-dogging media, not knowing what strays you’re gonna catch next. Wild.
This was such an empty read for me that I was genuinely surprised it still had some good one liners about adulthood, love, the future, and loneliness that weren’t problematic or horrible. So, as much as I would love to say that I came away from this book with nothing, I unfortunately did.. even if it all totalled up to ten pages.
BUT what I did not anticipate is finding the perfect song for this book (as I always do). Turns out I didn’t have to do any work because the main character gives you one. And it subverts the meaning of the lyrics at the end. Which sucked because it made me like this book just a tad more. Anyhow, go listen to “The Boys of Summer” - Don Henley. I sure did.
If you are going to read it, and if your frontal lobe has not yet finished developing, a word: THIS BOOK IS !!NOT!! A ‘TRY THIS AT HOME’ KIND OF THING. ABSOLUTELY DO NOT!! FOLLOW IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THESE CHARACTERS!! Thank you.
I read it because I found it at one of the bottom shelves at the BMV, tucked away, and thought the premise was funny enough for me to take it home instead of letting it sit there for another decade. It was a mindless coming of age summer contemporary where eye shadow glitter was described in loving detail. And with the warm weather approaching, I was sold. It’s Mean Girls as a book, basically. A travel-sized chick flick.
Now, I was not born in the 90s. And I also did not grow up reading pop magazines of the early 2000s. So reading this gave a glimpse of both. And goddamn.. y’all had it ROUGH with the eating disorder and self harm shaming. No trigger warnings or anything. Just raw-dogging media, not knowing what strays you’re gonna catch next. Wild.
This was such an empty read for me that I was genuinely surprised it still had some good one liners about adulthood, love, the future, and loneliness that weren’t problematic or horrible. So, as much as I would love to say that I came away from this book with nothing, I unfortunately did.. even if it all totalled up to ten pages.
BUT what I did not anticipate is finding the perfect song for this book (as I always do). Turns out I didn’t have to do any work because the main character gives you one. And it subverts the meaning of the lyrics at the end. Which sucked because it made me like this book just a tad more. Anyhow, go listen to “The Boys of Summer” - Don Henley. I sure did.
August 6, 2009
Viva hangs around London, Viva goes to Edinburgh, Viva goes to Brighton, Viva goes to LA and Vegas. She hangs out with a holy trinity of rock stars. Yet it's almost like nothing happens in this book. The characters and the mood are more important, and that's what I like about it. There were some sentences that I wanted to jot down and other parts that I thought were trying way too hard to be witty. Very real for a book that was written by a young 20-something from the POV of a 17 year old.
February 16, 2013
I swooned over her memoir, Your Voice in My Head. This was a woman, I thought, that I could be good friends with -- smart, incisive, sensitive, pragmatic.
So i figured I'd love her novel too.
But... it sucked. Sucked hard like a Dyson.
It was a lightweight bit of tragically unsophisticated fluff that read like it was written by a 17-yr-old trying to sound cool. Which, given that her writing career started in high school, it probably was.
Blech.
So i figured I'd love her novel too.
But... it sucked. Sucked hard like a Dyson.
It was a lightweight bit of tragically unsophisticated fluff that read like it was written by a 17-yr-old trying to sound cool. Which, given that her writing career started in high school, it probably was.
Blech.
September 2, 2007
Hmm… this one wasn’t quite as wonderful as bits of it made it seem. That doesn’t make sense, really. But the main character, the sub-characters, the general feel and some of it - was genius… but all together, it just didn’t work for me.
May 22, 2007
Disappointing. If this can be published, then I should be able to easily get a novel published.
June 27, 2008
Deeply "meh."
April 3, 2022
I think the title says it all. It's almost a warning of all the namedropping ahead.
I felt like this was a novel written by a liberal arts freshman trying to condense all of their knowledge in a very loosely told story. That said, it really gave off some strong first novel vibes. There's not much of a story, but there's a lot of nothing being said and as some might feel like this book is a waste of time, I thought it was agreeable but it was getting long pretty early on.
I felt like this was a novel written by a liberal arts freshman trying to condense all of their knowledge in a very loosely told story. That said, it really gave off some strong first novel vibes. There's not much of a story, but there's a lot of nothing being said and as some might feel like this book is a waste of time, I thought it was agreeable but it was getting long pretty early on.
November 24, 2016
This story of Viva and her misadventures reminds me a lot of Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. While there are a few parts in the book where Viva's character starts to annoy me, I still felt like I could relate to her. She's a young adult trying to find her identity and place in the world which never goes as smoothly as one would hope.
August 16, 2020
I read this when it was published in 2000, and wanted to read it because Ethan Hawke gave it a review that said the author has “voice”. The characters lacked depth, though, and it just was not my cup of tea.
April 1, 2020
my first favourite book
November 6, 2023
Some nice one off sentences, but not my vibe
January 9, 2024
it was cute!!!!!
February 14, 2025
lots of good quotes and one liners in here. very very 90s teenage girl. + i hate men! (3.5 ☆)
May 22, 2018
I expected much more from this book. Probably because of some good reviews by people I trusted. I found it pointless like: "The story isn't really going anywhere". Meh.
October 9, 2014
I think it's best to start this review with what came to mind the most while reading it:
Those words at best
Were worse than teenage poetry
Fragment ideas
And too many pronouns
Stop it, come on
You’re not making sense now
You can’t make them want you
They’re all just laughing
- Taking Back Sunday- Timberwolves at New Jersey.
That being said I really wanted to like this book. I had such a crush on the idea of this book, and as I wrote in another blog, because I had such a crush on it I was harder on it when it wasn't perfect. I think if I had found it when I was in high school I would of devoured it and loved it with all my being.( It would of been my Drew. Hahaha.)
There were times in the story, such the confession that Treena is so super human that she doesn't need an alarm clock, she'd just tap the time she wanted to get up into her head and it always worked that left me with a serious case of the "Are you f'ing kidding me?"
Another point that really bothered me was that I left the book never really knowing if Viva was pretty. We know she wasn't as pretty as Treena, but in general was she hot?
The worst offence was when I realized that Drew was suppose to be Richey Edwards. What a cop out, or is it just fangirling? We know that Forrest likes The Manic Street Preachers.-
my link text
I bought Thin Skin a few year ago for about 3 dollars in the discount book bin. Much like this there are aspects of it that I really love, but I have never finished it. I still don't know if I can wade though the over emotional, are you f'ing kidding me, that I feel is Forrest's work.
Richard
Those words at best
Were worse than teenage poetry
Fragment ideas
And too many pronouns
Stop it, come on
You’re not making sense now
You can’t make them want you
They’re all just laughing
- Taking Back Sunday- Timberwolves at New Jersey.
That being said I really wanted to like this book. I had such a crush on the idea of this book, and as I wrote in another blog, because I had such a crush on it I was harder on it when it wasn't perfect. I think if I had found it when I was in high school I would of devoured it and loved it with all my being.( It would of been my Drew. Hahaha.)
There were times in the story, such the confession that Treena is so super human that she doesn't need an alarm clock, she'd just tap the time she wanted to get up into her head and it always worked that left me with a serious case of the "Are you f'ing kidding me?"
Another point that really bothered me was that I left the book never really knowing if Viva was pretty. We know she wasn't as pretty as Treena, but in general was she hot?
The worst offence was when I realized that Drew was suppose to be Richey Edwards. What a cop out, or is it just fangirling? We know that Forrest likes The Manic Street Preachers.-
my link text
I bought Thin Skin a few year ago for about 3 dollars in the discount book bin. Much like this there are aspects of it that I really love, but I have never finished it. I still don't know if I can wade though the over emotional, are you f'ing kidding me, that I feel is Forrest's work.
Richard
January 4, 2009
I read this book in college shortly after having a fling with a touring musician. Namedropper is admittedly a girly and fluffy book, but for its great timing in my life, it remains one of my favorites. This quote really summed up how I felt that summer:
"I perused the magazines at the news-stall as I waited for my train. Skyline were on three covers. All of them showed a close-up of Dillon's face, with the rest of the band in soft focus. Part of me wanted to see him. But the other part knows that if you have an amazing night with a new acquaintance, you should not try to repeat it. If you do, it will eventually become a carbon copy of itself so faint that it can barely be read. That's how relationships end: new acquaintances become old photo-copies."
"I perused the magazines at the news-stall as I waited for my train. Skyline were on three covers. All of them showed a close-up of Dillon's face, with the rest of the band in soft focus. Part of me wanted to see him. But the other part knows that if you have an amazing night with a new acquaintance, you should not try to repeat it. If you do, it will eventually become a carbon copy of itself so faint that it can barely be read. That's how relationships end: new acquaintances become old photo-copies."
June 26, 2008
I enjoyed this book alright...I judged the book by the cover for sure, it just really caught my eye in the store. It was a very quick read, only took me a few days. There were a few British references that I didn't quite get but it wasn't too hard to understand the context. It would be better to read the book now when the pop cultural references aren't too dated and irrelevent. Readers of a different generation in the future may not get a lot of the references or understand why they are funny. I think I had higher hopes for this book when I began reading it so it was a tiny bit of a letdown in the end.
April 18, 2016
This book was SO hard to finish, I didn't like Emma's writing style at all with this book. The story was dry and didn't have a nice flow. I honestly had to push myself to finish it. I wanted to have something good to say about Namedropper, and at first I thought Viva was funny and witty but towards the end of the book she annoyed me. I honestly couldn't recommend this book to anyone, it defiantly fell flat.
January 2, 2008
I read this when it was first published, I would say around 00'-01, I had given it to a ex who loved it. I gave it to her thinking I could get another copy easy, but found that it was hard to come by, soon after I forgot about it.
Emma Forrest is great, born and raised in London, published by 18 I believe, and was at the time living in NYC, and apparently now lives in L.A.
Emma Forrest is great, born and raised in London, published by 18 I believe, and was at the time living in NYC, and apparently now lives in L.A.
February 6, 2011
picked this up and put it down like 8 times because of the cover, just didn't grab me? BUT: cute! characters weren't really developed at all but that was ok. there was tons of unbelievable stuff too, also ok. writing reminded me of pamela's so that was pleasant. lighthearted in an I Capture the Castle kind of way.
December 30, 2013
This was one of my favourite books by far. It isn't for everyone, as it is hard to get along with Viva, the main character. She reminds me of myself in the ways that her imagination is and the way she talks about her depression at the end.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would love to read the others by emma forrest.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would love to read the others by emma forrest.
March 25, 2008
Hat leider nicht gehalten, was der Klappentext versprach...
Die 16jährige Viva ist die Hauptperson dieses Buches, mit wenig Bock auf die Schule und dafür großer Leidenschaft für Popculture im allgemeinen und Musiker im spezielln.
Die 16jährige Viva ist die Hauptperson dieses Buches, mit wenig Bock auf die Schule und dafür großer Leidenschaft für Popculture im allgemeinen und Musiker im spezielln.
June 13, 2010
So I finished this yesterday in my bed, and I must say, it was a bit weird! Especially in the start and the last page. A bit confusing with all the napedropping, but yeah, it was allright, and I'm happy I read it.
August 18, 2013
I did not like this book. Not much of a plot or action. Mostly focused on the thoughts of a young disfunctional girl. I did not like her character. Only finished the book to say it was finished (for library ocntest).
July 25, 2007
I love the writing, the way the narrator thinks is wonderful. It's one of those books that I read and wished I had written.
July 30, 2007
humorous, loveable characters with exciting adventures in the UK make for a quick enjoyable read.
August 27, 2007
very sad. i borrowed this book from my friend jessica while i about to go to the hospital. im afaid it was the worst possible time to read a book about depression but i sure felt like i could relate.
January 22, 2008
Fun, clever, light read.
July 20, 2010
stopped reading it. got too boring
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews