Review: Oh Yeah, Audrey!

Oh Yeah, Audrey! by Tucker Shaw has wild nightclubs, fabulous haute couture, sex, satire and betrayal. It’s also a classic morality tale. Not many 21^st-century writers can get away with that, but Shaw does – maybe because he knows exactly how strong the temptations are that he’s warning you to avoid.

Gemma Beasley, the narrator, is unhappy. Her mother has died, her father is overprotective, she has no friends at school, and like many teenage girls, she hates the way she looks. Her Audrey Hepburn blog is her only escape. That’s why she and her four fellow bloggers have planned a Breakfast at Tiffany’s-themed tour of New York, starting with a literal breakfast in front of the iconic jewelry store. And when five misfit teenagers from very different backgrounds run around the city unsupervised, there’s bound to be trouble.

The moral of the story, obviously, is that Gemma needs to stop pretending to be Hepburn and be herself instead. That being said, if you were a 16-year-old girl and a charming millionaire’s son bought you a gown from Hepburn’s private collection, could you say no? Honestly?

For a male author, Shaw is brilliant at describing the way a teenage girl feels about a glamorous female role model: despair that you’ll never live up to her, wistful hope that someday you might. If you only had the right dress, the right boyfriend, the right mannerisms – as if that had anything to do with real self-confidence.

As for the often repeated Tiffany’s quote about rich men giving Holly Golightly 50 dollars to go the powder room, it gathers unexpected force as the story goes on. No spoilers, but Gemma experiences the lowest points of Holly’s lifestyle as well as the highest.

By the way, if you don’t appreciate Hepburn, the amount of trivia will probably put you off. But if you understand what it’s like to be passionate about something, no matter how strange, you might forgive Gemma for squealing at the sight of a vintage gown.

It may not be realistic to have two gorgeous rich boys joining Gemma’s tour, even if one of them is gay. But realism isn’t the point. The point is to test Gemma’s integrity as far as it can go. The fact that all these party and restaurant scenes are dazzling to read about is just a bonus.

Special mention goes to Telly, the only Internet troll I’ve ever heard of who is also a well-rounded, likeable character. From the moment she interrupts Gemma’s and her friends’ raptures about Givenchy to talk about Hepburn’s work with UNICEF, I knew this book wasn’t going to be as shallow as it sounded.