Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be the head matchmaker for a high-class dating service in Beverly Hills? In these her heartfelt and witty memoirs, Marla Martenson takes you on a humorous journey through the ups and downs of her life working for such a place, as she struggles with the often unreasonable demands of her wealthy clientele.
“Honestly, I had no idea how shallow, picky, selfish, and authoritarian some clients could be. After six years of comments, demands, and expectations, I’m still confused from time to time,” Martenson says. But what can you do when your clients pay $ 40,000 and more to find the right woman?
The author begins by showing us what a normal day is like for her, answering annoying emails and trying to understand the often incredible and irrational requests from her clients as they continually find fault with their beautiful and perfect Barbie doll quotes.
After this initial glimpse into his ‘normal day’, Martenson goes back in time to tell how he got started, working restaurant jobs and waiting for rude celebrities like Joan Collins, who once barked at him for forgetting a fork. “For all my work, she tipped me $ 2 on a $ 120 account. The woman was clearly typecast as Alexis, right?” says the author.
She also talks about her dreams of becoming an actress, her marriage, divorce and remarrying the perfect guy, the death of her father, and eventually taking over her life. Eventually, it all fell into place and he started making a lot of money doing commercials and landing small roles in film and print modeling jobs. She even got a couple of lines in the Mel Gibson movie What Women Want. Then finally how she got started as a recruiter for the dating service, searching for what she calls “a new supply of goddesses” and her life as an author, a calling she never suspected she had.
The book is full of interesting anecdotes about Martenson’s work in Hollywood with the stars. The writing is simple, direct, witty, and honest. This is the perfect fun to read on the beach. I like the author’s satirical bent on the beauty and mystery of dating and relationships, as well as the shallowness of Hollywood and the pressure it puts on women to look good. The book, although a light read, makes you think about society and the role of women and men in it, and explores interesting gender issues.
Diary of a Beverly Hills Matchmaker
By Marla Martenson
Bettie Youngs Books (April 15, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0984308105
ISBN-13: 978-0984308101
Paperback, 272 pages
Memory
