When Life Gives You Lululemons by Lauren Weisberger

It’s the book that caught my eye at the beginning of the school year but never found the chance to pull off the shelves to read. The book’s cover is a bright shade of red with bold yellow font, but it also caught my eye because the brand of my running shorts had made it onto the cover of a New York Times Bestseller. Yes, here it is, my review on When Life Gives You Lululemons by Lauren Weisberger. 

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GREENWICH, CT. Karolina, a retired Polish supermodel who’s walked Victoria’s Secret seven times, is married to a US Senator (Graham). She is his second wife, and the only mother her step-son, Harry, has ever known. Graham is running for the presidency, but shortly before the election, Karolina is spontaneously arrested for driving under influence with five other children in the back of the car. She claims innocence, but the police refuse to give her a breathalyzer after finding two empty bottles of champagne in the back of the car. Not only is Karolina thrown into jail for the night, but her arrest makes the headlines and her husband’s run for presidency is affected. Karolina wants nothing more than to explain to her husband what actually happened the night of her arrest, but she finds her husband has left her and refused to let her see Harry. 

On the other coast of the States in Los Angeles, Emily Charlton is losing her clients one by one. A well-reputed image consultant, with impeccable style, a fastidious lifestyle, and a relentless concern for health and wellness, her style is apparently being doted “out of date”. Emily has directed many shows for Runway under Miranda Priestly (pretty much the Anna Wintour of When Life Gives You Lululemons), saved the images and public reputations of many superstars, and she is confident she can fix anybody’s broken image. Over 10 years of experience has confirmed this confidence. However, suddenly it seems that she is losing her biggest clients to a new image consultant in the media. For Emily, she’s looking for her next big break that will hopefully save her own image as an image consultant. 

Miriam is a retired Partner from a law firm in New York City. She moved to Greenwich recently and hopes to raise her kids better in the suburbs. Through her daily workouts at SoulCycle, morning jogs with other moms, and Books Clubs, she learns about life in Greenwich. Through talking with other women, Miriam begins to feel insecure about her own marriage. A critical character in the plot, when Miriam first hears about Karolina’s DUI, she calls her old friend and Miriam helps Karolina work through her emotions. Also a friend of Emily’s, Miriam unintentionally invites Emily to her home in Greenwich. Karolina meets Emily as a result, and the two form a friendship. Through Emily and Miriam’s support and friendship, Karolina discovers her true motive is not getting revenge on her Senator husband, but getting her son back. Emily and Miriam later help Karolina rebuild her public image in order to win back Harry.

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When Life Gives You Lululemons is adventurous, humorous, and a good source for blowing off some steam. It reminded me of Crazy Rich Asians, but with a more clear plot and added suspense. I must admit I was a little bit disappointed with Weisberger’s writing style. Her writing was fairly easy to follow but lacked formal prose and literally depth. What I did really enjoy about this novel was experiencing the lives these women lead after growing up. It almost provided insight into adult life and the feeling of growing up, but maybe that’s just an opinion coming from a teenager. I would deem this an excellent beach book!