Gossip - Reviews of Gossip the Novel

Sydney Morning Herald

http://www.smh.com.au/news/books/queen-ofdirty-subjects/2006/04/20/1145344210322.html

Australian Jewish Newshttp://www.ajn.com.au/news/news.asp?pgID=572 
 

Herald Sun SAT 13 MAY 2006,
Flooding Reines
By Nick Higginbottom

Claire Sutherland selects a range of new releases DESIGNER shoes, socialites and paparazzi are all in a day’s work for Sydney gossip columnist Ros Reines. For 10 years she’s been keeping the rich and famous on their toes as they get about the harbour city.
Every Sunday the glamorous and scandalous run an eye over her Sunday Telegraph column for a status check and to keep tabs on the rest of the town.
Reines has taken artistic licence with some of the more intriguing scenarios of her career for her debut novel Gossip.
It is set in Byron Bay at an expensive self-help camp of the new-age variety, and the central protagonist, Venous Ventura, sets about getting the dirt on the social creatures in attendance.
But all is not as it seems, and group hugs and searching for inner children ensue.
So how much of this novel is fiction?
“There’s a lot of me in the gossip columnist in the book,'’ Reines says.
“One of the things I wanted to do, besides have a bit of a dig at the new-age movement and the self-help movement, was to show a different side of the gossip columnist.
“We aren’t just strange creatures that come out at night and jump on people. We actually can be klutzes and it is difficult.'’
Never one to shrink from a fracas, Reines has developed a reputation as an uncompromising dirt-digger and has had spats with James Packer, Sonia McMahon and many others.
“I wanted to show the other side. Sometimes it’s kind of funny that you have to go up to celebrities and ask intense details about their personal life.
“But you only have a short window of opportunity when you meet someone like that and you’ve just got to blurt it out.'’
Though she writes stories for a living, Reines says writing a book is different.
“It’s a bit of a relief because I’m usually writing short pieces and I love writing longer pieces,'’ she says.
“It’s disheartening on Sundays because, though the sub-editors know not to cut the beginnings and ends off my pieces, sometimes they do it in the middle. So it was an indulgence to be able to write a novel.'’
There may not have been any sub-editors to contend with, but Reines quickly found out that writing a book has its own editorial challenges.
“When I finally got it done, I thought, `Great, it’s done, give it to the book editors and they can muck around with it, bring it back and I’ll look at it finished’. It’s not like that. They say, `Well, you could do a bit of layering with it’, which is their polite Penguin-speak for, `You’ve got to add another character, change the end’ bla bla bla.'’
Apart from the obvious link between her career and the themes of the book, Reines says the new-age world has long been a source of fascination.
“I’ve been interested in the new-age movement since it began and I am always amused by it,'’ she chuckles.
“I’m probably not the best test case for it, but I’ve tried channelling, re-birthing, crystal stuff. I just never get it.'’
Some may call her cynical, or worse, but years of dealing with criticism have helped Reines develop an effective retort.
“People say to me, `What you do is shocking’, and I say, `Don’t pick up the paper’,'’ she says.
“It is a bit of a superficial world and I tend to change personality when I get into it. I’m very focused. Usually when I go out I’m just there to find a story and I don’t kind of hang around and socialise if there’s nobody there.'’
She has enjoyed the reaction to her book, especially from those on the Sydney social scene.
One episode involving Jennifer Lopez is entirely fictional, but apparently not all her readers are sure.
“A lot of people who’ve read the book really think it happened,'’ Reines laughs.

Gossip (Penguin), rrp. $24.95, out now, ISBN 0143003755.

Famous Magazine - The Best of List

Page Turner: If you love your celebrity gossip, then you will absolutely adore this book. Gossip (Penguin Books) is the first novel from Ros Reines, feared and reveared columnist for Sydney’s The Sunday Telegraph. The book has been described as a “sparkling snapshot of the secrets and scandals that thrive in the city’s social jungle”. It’s an insider’s glance, albeit a fictional one, at the heady world of celebrity - what more could a girl want?