Dolly Alderton/Pandora Sykes

[Coffeetrampbiatch]

I think Dolly’s book was a success and we enjoyed it because we couldn’t believe she was saying a lot of the stuff she did. It was embarrassing and it made us feel better about ourselves I think that’s where it struck a chord. The New York story, not being happy for Farleys engagement, being ghosted by the guru. We lapped up all these unfortunate things happening to her.

Hahah maybe. Though I loved the Farley part because my best friend literally moved to the other side of the world for a man and it felt like a total betrayal despite all my best efforts to not focus on myself in that situation.

The New York story though is funny because I don’t remember it at all. I read her book when it came out and I just so happened to be moving to New York a few days later and I think I blanked it out cos I was nervous as hell

 

[Love_hate_small_town]

Well, that really explains her writing! As others have mentioned, her work does often seem very ‘undergraduate rambling essay’ in style.

You can tell Pandora doesn’t have an appreciation for brevity; she’s a fan of flowery language and waffling prose, which is the opposite of what is usually taught on a journalism course.

I have a degree in journalism and although my posts on here are admittedly conversational and rambling, because I’m firing off my thoughts at speed from my phone, I always go back to my university days and lessons learnt when writing in a professional context.

Fascinating that she’s been so openly dismissive of training, but knowing her perfectionism, it’s probably an attempt to dismiss the issue before it can be used to criticise her.

Haha
I do too but was too scared to mention it as I know my posts here are full of half-asleep errors and poorly constructed sentences

 

[cedarpeach]

This has been a really interesting thread to read. I’ve listened to the podcast for a while now and always enjoyed it. It took me several listens before I could tell them apart though! Towards the end of 2019 I did start to find them a little grating. The release of their “Merch” felt cynical to me and I assume many agreed as not long after launching it D&P announced they’d be donating any profits to charity.
I really enjoyed Dolly’s first book but I’m skeptical about her novel. We’ll see. I won’t be buying it as I have a stack of other fiction I’d prefer to read first. Similarly I won’t be buying Pandora’s essays, especially after the reviews on waterstones.

In a nutshell, I think they peaked about a year ago and are now in overkill.

 

[Chandlerbing95]

Hahah maybe. Though I loved the Farley part because my best friend literally moved to the other side of the world for a man and it felt like a total betrayal despite all my best efforts to not focus on myself in that situation.

The New York story though is funny because I don’t remember it at all. I read her book when it came out and I just so happened to be moving to New York a few days later and I think I blanked it out cos I was nervous as hell

I really enjoyed Dolly’s book though and looking forward to Ghosts just think we loved it as she revealed so much about herself and we could all relate. Stories we wouldn’t tell anyone and keep secret she was telling the world!

 

[TriviaNewtonJohn]

Dolly's first book is 99p on kindle deals today if anyone wanted to read it. You've all got me intrigued!

 

[Old fart]

I haven't met a single person IRL who liked Dolly's book. When it was on Netgalley the publishers were offering signed copies of the book to those who gave it a good review

 

[Lanavalentine]

Haha
I do too but was too scared to mention it as I know my posts here are full of half-asleep errors and poorly constructed sentences

Haha I’m exactly the same, I worried about writing that. I always tell people not to judge me by my texts, and forum posts are the same in my view!

 

[blossombloss]

I wouldn't rush out and buy Ghosts. It's not terrible but it's not good either. However, I give her the benefit of the doubt because it's her first fiction novel and I'm not sure if she always wanted to be a writer? I think it sounded good and she was able to land the deal after the first book, so she thought 'actually I can do this' which she actually can't. Whilst it's not a waste of time to read it, it's incredibly subpar, it's very much like chick-lit 15 years ago except it's been updated to include tinder and the like

 

[LaurenRM]

Looking at stats it seems Pandora had an unfollowing spree around the time of book promos - all the pics of her house are gone, as are any from Soho House / similar establishments. This is also when she dropped the saved stories of her house + clothes. She is trying SO hard to run with that every woman persona, probably to aid book sales. It’s so deceitful and frustrating to see her literally try and erase her privilege. She lives in a £1.3 million house in Kensal, and still pretends she is part of the average middle class. I can’t stand it!

Deleting posts, not unfollowing ** brain isn’t working today!

 

[Lanavalentine]

That is really not ok. It also seems utterly pointless when you can easily google her house in Homes & Gardens (or whatever) and her years of working in fashion...

Just as I was beginning to chill my negativity about the lack of admittance of the dreaded ‘p word’ from these two, thanks largely to the very intelligent and persuasive women of this thread.

 

[Old fart]

Looking at stats it seems Pandora had an unfollowing spree around the time of book promos - all the pics of her house are gone, as are any from Soho House / similar establishments. This is also when she dropped the saved stories of her house + clothes. She is trying SO hard to run with that every woman persona, probably to aid book sales. It’s so deceitful and frustrating to see her literally try and erase her privilege. She lives in a £1.3 million house in Kensal, and still pretends she is part of the average middle class. I can’t stand it!

Deleting posts, not unfollowing ** brain isn’t working today!

Wow, that's quite a deleting spree. Shame she's deleting evidence of her privilege while a quick Google reveals the home and fashion shoots. Clearly positioning herself as a "serious author"

 

[Libertine]

Everything that has been deleted can be viewed on the Undelete site...

I really enjoyed Pandora’s writing about fashion and that’s why I followed her on Instagram. Clothes, clothes, clothes, with a spot of vicarious travel. I have no interest in reading essays on life by her.

 

[Lanavalentine]

Everything that has been deleted can be viewed on the Undelete site...

I really enjoyed Pandora’s writing about fashion and that’s why I followed her on Instagram. Clothes, clothes, clothes, with a spot of vicarious travel. I have no interest in reading essays on life by her.

Yeah that’s a really good point actually. Most women will never relate to her, but lots do want to see her style, her taste and her travel; all the things she has that cannot be afforded on an average wage.

I think she has massively missed a trick here.

 

[Libertine]

She really excelled at fashion, interiors and travel. Maybe she tried to pivot when she had children to content she felt had more longevity?

 

[Mbella]

Everything that has been deleted can be viewed on the Undelete site...

I really enjoyed Pandora’s writing about fashion and that’s why I followed her on Instagram. Clothes, clothes, clothes, with a spot of vicarious travel. I have no interest in reading essays on life by her.

Her deliberate pivot from fashion to "terribly serious author" is also a shame because it feeds into the false narrative that writing about fashion can't be serious or meaningful.

Fashion is so important for so many reasons! And, for goodness sake, the fashion industry is the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide after shipping and aviation. She's made some halfhearted nods to sustainability, but come on: she could be using her position and influence to make a huge difference.

I compare her to Giles Coren, who is problematic for many reasons, but he's done a lot to promote sustainably sourced food in restaurants: using his position and industry connections to make a difference.

 

[Love_hate_small_town]

She really excelled at fashion, interiors and travel. Maybe she tried to pivot when she had children to content she felt had more longevity?

I agree. I think the Instagram cleanup was probably something that was recommended to her rather than something she chose to do herself. Either way it’s a bit whiffy.

When I first started listening I realised they were both pretty well off but I thought it was in a - one bracket above the poshest person I know - kind of way not in a Pandora’s epic London home way. The reason I thought this was because they say things like - I make it a financial priority to XYZ. Or when Dolly mentions having difficulty paying rent (not sure if this was podcast or book). There is such a difference between not being able to pay the rent because you’ve spaffed all your money in the soho club (but it’s okay because ultimately someone will bail you out) to not being able to pay rent because you’ve had an unexpected expense like your car breaking down and your monthly budget has no room for such things and it is too effing shameful to ask anyone for help because you’ve always been the poor one.

I like so much of what they do. And they are so so far ahead of others in promoting diverse work and I genuinely applaud them for making room on their platform but it shits me that publishers hand out book deals purely on media status and audience. That is taking up room that could’ve gone to a BAME/ LBTGQ / any other than classic white rich girl who works in the media. It’s so lazy on behalf of the publisher.

 

[cedarpeach]

Something else I just remembered is how utterly out of her depth Pandora is during “ask the high low”. It genuinely made me laugh when a listened wrote in asking for advice on time management as she was juggling a couple of projects. Pandora was at an absolute loss, it was hilarious!

 

[Old fart]

Something else I just remembered is how utterly out of her depth Pandora is during “ask the high low”. It genuinely made me laugh when a listened wrote in asking for advice on time management as she was juggling a couple of projects. Pandora was at an absolute loss, it was hilarious!

It's much easier to manage your time when you have staff, innit?

 

[maketheswitch]

Did anyone see Dolly's stories of her outfit on instagram. The narcissism is just so insane. I don't see what a previous commenter said about Pandora's vanity and eye bleeping herself as compared to Dolly's. I suppose they need to self-promote which requires a certain level of narcissism but I find Dolly's smugness and thirst-trapping, delighted-with-herself posts really quite vile.

I didn't read the book, what happened to her in New York?

 

[cedarpeach]

Did anyone see Dolly's stories of her outfit on instagram. The narcissism is just so insane. I don't see what a previous commenter said about Pandora's vanity and eye bleeping herself as compared to Dolly's. I suppose they need to self-promote which requires a certain level of narcissism but I find Dolly's smugness and thirst-trapping, delighted-with-herself posts really quite vile.

I didn't read the book, what happened to her in New York?

I saw! I think she is stunning and I love looking at her outfit choices but....yeah...very vain!