Bitch and Famous by Wendyl Nissen. Published by Penguin
KEY POINTS:
Wendyl Nissen got involved in women's magazines last century.
Is that mean? Of course it is, given that she became editor of the New Zealand edition of Woman's Day in 1993. But then a lot of material in women's mags is deliberately mean - think of the cellulite pictures of stars - because their readers get vicarious pleasure in celebrity failures.
True to its title, a lot of Bitch and Famous is mean. Mean to people Nissen worked with and mean to a few others who mine celebrity culture, even if the pond in this country is rather shallow.
And it is a bit mean to readers who might have hoped for a little more than a catalogue of barbs aimed at former workmates whose names will be unrecognisable to them.
Faithful mag buyers looking for a few revealing glimpses or even pictures of the people - celebrities aside - who appeared between the covers of the titles Nissen ran during her salad days in the 90s will be disappointed.
The book does though give the author some street cred as a mag subject: the two marriages - with the blokes hitting it off as their blended families find their feet - the occasional entry of the counsellor to help Nissen fight her demons, the battles with booze and weight, the serial door-slamming and the distressing loss of a 3-month-old daughter, Virginia .
Tenacity, energy and confidence got Nissen to the top of the greasy pole. Those qualities - and her willingness to hurl earthy language when things weren't going her way - struck a chord with the Australians who gave her the job at Woman's Day. The deep pockets of Kerry Packer's publishing empire also brought something new to New Zealand's weekly magazine market - access to a flush chequebook. Nissen knew how to spend and forced her rivals to follow.
The new editor went downmarket and paid for a great scoop - an exclusive on the drug trafficker Lorraine Cohen and her son Aaron. Nissen's account of sewing up the wretched Cohens is one of the book's better moments.
But whatever else Nissen spent the money on at Woman's Day or the New Zealand Woman's Weekly is buried under a relentless name-checking of media players who got Nissen in one door or another. A shame really, as Nissen on talkback can be funny and sharp.
This is the book that was printed twice but has only appeared once. Harper-Collins got cold feet with a couple of references but Nissen stood her ground and refused to change the text. She kept the publishing rights and Penguin picked it up.
Early in her book Nissen disses a former deputy with the withering observation that her old understudy now edits Horse & Pony magazine.
At the end, Nissen declares she has found serenity. She now helps her husband to edit Heritage New Zealand.
