Danielle Steel

When Olympia Rubinstein's twin daughters are invited to a debutante ball, chaos erupts. One twin and Olympia's ex-husband are anxious to go, while the other twin and Olympia's current husband refuse to go.

Coming Out

Briar's Reviews

I found Coming Out by Danielle Steel at a local store that typically does not sell books. It was on sale, probably cheaper than it should have been yet it was in excellent shape! I always wanted to read something by Danielle Steel but never seemed to remember to pick up a book by her whenever I was out looking, so I decided to purchase this book.

This book was made in 2006, but it felt more along the lines of the 80s or 90s due to some of the comments within the book. There never seems to be a strict date of when this book is set, but some of the opinions don't seem to be that of 2006 (or maybe my hometown was just way more open at that time). The comments about how bad tattoos are seem to date this book more than intended too, seeing as it is 2018 and tattoos seem to be everywhere and widely accepted. If anything, that would be my biggest con for this book! It dates itself with the opinions within!

I did really enjoy this book - it was a light, dramatic read that I could easily put down and pick it back up. The story follows a rich, upper class family as they intend to go to an exclusive ball in New York. The twin daughters are on opposing sides (one wants to go, the other doesn't and decides to rebel), the Mother wants to go, the step Father doesn't, and so on and so forth. There is some romantic drama, some family drama, some "rich" drama, and it all seems to work well within the story.

That being said, this book is hit and miss - if you don't mind reading about privileged rich people with silly problems, it's a good read! I didn't mind that they complained about simple yet silly things, in fact I found it to be fluffy and funny at times. It felt like a soap opera I would watch on T.V. back in high school. The soap opera side is what kept me hooked, to be brutally honest. The drama was over the top, the reactions were big, and it felt like the perfect, stormy day read.

The book is relatively short and moves at a good pace to keep you interested. That is what also kept me interested in this book. I didn't think that the book felt too long or too short. To me, the book was the perfect length. I also really liked that the title of the book has multiple meanings in the book! Tied in with that title, the ending took me by surprise! The ending did seem to suddenly stop, but Danielle tied in one of the small plot points to finish this book up.

Overall, I think this book was cute and is a nice, soft read. It is in it's own little niche, so reader beware!!

Three out of five stars!

Lacy W

tw: anti Semitism, use of work in**an, racism

I wanted a little fluffy book that was short so I could finally catch up on my GR reading goal. I pulled this DS novel out of my DS basket (Yes, I have a Danielle Steel basket. Otherwise my mass collection would literally take up both my book shelves.) I've read this before but forgot the finer details and wanted to revisit. I've been going through my owned books and re-reading ones to see if they still hold up after so many years. I thought I was in for a light and fluffy book. I forgot that this was not the case and it didn't quite live up to what I remember it being. 

This book, for being so short, talks about some pretty heavy topics such as archaic groups-like WASPS- and how they came off to others on the outside. Others being POC, Jews, etc. Coming Out also talks about racism very heartily (as one of the side characters is incredibly racist) and the treatment of Jewish people, especially during WW2.

In terms of characters, I admired Olympia for strongness. She had a crappy racist ex husband, teenaged twins, a little 5 (five) year old, a boy in college and a stubborn but lovable husband. She certainly had her hands full with all her kids and with her job as a lawyer advocating for abuse victims. I really wish her job was explored more. That is where DS really shines. Her characters are so utterly devoted to her jobs and that is something I love reading about. Olympia's job was barely mentioned. I understand that it wasn't the focal point of the plot but still. I don't think it would have hurt to have more of the job mentioned. 

I think where one of my problems with this book was I wasn't sure how to feel about this coming out ball the twins were invited too. Back in the 50's, it was a time for women to "come out" to society-as they were cloistered somewhere- and find husbands. We viewed things through Olympia (in third person) so everything was all sunshines and rainbows. Her husband, Harry-also Jewish- was thoroughly against this ball due to its racist and sexist past. 

So I'm conflicted. I know that what the ball used to stand for wasn't good but Olympia viewed it as a fun event. Maybe if the book was longer, my feelings could be better resolved. Things could have been hashed out more. We could have really explored more of the characters feelings on them. Harry was vehemently against it but him and Olympia barely talked about why. We were almost coerced into feeling bad for Olympia for having such a strong willed husband that made his stance on something that was against Olympia. 

Overall, another fine DS novel, even though it has it's problems. It's nice and short so if you want to start reading her work, this novel wouldn't be a bad place to begin. You won't lose a lot of time reading it and you will get a feel for how DS writes.