Model: A Memoir

“Pretty girl. Ugly Business”

Written by: Cheryl Diamond

Pages: 357

My rating 1-5 stars:
4 stars


It is the year 2001 and Cheryl Diamond is a model for a top modeling company in New York City at the young age of 14. She returns home to North Carolina waiting and hoping to be called back to New York for a photo shoot or runway when a catastrophic event occurs. This event causes the modeling company that Cheryl was working for to go out of business.
When she is sixteen, she returns to New York City for a few days to see if she can sign with another modeling company. She gets what she wants, a three year contract with Prima. She rents and moves into an apartment in New Jersey, just 15 minutes away from Manhattan, with her cat Tigger. She goes to the City almost everyday for photo shoots, auditions for runways, and even to go clubbing with some other Prima models. Cheryl learns that modeling is a dirty business; bookers try to get money from your photo shoots any way possible. But Cheryl finds ways to avoid those hidden price. Everything is going as wonderful as it could get and Cheryl loves every minute of it. That is until an incident occurs and Cheryl’s dreams are ruined. But Cheryl manages to stay strong and make a brilliant come back into the world of modeling.


I got this book from Pulse IT and at first I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy it because of the whole modeling theme of it and me being a guy. But shockingly I did like it. The reason I liked it is because of the humor in it. Which surprised me because I didn’t expect humor to be in a memoir and a non-fiction book. And I thought that Cheryl must have been very brave and mature to live in Jersey for a whole summer while commuting to New York City almost every day for photo shoots or runway shows at age 16. All the while her parents were at home all the way in North Carolina! This book made me open my eyes and realize that not all models have millions of dollars and live in penthouses.
Something else I want to mention about this book is that I normally detest non-fiction books. I don’t know why, maybe because they are usually full of facts and dates, which can be a drag for me. I fully enjoyed this non-fiction book because it was about someone following their dreams, while overcoming some obstacles. Also the fact that it is written like a fiction book helped too.
The ideal audience for this book is probably high school girls, who would probably enjoy it more than I and any other guy who reads it. But if you are a guy that loves to read and you like books that will make you laugh then I definitely do recommend it to you.

~*~ Due to content in this book I do not recommend it to any one under the age of 14. ~*~

*Also reviewed for Simon and Schuster’s Pulse IT.