Book Review: “Let’s Call Her Barbie” by Renee Rosen
Renee Rosen wrote one of my favorite books of all time, Park Avenue Summer, about Helen Gurley Brown and how she reimagined and redesigned Cosmopolitan magazine in the 1960s. Since then, I haven’t read any books by her (a gross mistake on my part), but when I discovered she was writing a book about the history of Barbie, I knew I had to pick it up. Renee Rosen said herself that she wasn’t writing this because of the “Barbie-mania” that resulted from the Barbie movie. No — she heard Ruth Handler’s story shortly after Park Avenue Summer was released in 2019, and began researching Ruth Handler and the origins of Barbie, particularly how Barbie came to be and came to be perceived.
This research-heavy book, which came out earlier this year, truly captivated my interest in the history of Barbie. I loved learning all about the origins of Barbie. But before I begin gushing how much I liked this book, let me tell you what this book is about.
Synopsis:
When Ruth Handler walks into the boardroom of the toy company she co-founded and pitches her idea for a doll unlike any other, she knows what she’s setting in motion. It might just take the world a moment to catch up.
In 1956, the only dolls on the market for little girls let them pretend to be mothers. Ruth’s vision for a doll shaped like a grown woman and outfitted in an enviable wardrobe will let them dream they can be anything.
As Ruth assembles her team of creative rebels—head engineer Jack Ryan who hides his deepest secrets behind his genius and designers Charlotte Johnson and Stevie Klein, whose hopes and dreams rest on the success of Barbie’s fashion—she knows they’re working against a ticking clock to get this wild idea off the ground.
In the decades to come—through soaring heights and devastating personal lows, public scandals and private tensions— each of them will have to decide how tightly to hold on to their creation. Because Barbie has never been just a doll—she’s a legacy.
My Review:
What an interesting book! I loved learning all about the origins of Barbie, from the first moment that Ruth Handler was inspired by the doll before her, Bild Lili. The book helped give context to the crucial themes of the Barbie movie, particularly the original messaging the original Barbie creators wanted to get across with her, but also the criticisms she later received. The messaging that may have gotten misconstrued or glossed over in the movie.
The book itself is historical fiction, although it was very cut and dry, almost like narrative nonfiction. There was an overall plot structure, telling the story of how Barbie came to be and how she reached success in the first two decades. There was significant character development between Ruth Handler, her husband Elliot (who is one half of the name Mattel lol), Jack Ryan (the engineer behind Barbie and notable playboy), Stevie, and Charlotte, the designer of Barbie’s iconic clothing). Ironically, my favorite character was the one fictional character that Renee Rosen wrote in — Stevie Klein, the second designer. Stevie’s character was brought on to emphasize the role Charlotte, the real Charlotte, had in designing Barbie’s iconic clothes. I loved Stevie’s character, especially as she toed the line between Barbie as the doll and the conversations in the rising feminist movement in the 1970s that criticized Barbie. I also liked Stevie’s relationship/friendship with Jack — Stevie was often the only one in Jack’s corner, there, towards the end.
The book included multiple POVs between Ruth, Elliott, Jack, Charlotte, and Stevie — but the story largely played out between Ruth and Jack, who either worked very well together or butted heads. Before reading, I had no clue how Barbie got made, and I certainly didn’t know of the people who made her and how they made her! Barbie’s origin story was so interesting, especially how other dolls (Ken, Allan, Christie, Skipper, Midge, etc.) contributed to her success.
Side note: I was acutely aware of how the name of Barbie came to be, after Barbara Handler, the daughter of Ruth Handler. The book went into a lot of detail into Ruth and Barbara’s struggling mother/daughter relationship. Barbara often resented Ruth’s career and wanted her to stay at home more, and later often resented Barbie for most of her life. Also, Ken was named after Ruth and Elliot’s son, Ken, who was indifferent to the name choice, only to later grossly realize that Barbie and Ken would be boyfriend/girlfriend.
I also loved how the author really tried to emphasize that Barbie was meant to show young girls there’s more to life than being a wife and mother — that she could be whoever she want. But the author also made sure to note that the creation of Barbie did lead to an unhealthy body type deemed as ideal in society — the blame not to be solely on Barbie, but Barbie being one of the tools that deemed that ‘one body type’ ideal.
Ruth and Jack often butted heads, which eventually led to their downfall and Mattel’s downfall in the 1970s (although Mattel recovered, Ruth and Jack never spoke again). Jack’s mental health issues gave conflict to his character, often giving enough context to who he was as an engineer. Him and Ruth started as friends, potentially even Jack seeing Ruth as a mother figure that he lacked in his life, but it turned sour due to their both passionate personalities. Elliot, Ruth’s husband, was the middle man, a character I found myself looking forward to when it came to his support for his wife, Ruth, and friend, Jack.
The corporate Mattel environment changed dramatically towards the end of the book, symbolizing a new era for Barbie, a new era that would lead to a challenging season for Mattel (when Ruth and Jack left). It made my eyes open to how Mattel is portrayed in the Barbie movie — in the movie, Mattel is gray and cold, and overrun with men. A stark contrast to Barbieland, where the true magic of Barbie and the imagination around Barbie lives. On her way out of the company, Ruth, in the book, even eventually grapples with this internally as she sees the corporate look taking over the Mattel offices: bland desks instead of the open creative spaces that the office used to be before corporate got in the way. The corporate environment in the book shifted with the additions of the new C-suite, particularly the addition of the company’s CFO, Rosenberg, who later turned out to be an antagonist to Barbie. He brought on new engineers who just didn’t “get” Barbie. Again, this eventually led to an unclear narrative on where Mattel was taking Barbie, especially as the feminist movement in the 70s was gaining traction.
I could easily grasp the heavy amount of research that Renee Rosen poured into this book. I really learned a lot about Ruth Handler and her family … in particular how as she was bringing Barbie to life, her relationship with her own daughter, who’s supposedly named after Barbie, was dwindling. Ruth, later president and CEO of Mattel, was often referred to as the “brains” of Mattel and also “ruthless” as she had a no-nonsense attitude and spoke up for herself and the business in meetings. She was a woman in business!!!! But at home, her relationships suffered — at least when Barbie was first coming to life.
In her author’s note, Renee Rosen mentioned that she didn’t write this book because of the “Barbie-mania” that resulted from the Barbie movie. She heard the story of Ruth Handler in 2019, after Park Avenue Summer (my favorite book of hers) released, and dove into research. Ruth’s story, and the story of Barbie, is an interesting one!
Do I wish there was more fictional elements within this book? Yes. It felt very cut and dry, like the story was just being told to me. Although there were some parts of the story that hooked me, I wanted to keep reading because of the history of Barbie, not the actual story and plot told between Ruth, Jack, Elliot, and Stevie. But towards the middle and end of the book, I settled into the story and was quite intrigued about their lives.
Overall, I’d definitely recommend if you love historical fiction and the Barbie movie! Really put the movie into perspective and gave some context to how Barbie was perceived when she was first introduced and in the decades to come.
Rating: 4/5
Buy on Amazon, Bookshop.org.