Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
slightly entertaining and easy to read |
| Disadvantages: |
stupid inappropriate endings,confusing at times,quite boring storylines |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
no |
Candace Bushnell has got to be one of the most successful women today. Millions will know her as the creator of ‘Sex and the City’, a television series based on her life in New York. She released the ‘Sex and the City’ book in 1999 and that really took off, so in 2000 she decided to release another book called ‘4 Blondes’.
Now I admit, I’ve never watched an episode of Sex and the City. I’m one of the only people I know that hasn’t. That is mainly because I couldn’t really be bothered to watch it so late at night. And again if I’m totally truthful, I only know that Candace Bushnell created Sex and the City because I saw an interview with her on ‘This Morning’ with Fern and Phil. My first impressions of her were that she is absolutely beautiful and is beaming with confidence and ‘girl power’.I used to stereotype authors as being average looking and all the same for some reason,but when I saw her my stereotyping changed. She seemed enthusiastic and modern. That was one of the reasons I bought ‘4 Blondes’, but was it any good?
*** About 4 Blondes ***
When I got this book I expected it to be just like most novels, different chapters, each leading on from the last. However what I actually found was that it was set out a little different.
There are four sections within the book. Suddenly I realised those must be for each of the four blondes that the book was about. It was strange because it was set out like short stories are set out, but that couldn’t be true because on the back cover, and everywhere I’ve read about it, it doesn’t say anything about it being short stories. However, it was true and so the first thing you should know is this is NOT a novel it is simply four short stories rolled into a book and after I’d finished it I realised none of the stories were connected. So without further ado I’ll tell you about each of the four different stories.
*** Nice ‘N’ Easy ***
This is the first story in the book. It follows Janey Wilcox, a B-List model that succeeds in paying for nothing and living her summers rent-free. She does this through the many gullible men who are queuing up to date her. Life isn’t the best for Janey though as she uses herself like a prostitute and has people thinking she’s just another ‘dumb blonde’. She comes across a few bad guys who treat her a little weird to say the least. She decides one day to somehow get enough money to buy her own house for the summer but does she manage to do it? And more importantly, how does she manage to do it? You’ll have to read it to find out I’m afraid!
*** Highlights (For Adults) ***
This second story is about a woman called Winnie who is married to a man named
James. At first the story starts off telling you how happy and ‘perfect’ their relationship is. They also have a son but you later find out they rarely spend time with him, instead they have a nanny. Throughout the story Winnie and James start gradually hating each other. James was laid back and never argued with Winnie, and Winnie was career minded and cared more about her career than James did. They are both big timers and are recognised everywhere they go but their chemistry is lacking. They both meet new people who they find physically attractive but do they stray now that their marriage is almost over? Or will they give it another chance?
*** Platinum ***
Platinum follows the story of a paranoid princess named Cecelia
Kelly. She is married to Prince Hubert and they are always in the newspapers. Hubert isn’t your typical prince though. He prefers to live like everyone else, so he has a regular job at a television production company. Cecelia definitely isn’t your typical princess. She does drugs, swears excessively and acts like someone from a rock band. She is convinced Hubert is trying to poison her and she seems a little crazy at times. She then gets convinced that Hubert is having an affair with someone at work. She befriends a woman who is known for her husband and everyone thinks she killed him. They seem like the perfect friends because they are so alike. The question in this story is, is Hubert trying to kill her? Is he having an affair? Is she crazy?
*** Single Process ***
In the last story we follow a woman who I didn’t catch the name of. I know she lives in New York and she travels to England to write a story on English men and sex. The whole story is basically about sex and English people’s views on it. She runs into different people, most of which claim that English men are better at committing than American men. The theory is also that American women are better looking than English women. There are some strange characters in this story but nothing too over the top. She finds a man who she moves in with but she finds she falls in love with him. But her deadline for the story is coming up and then she’ll have to return to New York so what will she do? Read to find out!
*** My opinion of the stories ***
I have to say I am very disappointed in this book. I expected it to be a novel as I said earlier, where everything follows on from each other. From what I could make out though, not one of the stories were linked. In fact, tell a lie, there were a few of the same names but it didn’t mention any of the women from the previous chapters.
Nice ‘N’ Easy was a silly storyline I thought. It was easy to read though and it was still a little enjoyable. Highlights (for adults) was strangely set out and got quite boring because it was one of those ‘she says, he says’ kind of thing where there was too much detail. Kind of like the stories you write when you are seven only a little more graphic.
Platinum was too strange for my liking. Sometimes I had no clue what the book was talking about and to me that really puts me off. It did however capture my attention near the end because I wanted to find out if Hubert was cheating on Cecelia or not. However that was the only thing that interested me in that story. Single process was probably the most interesting because it was talking about a subject a lot of us find interesting…sex. It was still very strange to see an American perspective on English people. I hate how we are portrayed but the men in the book seemed quite true to life in their opinions on sex.
The one thing I will say about all the stories is that the endings were very disappointing. They didn’t seem like an appropriate place to finish a story and move onto something completely different.
I really am disappointed in Candace. She could have written this book so well after ‘Sex and the City’. Maybe it’s just me who is disappointed with the book, I don’t know; if anybody else has read it please let me know what you thought of it. I wouldn’t buy this again and I’m thinking of selling it to someone who might appreciate it more than I do. It would be nice to see Candace release four new novels based on the four sections in this book though as I feel she could really make them work if she wrote more on them. I think she’s better suited to writing novels than short stories.
They were slightly enjoyable and the book only took me two days to complete so it is an easy book to read.
So if you’ve been thinking about buying this you’ve now been warned. Hopefully you’ll find it a better read than I did and if you want to buy my copy from me let me know!
You can buy this book in most bookshops and also online. You’ll probably get a good price on Ebay or Amazon so look around for the best bargains. It says on the back it’s worth £6.99 but I got mine when I was part of ‘world
books’ and I got it with a deal for 3 books for £8.99.
Aimee xxx
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