When Janey Wilcox makes it big as a Victoria's Secret model, she finally gets the celebrity status she has always craved. Suddenly the car of her dreams is hers, and even better,... more
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with Janey, the protagonist ofTrading Up, the new novel fromSex and the Cityauthor Candace Bushnell, is not the M or the A part. It's the W. Here is a rare alphabeti...
with Janey, the protagonist ofTrading Up, the new novel fromSex and the Cityauthor Candace Bushnell, is not the M or the A part. It's the W. Here is a rare alphabetical anomaly: in Janey's case, W stands for "prostitute". Janey never crosses the line into actual hookerdom, but she does sleep with extremely wealthy men in the hopes they'll improve her status, her financial situation, or her lifestyle.When we first met Janey in Bushnell's novella collection4 Blondes, she was up to her usual tricks (so to speak)--scamming a guy for a Hamptons vacation rental. At the opening ofTrading Upher fortunes have improved. She's now the star of a Victoria's Secret ad campaign and as such she's found access to undreamed-of echelons of New York society. She makes friends with Mimi Kilroy, a senator's daughter "at the very top of the social heap in New York." She gets invited to all the best parties. And she finally finds a wealthy man who will actually marry her: Seldon Rose, a powerful entertainment industry executive. Of course, Janey's social ambitions are not hampered by her marriage to Seldon and the clash between her expectations (more parties) and his (normal life) send Janey into a tailspin that leads to heartbreak. Bushnell is clearly trying to channel Edith Wharton (The Custom of the Countryis even invoked by Janey as a screenplay idea), but ends up sounding a lot more like across between Tama Janowitz and Judith Krantz. This is a novel about shopping and sex, and while it's fizzy enough, it's not Cristal.--Claire Dederer, Amazon.com
Advantages: Interesting read Disadvantages: Infuriating main character
Anyone who has read 4 blondes by Candace Bushnell will recognise Janey Wilcox, the centre character in this story. In 4 blondes, she was working as a model and basically used sex with rich men as a way of paying for her summer vacations. As 4 blondes ends, she’s 27 with a future as a screenplay writer…
This picks up her story at 32, she’s got a major modelling contract, but underneath, she is still the same person. She’s ... ...wants, including in her eventual marriage. Even her friendships seem to be with the people who can do something for her, rather than actual feelings towards anyone. Her whole life seems shallow. Even whenever her sister really needs her, she’s too interested in herself to really be there for her. Also, her new best friend Mimi needs her help, and Janey’s jealousy threatens to ruin everything.
Then her pasts comes back to haunt her, and ...
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Advantages: Easy to read, Witty Disadvantages: Far too long for a book on this topic
Much to my surprise, I really enjoyed reading this book. I opened the cover and expected to find a series of shallow (and wholly uninteresting) encounters between people I was likely to deem shallow and wholly uninteresting. Instead, I found the backpage reviewers comment of "Jane Austen with a Martini" to be blindingly appropriate. This book is a good read for anyone who enjoys traditional women's fiction or indeed, the wry humour of Jane Austen ... ...goes far to bridging the gap between the two genres.
It follows the story of the young protagonist, Janey Wilcox, lingerie model through her rise and rise through the ranks of the famous and superficial. Through her marriage to the highly 'appropriate' (and far too nice for her), Selden Rose, her sexual exploits as she uses her explosive good looks to get exactly what she wants and to her eventual (and much applauded) downfall, flat on her pretty, ...
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When Janey Wilcox makes it big as a Victoria's Secret model, she finally gets the celebrity status she has always craved. Suddenly the car of her dreams is hers, and even better, so is that house in New York's exclusive Hamptons. No longer will she have to choose her boyfriends according to who has a house she can summer in.At the most exclusive of Hampton parties, Janey finds herself mingling with Hollywood celebrities and the cream of New York society. But all this is secondary when she is charmed and captivated by a handsome, successful man, a man who quickly becomes her new beau. Janey, though, is not the type to live happily ever after, especially with her chequered past of far from good behaviour. By the author of SEX AND THE CITY and FOUR BLONDES, TRADING UP is classic Candace Bushnell: wickedly funny social satire at its most sassy and entertaining.
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