Candace Bushnell made her reputation as the creator of the HBO
special Sex and the City, based on her book of the same name (based
in turn on her eros-intensive New York Observer column). In Four
Blondes, she returns with a quartet of novellas on her favorite
subject--the mating habits of wealthy sex-, status-, and
media-obsessed New Yorkers. These are people for whom a million or
two does not make one rich, and who consider Louis Vuitton and Prada
bare necessities. Janey Wilcox, for example, is a former model who
each summer chooses a house in the Hamptons--or, rather, picks up a
wealthy man with a pricey rental. With one movie in her past, her
"lukewarm celebrity was established and she figured out pretty
quickly that it could get her things and keep on getting them, as
long as she maintained her standards." Yet even Janey eventually
realizes that what she's getting isn't exactly what she wants.
Cecelia, on the other hand, has gotten the ultimate prize: a royal
husband. Still, she finds herself descending into paranoia as the
Manhattan media circus reports her every flaw. Then there's Winnie
Diekes, a high-powered magazine columnist whose marriage flounders as
she pushes her unambitious husband to write the book that will make
him--and her--famous. Finally, in the most clearly autobiographical
story, a writer gives up on the commitment-impaired men of New York
and goes to London to find a husband. There she trolls for the
typical Englishman--"a guy who had sex with his socks on, possessed a
microscopic willy, and came in two minutes." Bushnell is famous for
this sort of sexual brashness, and the book is full of her sharp wit,
both in and out of the boudoir. She also clearly enjoys her
characters and their misadventures, with one exception: the
politically correct Winnie, with her distaste for alcohol, night
life, and casual sex, inspires an odd sort of authorial contempt.
Otherwise, though, Bushnell's ironic takes on the sexual foibles of
the rich and famous are mordant, mischievous fun. --Lesley Reed
Book Details:
Physical Description: 384 pages
Edition Info: Mass Market Paperback
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