Book #7: Lipstick Jungle

Book #7
Title: Lipstick Jungle
Author: Candace Bushnell
Pages: 430
Grade: A
Buyability: 6/10
Status: Owned (bought)

I had mixed feelings going into this book to be honest with you. On one hand, Candace Bushnell has skyrocketed to fame as the author of Sex and the City, and rumours had been abuzz that LJ (not LiveJournal - Lipstick Jungle) had been optioned for a TV Show on NBC or something. On the flip side though, I really didn't like "Four Blondes" - Bushnell's collection of novellas, and I hadn't heard the greatest things about Trading Up, which my sis owns but I have yet to read (FYI - there is a crossover mention of the character of Janey from 4B & TU in this book). Regardless, I was kind of excited when this book came up in my reading roulette because the last two I read were pretty dense.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this story - I devoured it in three short days! The book is about three women in their early 40's - Victory, Wendy, and Nico, who are corporate magnates in their glamorous fields, fashion design, executive movie producer, and magazine editor respectively. Being powerful women doesn't come without its challenges though as these women deal with the boys in a messy corporate sandbox filled with gender expectations and rules that the women are both striving to break and afraid to. Victory is negotiating her financial stability between business obligations and relationships as she tries to blossom into a huge-name designer. Wendy is trying to deal with intense pressure at work and intense problems at home when her stay-at-home husband gets fed up with her. Nico is trying stuck in two games where she is trying to KO the other person before they KO her. Their storylines interweave with the fact they are best friends (although missing the camaraderie one would expect from Carrie Bradshaw's creator) and they have a ton of mutual people in common among the society set.

The things I liked about this book were the fun, fantastical lifestyles of the women and the light easy prose of the book that felt neither flaky nor overdone, it still managed to stay fresh. I also enjoyed the girl power aspect that shed some harsh and some enlightening light on what it's like to be a corporate top gun as a woman. The ending was a bit - wow, okay it's done? - but left plenty open for further exploration in say, a TV show? My one concern with reading this book is the slightly skewed nature of the girl power aspect. While these woman are powerful and manage to work things out in very creative and strong ways, they can really only afford to do so with money. Although the money aspect of the story definitely adds to the interest level, it also is a bit disheartening that you can only solve problems with oodles of dough at your fingertips.

Still a great, fun read and one I would surely reccomend - by far the best of anything I've read by Bushnell.