Visualize the sidewalks, boardrooms and even bedrooms of New York City, a place overflowing with sleazy business people. Imagine tagging along with three ruthless executives, all of them women proficient at work but vulnerable in their personal lives. That's the premise for Lipstick Jungle (2005, Hyperion, 532 pages), another Candace Bushnell novel about affluent, sex-fueled, ethically troubled lives amid the urban towers.
This author, also from New York, achieved earlier success with Sex and the City, a long-running TV hit. That famous story about four best friends, all troubled big-city women, has much in common with Lipstick Jungle, starring three more such women.
Bonfire magazine editor-in-chief Nico O'Neilly aspires to become one of America's foremost female CEOs. But will a scorching love affair with a male-model threaten her ambitions or propel her to new heights of ecstasy and success? “It could happen. You could be swept away by a physical desire that was bigger than you were, that was bigger than reason, anyway.”
Parador Pictures president Wendy Healy masters the cut-throat movie business, but then her financially-dependent husband jumps ship. Will she collapse? “This is my fucking life. I work 70 hours a week and my husband just left me for no reason. How the hell did I end up like this?”
Fashion designer Victory Ford tests new directions. Nasty reactions by critics and buyers surprise her. Can her company survive? Outside the office, will she find happiness in the arms of a vain billionaire?
Not every sex scene is well written. “Suddenly, his head darted forward like a snake and he ambushed her, closing his mouth down on hers. Still holding the bottle of wine in one hand, he pulled her closer with the other. She willingly curved her body into him, thinking that his mouth was like a soft juicy fruit – a papaya, perhaps – while his hard body provided an irresistible contrast.”
There's ample corporate intrigue and back-stabbing. “Look at Mike, she thought, glancing over at him…. Corporations were filled with men like Mike – men who didn't appear to be exceptionally smart or interesting, but who knew how to play the game. They knew how to align themselves with other powerful men; they were always genial and loyal, they were ‘team players’; they worked their way up the corporate ladder by knowing whose ass to kiss and when.”
The main characters form a complex trio. But their lives aren't as entertaining as the author and her publishers think. When Nico, Wendy and Victory meet at their favorite restaurants, much of the dialogue turns tedious.
“ ‘You never know,’ Nico said with, Victory thought, uncharacteristic dreaminess. ‘Love can come out of the blue.’
‘I still believe in true love,’ Wendy said, nodding. ‘But not necessarily with a man who's 50 years old and has never been married. I mean, what is that about?’
‘I don't know,’ Victory said. ‘Anyway, I don't believe in true love. I think it's all a crock.’
‘Everyone believes in true love,’ Wendy said. ‘They have to. I mean, what else really keeps us going?’
‘Work,’ Victory said. ‘The desire to do something in the world. Plus, the necessity of feeding and clothing oneself, and keeping a roof over one's head.’
‘But that's so cold,’ Wendy objected.”
Bushnell's protagonists prove that affluence and success invariably create new problems: “Wendy rolled her eyes. ‘Please go to your room and get ready for school.’
The boy's face took on a crafty expression. ‘Pay me,’ he said.
‘What?’ Wendy asked, open-mouthed.
‘Pay me,’ he said again, patronizingly, holding out his hand.
Wendy grimaced. ‘How much?’ she asked.
‘Five dol-lah.’
‘Three.’
‘Deal.’ They shook hands and Tyler ran to his room, gleeful at having scored once more against his mother.
‘Money,’ the baby said. The baby was a she, 17 months old, and, Wendy swore, her very first word was ‘money’ as opposed to ‘mommy’.”
Since Sex and the City couldn't continue forever, why not start again with another title and three new characters? For readers wanting more of the same, mainly sex and scandal, that's what Lipstick Jungle provides.
Approval rating: 61 per cent.
For more information: www.candacebushnell.com or www.HyperionBooks.com
(April 30, 2009)
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