Four Blondes - Softcover

Bushnell, Candace

Softcover

ISBN 10: 080213825X ISBN 13: 9780802138255

Publisher: Grove Press, 2001

Synopsis

In her first book since the cultural phenomenon Sex and the City, Candace Bushnell triumphantly returned with the national best-seller Four Blondes, which The New York Times says "chronicles the glittering lives of semicelebrities, social aspirants, and moneyed folk ... [with] withering precision." Now her collection of novellas is available in paperback -- just in time to pack in your handbag for that summer weekend getaway to the Hamptons or that romantic rendezvous on Martha's Vineyard. Four Blondes tells the stories of four women facing up to the limitations of their rapidly approaching middle age in an era that worships youth. From the former "It-girl" heroine of "Nice N'Easy," who each summer looks for a rich man who'll provide her with a house in the Hamptons, to the writer-narrator of "Single Process," who goes to London on a hunt for love and a good magazine story, Bushnell brings to life contemporary women in search of something more -- when the world is pushing for them to settle for less. Sexy, funny, and wonderfully lush with gossip and scandal, Four Blondes will keep you turning pages long into the night.

About this title

Review

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

About the Author

A seasoned freelance writer, Candace Bushnell wrote the SEX AND THE CITY column for many years. She is also a regular contributor to VOGUE. She lives in New York City.

About this edition

• Publisher: Grove Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 080213825X
• ISBN 13: 9780802138255
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256