Book Report: One Fifth Avenue: Candace Bushnell Plays Checkers

OK, so I just finished reading One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell. I will be honest and tell you that it is one of the fastest reads EVER. It reads like a Tom Wolfe novel, IF, Tom Wolfe stopped playing chess and started playing checkers. The same type of characters whose lives intersect, and the characters that you think are simple have a razor's edge of sharpness to them. The difference is that the vocabulary, the metaphors, and the depth of each character are not there.

Candace Bushnell is of course a woman, and the men she writes are foolish or arrogant and cruel; two of them can only be described as whipped. The women, however, might be just as bad or worse. Lola Fabrikant, the desperate to be on a reality show and/or marry an older wealthy man, character is oh so hatable. She is 22 and presents one of the worst portrayals of American youth that I have seen in print. I spent the whole novel reading about her, feeling old yet both morally and mentally superior. Which is the same way I think Candace Bushnell felt writing about her. I feel like Lola probably looks like Audrina Partridge but with larger lips.

The book really centers around the lives of 5 women: Lola, a smart older columnist, a middle-aged middle-class and bitter about it woman, a new-money society climber, and a 40ish still single actress. There are 5 men who rotate about the heroines in a peripheral sort of way. Each woman lives in the elite building One Fifth Avenue.

I would not say that there are any memorable lines in the book. The story is great and consistent throughout. I got the feeling from some of the bitterness of the characters, however, that Candace Bushnell is suspicious of New York's youth and frustrated with their ignorance of the things that made New York great; the old families, the restaurants, the galas. Her youth is portrayed as demanding, always wanting something for nothing, and disdainful of the accomplishments of anyone over 30. I doubt that this is true of all New York youth.

While it was mentioned that the "new-money social climber" figure went to a great college and seems to have a good heart and natural beauty, business smarts and tennis acumen, it is only mentioned. After the mention, she is just the new money social climber. Her good attributes are not further developed.

The Columnist, the Actress, and the middle-class, middle-aged bitter woman are all well developed, and I read this within the span of 30 hours, which is not too shabby for 430 pages. (I did have a small bout with insomnia after drinking tea too late at night, which helped.)

Anyway, to sum up, this is the best beach read EVER. If you buy it, you will pass it around to all of your friends and they will all read it, because it is quite girl friendly for all.