Trading Up
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Written by Candace Bushnell.
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($13.95)
Editorial Review (from Amazon.com)
Candace Bushnell is turning heads . . .The New York Times bestseller, now in paperback.
When Trading Up was published in July, readers from coast to coast devoured the sharp-witted, Jane Austin-esque story of Janey Wilcox's unsteady climb to the top of Manhattan's social scene. It became THE hot book -- and the numbers prove it: We've sold more than 250,000 copies to date. To top it off, Candace Bushnell was the apple of the press's eye. Her signature glamour, poise, and humor lit up TV screens, newspapers, and magazines across America.
While Janey Wilcox may want to be on top, it's clear that Candace Bushnell's Trading Up IS on top. With an even wider paperback audience, who knows how much higher she can climb?
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Rebecca Adler thinks this book is Terrible.
I was absolutely livid by the time I finally finished this book.
The book is written by Candace Bushnell and was given to me by a friend (she didn't tell me at the time that she'd been trying to pawn this book off on somebody for months). I'd never read a book by Bushnell before, but she did author Sex and the City so I figured it wouldn't be too bad.
But the book wasn't even decent. It was 500 pages of shallowness, with enough anti-feminism thrown in to make me think I must have had the author wrong. It was so demeaning toward women that I double-checked the cover every few pages to see if it was really written by a woman.
The premise of the book is that the "heroine," Janey Wilcox, makes it through life sleeping with really rich men so they'll buy her things and give her a chance to get ahead.
The book starts off with her having finally made it as a Victoria's Secret model because, as we all know, that's the only thing really beautiful blondes are any good for. But this isn't good enough for Janey, who for some reason has ambitions. She figures she can sleep her way into a role on a movie set or even become a producer if she finds the right man to do her bidding.
Then at one point you finally feel like she's going to realize this isn't the way to do business.
She finally completes a months-long deal to produce a movie and once the final arrangements are made she gives the guy a blowjob, which she thinks is what he's been waiting for this whole time.
Of course, now that he's gotten what he really wanted he's no longer interested.
And the worst thing is that the author never points out that perhaps it wasn't that he got what he really wanted at all. It could have been that he realized she didn't really know how to do business.
In a good portion of the book the "heroine" is called a whore, a slut or a prostitute. Meanwhile, everyone else in her New York group of friends see nothing wrong with her actions, even arranging her dates with men they think could help her out.
At one point there's even a shout out to pro-lifers: "Why should my unborn child have to pay for my sins?"
I knew I should have put the book down at that point, but I was convinced it was going to get better.
It didn't.
I recommend not wasting your time on this terrible example of chick lit.