The heroine of the story is Janey Wilcox, who was first introduced to readers by Candace in one of the four stories that comprise her bestselling FOUR BLONDES. But this first novel by the iconic author of SEX AND THE CITY is a stand alone novel--you don't need to have read FOUR BLONDES to read this smart, entertaining, incisive and altogether satisfying novel.
Janey Wilcox has been a celebrity wannabe for much of her young life, and when we meet her in TRADING UP she has at last achieved many of her goals. She has made it big as a model for Victoria's Secret and has therefore become famous; she has at last been able to buy the car of her dreams; and has even been able to buy her own house in NY's exclusive Hamptons, which means she no longer has to choose boyfriends on the basis of who owns a Hamptons house she can summer in. While Janey has realized many of her ambitions, she hasn't yet realized all of them. She has yet to be taken seriously as an actress, and she hasn't found the man of her dreams. But that second thing, at least, is about to change.
In one of the early scenes in the novel, Janey finally gets invited to the most exclusive of all Hampton parties, which means, at least to her, that she has really made it. There, she runs into some of Hollywood's leading personalities, into the creme de la creme of NY society, and also into some people from her past she'd rather not have seen again. However, in the course of the party, she is introduced to and is charmed--captivated--by a handsome, successful man who soon thereafter becomes her boyfriend. But Janey's lilfe will never be simple, both because of who she is and also because of her past somewhat not always good girlish behavior, therefore it's not long before Janey's great new life begins to fray a bit at the edges.
This novel is by turns funny in the way Sex and the City fans have come to expect from Candace Bushnell, and also sharp when Candace turns her formidable social satire skills on her subjects. Don't be fooled by how much fun the book is--underlying the fun is the kind of social commentary that Jane Austen and Edith Wharton are loved for.
“With its many profoundly reflective passages, Bushnell's third book, by far her richest and most satisfying, suggests that the author is outgrowing the world and characters she created in the past.”
“Bushnell’s ironies are competitive [and] the sexual situations are more realistically sordid than anything on television.”
“… provides a prime banquette seat to witness the intense and rather frightening mating rituals of the attractive, successful, over-35-and-still-unmarried set.”
Candace Bushnell is the author of SEX AND THE CITY and FOUR BLONDES. She has been a columnist for The New York Observer and a contributing editor to Vogue.
