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Book Reviews Title Four
Blondes Fiction-Net
Rating Buy It
From Amazon.co.uk - BUY
NOW! Cover
Story Four Blondes
charts the romantic intrigues, liaisons, betrayals
and victories of four modern women: a beautiful
B-list model scams rent-free summerhouses in the
Hamptons from her lovers until she discovers she
can get a man but can't get what she wants; a
high-powered magazine columnist's floundering
marriage to a literary journalist is thrown into
crisis when her husband's career fails to live up
to her expectations; a 'Cinderella' records her
descent into paranoia in her journal as she
realises she wants anybody's life except her own;
an artist and ageing 'It girl' - who fears that her
time for finding a man has run out - travels to
London in search of the kind of love and devotion
she can't find in Manhattan… We
Say Candace Bushnell
also wrote the book 'Sex and the City' which
spawned the TV series of the same name. In the case
of the TV show, the style is fast, sassy and
unafraid. Believe me, in the UK, we watch with our
jaws on the floor sometimes. But we love it - the
pure escapism is irresistible (I even watch the
re-runs just to check out the clothes). But in
spite of that, these are women that we can still
relate to - they have insecurities we all know
about only to well. So - I approached 'Four
Blondes' hoping for more of the same. Which is what
I got. Sort of. The snappy style
was certainly in place and instantly recognisable.
The tone was sympathetic only when absolutely
necessary but was mostly scathing and honest. There
were cocktail parties, movie stars, money and
drugs. This is a depiction of what is most valued
in the modern world and how people will suffer to
get a slice of those things. But underneath the
glamorous veneer, there is a dark underbelly, which
Bushnell isn't afraid to reveal. On face value, the
four stories might seem like empty premises but
Bushnell brings them to life
effectively. One criticism I
have is that I didn't find it easy to empathise
with the characters. I wanted to like them more.
But then again, maybe Bushnell was determined to
keep them as real and convincing as possible. If
she had softened their edges, this may not have
worked. I was also disappointed that the book
consisted of four separate stories. I would have
preferred a continuous narrative in which there
would be more time to build up a relationship with
the characters. But overall,
these are only minor gripes and 'Four Blondes' is
clever and entertaining. Review by: Rachel
Taylor |
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