One Fifth Avenue - Candace Bushnell

Rating: 1/10 

Review:  

It's been quite some time since I thoroughly despised a book but I needn't have worried about that. One Fifth Avenue successfully accomplishes the feat and lands on my list of Worst Books Read in 2009. 

One Fifth Avenue is the ultra glamourous apartment in New York City that people would almost kill to live in. Candace Bushnell, in this book, traces the lives of five women with One Fifth Avenue in the centre of their lives. There is the mandatory gorgeous middle-aged actress, the nagging, irritating career woman, the 'I'm-a-grand-socialite-and-I-rock' woman, the greedy, supremely annoying 'I-want-to-get-popular-and-rich-no-matter-what' youngster and of course, the 'grande dame' who oversees, prophecies and gossips about them all. 

The premise of this book, that super-rich people still crave for more, regardless of the millions they have, is something I cannot possibly relate to. And then, there is the cast of characters: I wonder how Bushnell created characters, all of whom are thoroughly horrible. In fact, most of the times, it is a contest of 'Who's the Worst Character Of Us All?' 

The men in this novel are boring, spineless and pathetic. The women are greedy, manipulative and quite frankly, a pain to read about. Also, what is unfathomable is the length of this book! 469 pages of pure torture: repetitive narratives with a storyline that is clueless by itself. 

If all of this wasn't painful enough, there are some absolutely disgusting dialogues that mock at women with careers and make it seem like women are meant to do nothing but be glamorous, and smile and pose with their husbands.  


Sample these pathetic lines: 'Dried up husks who spend their whole lives trying to be like men. And not succeeding' .  ' You already have a job. From now on, your life with your husband is your job. It's more than a job. It's a career' 


This is my first Candace Bushnell book, and most certainly my last. Maybe this is just not my kind of book or my kind of genre. After reading this book I kept asking myself ' Whatever happened to humanity? Whatever happened to nice, happy, friendly neighbours?! ' 

Don't waste your time on this book. Even if you have nothing else to do.