4 Blondes
by Candace Bushnell

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Book Reviews of 4 Blondes

Book Review: Laughably Stupid
Summary: 1 Stars

The books' characters are parasites, pirahnas, and all-around pathetic creatures who think the world owes them something merely for being beautiful. Tom Wolfe also wrote about good-for-nothing socialites and other despicable people who populate New York City in "Bonfire of the Vanities," but he did it with style, well-crafted language, and a sense of humor. He pictured the world of privileged people who prey on others, but it was clear that he didn't condone their behavior.

Just take a look at Bushnell's glamour-shot photo on the back cover and it's clear that she takes herself and her characters way too seriously. She's obviously the fifth blonde of the book, which is nothing to be proud of. If the book had been billed as a volume of short stories, which it is, it somehow would have been less disappointing. I suspect that Bushnell writes only in vignettes because she doesn't know the first thing about plot development. Each of the four stories in this book ends abruptly and weakly, as if Bushnell took part in some timed writing exercise and the teacher made her slam her notebook closed. She makes grasps at continuity by giving a few of her characters cameo appearances in a few of the stories, but the effect is as cloying as the chapter names, which refer to brands of hair dye and methods of dying hair. She also puts the same lines of dialogue in various characters' mouths in different stories. Lack of originality or a one-track mind--take your pick.

To top it off, the book is riddled with typographical errors. Either the publisher didn't assign an editor to the book, or the editor realized what trash he or she hand been handed and realized that only a cursory review of the language was needed. Or maybe Bushnell herself edited the book. Its production is as poor as the writing.

Bushnell has one other book on the market. This one is truly sophomoric through and through.

Summary of 4 Blondes

Finally, in the most clearly autobiographical story, a writer gives up on the commitment-impaired men of New York and goes to London to find a husband. There she trolls for the typical Englishman--"a guy who had sex with his socks on, possessed a microscopic willy, and came in two minutes." Bushnell is famous for this sort of sexual brashness, and the book is full of her sharp wit, both in and out of the boudoir. She also clearly enjoys her characters and their misadventures, with one exception: the politically correct Winnie, with her distaste for alcohol, night life, and casual sex, inspires an odd sort of authorial contempt. Otherwise, though, Bushnell's ironic takes on the sexual foibles of the rich and famous are mordant, mischievous fun. --Lesley Reed

Literature & Fiction Books

• Subjects > Literature & Fiction
• Romance > Contemporary