Hedge Fund Wives
by Tatiana Boncompagni
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Book Summary Information
Author: Tatiana BoncompagniEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-05-05
ISBN: 0061765260
Number of pages: 284
Publisher: Avon A
Book Reviews of Hedge Fund Wives
Book Review: Entertaining fluff; zero nutritional content: 2.5 stars
Summary: 3 Stars
What Judith Krantz was in the 1970s and 1980s, Tatiana Boncompagni may become to the first decade of the 21st century -- if she can move beyond cliched plots and hire a copy editor to catch the obscenely large number of typos and other errors that litter this relatively amusing but readily-forgettable book.
Like Krantz and any number of other female writers, Boncompagni drops names of celebrities and brand labels (from Birkin bags to the hottest Manhattan pre-schools for privileged toddlers) willy-nilly throughout the book, as her heroine, Marcy, adjusts to life as the wife of an up-and-coming energy trader at a hedge fund, only to find that life yanked out from underneath her. Marcy isn't as sympathetic a character as she portrays herself (and as the author wants us to see her); it's clear that she has settled for her husband, and bends over backwards to keep him happy, from sacrificing her job to forgiving him for not showing up at an ob/gyn appointment (they're trying to get pregnant) when he brings her a gift from Bulgari, the jewellers. It's hard to feel sympathy for a heroine who readily confesses to someone at work that she plans to work until she gets pregnant -- and then feels hard done by when her confidante gets the next promotion... Of course, this being chick lit of the 'label name dropping' sub-genre, Marcy gets a chance to rethink her life and choices and there's a Cinderella style ending that requires the reader to suspend all disbelief (pretty much the norm for this kind of book, of course.)
Boncompagni tried to be early and jump on the Wall Street-bashing bandwagon. "I was wondering if my husband truly meant to sound like a greedy asshole," Marcy wonders at one party. (Gee, you think so???) "I would have respected him more, if he had been motivated by something other than the deepening of his own already deep pockets." It would be a more interesting message if (a) you felt it was sincere (Marcy is herself an avid consumer, as she demonstrates in her clothes and apartment shopping later in the book), (b) it was presented as part of the plot (skeletally thin -- the classic girls-fighting-over-men) rather than as just Marcy's musings and (c) it wasn't quite as heavy-handed and obvious. The effort to be timely is too obvious, just as Marcy's friend Gigi's strategy for making her new cookbook more in tune with the times by adding some budget recipes to a book featuring deviled quail eggs topped with truffle caviar foam was out of tune with the whole ethos of the rest of that cookbook. Let's face it, the reason we turn to escapist books like this is to get away from the ugly realities of everyday life, and trying to make the book seem more worthy of attention because it displays a kind of social conscience is a bit bizarre and artificial.
The biggest problem with the book isn't that it's fluff -- it is that it is fluff that has apparently never encountered either a copy editor or even a spell check. At some points, there is one glaring spelling mistake per page for several pages... We have "sited" instead of "cited", a chair designed by Frank Gehry becomes a "Ghery" chair, "bequeathal" rather than "bequest", "calibur" in place of "caliber" (heavens, even my Word program automatically corrects that one.) Oh yes, and apparently Larry Ellison founded Apple Computer. (don't tell Steve Jobs about that...)
Those constant errors are particularly odd in the face of some obviously inside knowledge that will be hilarious to anyone who knows anything about the world of hedge funds and financial strategies. (Boncompagni is obviously familiar with trickier stuff, like asset allocation and fund-of-funds; stuff that routinely trips up other chick lit authors.) Early on, we meet briefly Herb Zimmer of ZAC Capital, a dead ringer for Steve Cohen of SAC in real life; toward the end of the book there's a one-page discussion of the kidnapping of a hedge fund wife outside Bergdorf's -- obviously a reference to the actual kidnapping of Eddie Lampert in real life (both kidnappers are nailed the same way.) They're also annoying because Boncompagni is at heart a very good writer, with a good ear for dialog and a good eye for description. That was what kept me reading and occasionally laughing aloud, even as I became more disappointed by the tissue-thin plot (even by the genre's standards) and the appalling typos. I've rated this 2.5 stars out of a possible 4 (no formula novel of this kind is ever likely to be a five-star read for me, due to lack or originality), partly because of the lack of effort with the plot and partly because of the rampant typos and other errors.
Recommended only as an escapist beach read and only to those with a high tolerance for typos. As an alternative, check out a book by a real hedge fund wife about the art world: Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him.
Summary of Hedge Fund Wives
In this amazingly timely story about what the wealthy do when Wall Street lays an egg, the author of Gilding Lily once again delivers a witty and insightful treatment of today's woman, as she explores the sacrifices they make, the bargains they strike, the rules they follow, and what happens when it all starts to fall apart.
Who could have guessed that Wall Street would go south just as Marcy Emerson and her husband moved east? Down to earth Marcy relocated from Chicago to New York when her husband was offered a big time job as a hedge fund manager.
She gives up her own job?after all, hedge fund wives don't work! And while at first it's fun to shop all day and party all night, Marcy quickly learns that life among the rich can be anything but easy and that behind every smile can be a stab in the back.
Still, it's not until her husband leaves her for his thinner, blonder mistress?a woman who is higher up the social ladder than the original Mrs. Emerson will ever be?that Marcy decides to stand on her own two feet once again, and fight for the things that are far more important than money.
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