One Fifth Avenue
by Candace Bushnell
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Book Reviews of One Fifth Avenue
Book Review: The Lust for Power and Social Position...
Summary: 5 Stars
In an Art Deco building in one of Manhattan's oldest and most hip neighborhoods, a conclave of fictional Manhattanites reside; they are a mix of old and new money, a power-hungry and socially eager group that will do almost anything to maintain their residences - and hence, their social positions - in this piece of real estate that represents so much more to each of them. Thus begins the tale of One Fifth Avenue.
First, we meet some of the elder residents - those who have the respect of the others. We meet Louise Houghton, who has been in the building for more than thirty years - and is nearly 100 years old - who occupies the penthouse apartment that hovers like three tiers on a wedding cake, above all the others. Then we see Enid Merle, whose apartment on the thirteenth floor is the best (after the penthouse, of course) and is next to her nephew Philip Oakland, a writer. She, too, is elderly.
Louise and Enid are the historians for the place, and know "where all the bodies are buried".
Schiffer Diamond, an actress, has primarily lived in LA for the past several years, but after obtaining a part in a TV series, she returns to her small unit at One Fifth Avenue.
Billy Litchfield resides on lower Fifth Avenue and has little money. However, he acts as a kind of concierge to the very rich, and thus has entrée into the soirees and special events attended by the very rich. He is in and out of One Fifth Avenue, mixing with the residents as if he belongs.
On the very bottom floor, Mindy and James Gooch reside, with their 13-year-old computer-whiz of a son. Theirs is a cramped unit with a series of box-like rooms - they were formerly luggage space - but Mindy Gooch is the head of the board for the cooperative apartment building. She wields some power in enforcing the rules and keeping out the unsavory potential residents.
But the residents shun her and exclude her from the social events.
When Louise Houghton dies unexpectedly - strangely put, since she is so old, but everyone expected her to live forever - her prime penthouse apartment is "up for grabs".
Enter Paul and Annalisa Rich, the new rich - he is a hedge fund billionaire and she, a former attorney - and more drama begins.
When the Rices buy the penthouse for 20 million, they are welcomed - at first. Then a series of events, coupled with Paul Rice's arrogant and paranoid behavior, lead to a warring of various factions, until in the end, everyone wants Paul out. He, on the other hand, with his money, greed and power, hopes to eliminate the others.
Mixed with various romances and the sexually-charged liaisons of the characters, we have a dramatic tale of power and lust gone mad.
What will happen to ultimately tip the balance of power and who will end up reigning? What sabotage will finally lead to tragedy, and who will end up paying the highest price?
These characters, richly drawn and compelling, remind us of Bushnell's other works - Sex and the City and Lipstick Jungle - and their antics kept me turning the pages eagerly until the final act.
Laurel-Rain Snow
Book Review: Antics in NYC - Bushnell does it again!
Summary: 5 Stars
Sex in the City author Candace Bushnell has hit the proverbial "nail on the head" with One Fifth Avenue. If Manhattan is a gem, then this novel incorporates all the facets that go along with such a piece.
One Fifth Avenue is the address of a Greenwich Village condo, which in a former life was a hotel. The description of the characters and the apartments they occupy gives the reader a strong sense of who is in charge in this story.
There's Mrs. Louise Houghton's, THE Queen of NYC society, who starts all the action, by dying in her grand apartment, which then gets sold. Enter Annalisa and Paul Rice, the buyers. Annalisa begins to make her own way in NYC society, while Paul starts his own personal "wealth race" as a hedge fund manager. When he doesn't get his way with the board, he threatens to buy everyone out of the place or even move altogether. Annalisa just won't hear of it.
Billy Litchfield is the dear who be-friended Annalisa to help her navigate NY society. He has his own issues with family and the price of NY real estate, but keeps a tight lid on all matters of a personal nature. When the invite to Houghton's funeral arrives, he knows then that New York has eaten them all up. The characterization of Billy is a bit Willy Loman, but the essence carries through of a man who lived, and lived well, in New York's society circles.
Oh, and one could not have this cast of characters and their conflicts without Mindy and James Gooch. Mindy is the president of the board of One Fifth Avenue and tries so hard to be "one of them" but she is so miserable and feels cheated by what life promised her 20 years ago. In the end, she finds her freedom in more ways than one, and you have to applaud her for hanging in there, being inventive, and surviving this race of humanity. James, on the other hand, is a tortured soul and seems to get himself into more trouble as the story comes together.
The saving grace of these two is their teenage son, Sam. Sam is "the" computer guy of the building, and he drives a good deal. While he charges an hourly fee with residents who require his computer expertise, he extends this service for free to the doormen because he knows what a cheap tipper his parents are at the holidays, especially his mother.
The list of characters goes on with gossip columnist Enid, her nephew & screenwriter du jour, Philip, a top actress, Schiffer, with whom Philip once had a relationship, and Lola, who tries desperately to get ahead with the best (only?) way that she knows how...sex.
The antics of these distinctive personalities pull the reader in with such a force that once started, it is really difficult to put down. Bushnell has again created characters and situations that one can't help but to feel like a voyeur. It's like a bad accident. You don't want to look. You can't help but to look.
Book Review: Bushnell's best effort...
Summary: 4 Stars
One Fifth Avenue is one of, if not THE most prestigious co-op building in Manhattan. Everyone wants to live there, but only the rich socialites get to do so. Unless you're James and Mindy Gooch, a middle-aged married couple who live in one of the smaller apartments. She is a member of the co-op board and he is a novelist on the rise. They will never have the same cachet and social status as Philip Oakland -- award-winning book author turned screenwriter -- and his elderly aunt Enid, or draw in the public's attention as movie star Schiffer Diamond. Mindy is never taken seriously by the other tenants and things get worse when Paul and Annalisa Rice move in to what once had been the grand apartment of the late socialite Louise Houghton. Annalisa is a social climber and her husband is a ruthless billionaire. Annalisa is befriended by a fifty-something gay man who, in spite of his lack of fortune, is well loved in all social circles. Then there's Lola Fabrikant, twenty-two-year-old daughter of a businessman from Atlanta. When she discovers that her parents no longer have money, she begins a relationship with Philip, without knowing that Philip has had an on-again, off-again relationship with forty-something Schiffer, whom he still loves. She wants to secure a marriage from him and, as a result, a permanent place in One Fifth. Throw in lots of society commentary, ironic twists, mid-life crisis, unhappy marriages, jewelry theft, suicide and murder, and you get a story not unlike something Edith Wharton would have written had she been alive in this era.
One Fifth Avenue is a great, entertaining read. It shows a darker side to New York's "polite society" and the importance of living in the right address. You get a great deal of insight into a sought-after co-op apartment building and the people who live in it. Candace Bushnell, known for writing Sex and the City and Lipstick Jungle, succeeds in writing an Edith Whartonesque novel, only this has a little Olivia Goldsmith thrown in as well. This is her best work yet, in my opinion. The one thing I don't like about this book is that it is a little hard to keep up with all of the characters and the constant head-hopping gets irritating after a while. And Bushnell does not research Springfield, Massachusetts, very well. She makes it sound like some backwater hick town as opposed to what it actually is: a smallish city with one of the largest and most important hospitals in the northeast. Also, this novel has a great backdrop of the modern Internet and smartphone age. There is a whole lot of blogging and texting going on. Even the old characters do it. I think Bushnell has a contract with Apple or something because she brings up the iPhone and other Apple products A LOT. In fact, the character James Gooch has a deal with Apple that will help sell his book. Interesting. Other than that, I very much enjoyed One Fifth Avenue.
Book Review: Tell me where you live and I will tell you who you are... Mordant, witty, one of a kind.
Summary: 4 Stars
Whoever has lived in New York knows perfectly well that where you live is as important, if not even more, than what you wear and who you marry.
Competition for wealth, notoriety, power, and place of residence have been and always will be part of the City that never sleeps and Candace's "One Fifth Avenue" is a mercilessly witty modern day story of old and new money, the always combustible mix that E. Wharton and Fitzgerald described so well in decades past... The sexual politics, real estate theft, the thirst for power and social prominence are all freshly presented and uncannily described.
One Fifth Avenue is a one of a kind address, it's the sort of building you have to earn your way into, and when Louise Houghton dies, there's just one too many who are willing to fight for her splendid apartment in this Art Deco beauty towering over one of Manhattan's oldest and most historically hip neighborhoods.
For the women in Candace's novel, this apartment building is essential to their lives and their dreams and they are not going to stop at nothing to get a place within its magical walls.
There's new rich Annalisa Rice married to the computer whiz Paul Rice who cannot tolerate the neighbors and who is growing more and more paranoid as his success and limitless fortune grows.
There's Mindy Gooch, James' wife who is the President of the Board for the building and who is not willing to change any apartment to please the residents; she just wishes she could live in a better looking apartment than the one she's got, which used to be the servants quarters in the good old New York days.
Then there's actress Schiffer Diamond who decides to return to Manhattan after her long stay in L.A. when she gets a part on a TV series.
There's Enid, Philip's aunt and one of the oldest residents in the entire building and then there's Lola Fabrikant who is a 22 year old woman who comes to New York to meet potential husbands and who ends up living with a good for nothing guy just like her.
This novel is yet another success, kudos for Candace for doing it again.
Book Review: Very well Done!!!
Summary: 3 Stars
"One Fifth Avenue"m the latest novel by "Sex and the City"'s writer, Candace Bushnell is the first book I've read of hers. So I have nothing to compare it to nor did I go into it with any expectations, aside from hearing it was on the NY Best Sellers list. I think the reason she is on the best seller's list isn't so much about the story but for her writing. She is a very descriptive writer, and well, she has done a lot of writing now and seems like a truly good writer. The dialogue was great. There was some snappy bits about life in NYC strewn throughout the entire book. It is basically about One Fifth Avenue, a building/co-op where the rich, new rich, and not so rich but on the co-op board reside. Many of them have been there for years, and one of the oldest residents, Mrs. Houghton, passes away. When her 'apartment', which is described more like a house or small castle, is up for sale, there is a lot of banter back and forth from Mindy Gooch, the co-op president, and the other residents. Philip Oakland, a writer, that also lives in the building thanks to his Aunt Enid, gets involved with Lola, a young, mindless, sex starved girl that will stop at nothing to keep her new lifestyle up. But does she survive in NYC? And she does she win Philip's heart over movie star, Schiffer Diamond?
Paul and Annalisa Rice buy Mrs. Houghton's place and change it drastically, to which Mrs. Gooch is none to pleased with. There a lot of characters in this book, and they all add to the mix like a great spice that makes a dish worth savoring. There is a rather myriad assortment of characters, too.
Reading this was like looking into the building to see how these people live and how the react to each other. There is quite a bit of sex in this as well. But what else would any reader expect from the writer of Sex and the City?
It was a good idea for a book. There were subplots due to the various characters storylines. I bought it and it was worth the price. I will definitely be reading more of her Candace's books.