Candace Bushnell - Trading Up

Pros: Deliciously naughty glimpse into New York high society.
Cons: Unlikeable characters and bad ending.

***Warning: there are a few issues I discuss that could be considered spoilers. If you don't want a ...

Pros: Reveals the shallowness of Janey and her lifestyle.
Cons: Still a sad, sad waste of reading time.

This book is a continuation of 4 Blondes by the same author who wrote Sex and the City (which I have never watched.) Having time to indulge in light reading, I picked this book up at the same time as I chose 4 Blondes at the public library. Sometimes, I ...

Pros: lots of characters and action, fast and easy read
Cons: the main character is shallow and heartless

I bought this book for a couple of reasons: I was stocking up on trashy summer reads, it was written by the creator of Sex and The City, and the paperback was only $6 at Target. I am a fan of the "chick lit" genre and I also enjoy a good episode ...

Pros: I don't have to read it again.
Cons: shallow. shallow. shallow. And sex with fat old men who wield power.

I received Candace Bushnell's novel Trading Up in a care package from friends when I was on bedrest during my last pregnancy. Knowing that I had just discovered Sex and the City on DVD, one of my girlfriends assumed that I'd like reading ...

Pros: Bushnell's abilities to satarize the elite is priceless.
Cons: shallow characters make the plot seem endless

Candace Bushnell's novels are notorious for being laced with sex, drugs and foul mouthed heroines. ...

Pros: A fun frolic in the world of power and beauty.
Cons: Comes off as fluff, but then again, isn't that the point?

Candace Bushnell's "Trading Up" is a fun, raucous, flirt into the world of power and beauty and all it's abuses. As the writer of "Sex and the City" it isn't surprising that Candace would have chosen this subject - it's a subject that she writes with ...

Pros: -recommend for those who have never been in NY (I haven't either)
Cons: none

It's only my second book of Candace Bushnell after Sex&the City . Trading up I liked much more, as it goes deeper in the relationships of men and women than just the utter goal for sex. However , for a non-native speaker both books are quite helpful in the aspect of related vocabulary. Before I was completely unaware of what blow-job might mean.

I would compare Trading Up with a modern interpretation of Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser. Plots are quite similar, although Dreiser certainly was much more restrained with open descriptions of some intimate scenes.

As for the main heroine, Janey, her aspirations do make you rethink what happiness is for a woman.Whether it's just money of a rich husband, bohemian world of super-model, jewelry and designer clothes or may be it is also fulfillment of creativity and some inner talents.

As for sex scenes descriptions - plausible , sincere and not exaggerated , much more real then in Sex & the City.