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Title: Social Crimes by Jane Stanton Hitchcock ISBN: 0786868155 Publisher: Miramax Pub. Date: June, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.91
Rating: 4
Summary: Life Among the Rich and Famous Can Be Deadly!
Comment: In the tradition of Edith Wharton, and with a clever and witty look at New York society, Jane Stanton Hitchcock presents a fast paced read with her newest book, Social Crimes.
This is the third book I've read by Ms. Hitchcock and this is her best book so far. With an almost tongue in cheek approach, the author presents less than sterling characters in a plot readers will long remember.
Jo Slater is living a life beyond her wildest dreams. A former restaurant hostess from the Midwest, Jo is now married to an enormously wealthy older man. She has become a true society lady owning an estate in the Hamptons, a fabulous apartment in Manhattan and a collection of priceless art and antiques, which includes a necklace owned by Josephine Bonaparte. But Jo is about to suffer a fall from grace when she befriends a French Countess whose background is quite mysterious. When Countess Monique has nowhere to stay for the remainder of the summer, Jo graciously offers her their guesthouse. And while Jo and Monique become fast friends, and Jo reveals a bit too much about herself, Monique is soon to prove to be quite the manipulator at Jo's expense.
All too soon, Jo is living on the other side of great wealth and society life, while Monique is now one of New York society's latest society ladies. After a period of disbelief as to what has happened to her, Jo moves into high gear and learns that revenge can have a higher price than she thought possible.
Like The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe, Ms. Hitchcock has a fine eye and ear for depicting life among the very wealthy. One reads this book with a chuckle and realizes at the end that position and wealth can be fleeting at the best of times.
Rating: 5
Summary: Brilliant Plotting
Comment: I've been waiting for several years since devouring Jane Stanton Hitchcock's first two novels (the Edgar-nominated TRICK OF THE EYE, and the sinister WITCHES'HAMMER) and now she's back in brilliant form. Just in time for a great beach read, but far more clever and perceptive than simply a delightful diversion, SOCIAL CRIMES nails New York's society mavens and manners absolutely dead-on. This is a writer who clearly knows her subject and the world about which she writes, makes you care about her characters, has a great sense of humor, and uses an obscure and stunning legal device to set the devious plot in motion. Hitchcock took me directly into her world and kept me there, riveted to the pages. The book is smart, funny, well-written - and, as one of the reviewers said, drawing my attention to the book - just delicious. Highly recommended.
Rating: 2
Summary: Poor imitation
Comment: I was very disappointed with this book. Social Crimes is a hollow imitation of Edith Wharton's books on New York Society. Hitchcock is well aware of Wharton having written a play based on two of her books. Like House of Mirth, her main character falls from society, but unlike Lily, Jo doesn't have any redeeming qualities. You simply don't care about her. I agree with some of the other reviewers that several parts of the story didn't ring true. I had to laugh when she goes on a diet and loses 15 pounds in 3 weeks. Talk about fiction! All the details of wills may have been legal, but again none of it seemed plausible. The main character doesn't really gain the reader's simpathy, she's just too ... Like Lily in House of Mirth, she keeps getting deeper and deeper into trouble and nothing seems to go right, but unlike Lily, she is very aware of her actions and seems downright petty in some of them (for example paying the waiter to spill a dessert on Monique's haute coutour dress). As for the similarities of Marie Antoinette, I think I would have rather read a real history rather than the bits and pieces in this novel.
I was really hoping that Hitchcock would have a better resolution to Jo's dilemna, but with such a poor main character I wasn't surprised by the ending. Save your money and buy one of Edith Wharton's books, or if you want a modern take on New York Society, read "The Nanny Diaries."
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Title: If Looks Could Kill by Kate White ISBN: 0446530239 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: April, 2002 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter ISBN: 0375413634 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 04 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: I Don't Know How She Does It: The Life of Kate Reddy, Working Mother by Allison Pearson ISBN: 0375414053 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: The Dive from Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer ISBN: 0375412824 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 09 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: Women About Town by Laura Jacobs ISBN: 0670030880 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: 16 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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