In New York City, three best friends are powerful businesswomen—but no matter how great their successes, they have still have problems: Victory Ford is a fashion designer struggling to create a couture line in the face of negative reviews; Nico O'Neilly is the editor-in-chief of Bonfire magazine, but is tempted to begin an affair with a younger man; Wendy Healy is the president of Parador Pictures, but her husband, a stay at home dad, is becoming increasingly dissatisfied. Lipstick Jungle presents a concept interesting enough to spark a television series (ongoing, of the same name), but is a remarkably bad book: Bushnell's writing is inept, rife with adverbs, thesaurus overuse, and too many flashbacks; the feminist issues, which could be personally and intelligently investigated, lack all subtlety and constructivity. Alternately frustrating and laughable, Lipstick Jungle is one of the worst books that I have ever read, and I strongly recommend against it.

Where does one begin to talk about a book with no redeeming features? Generally, I try to present both the strengths and weaknesses of a text, and then make a final judgment and a recommendation. Lipstick Jungle, however, lacks any sort of strength. The novel's first and most obvious fault is its shoddy writing. Bushnell uses adverbs almost as often as she uses verbs, and the litany of "he said sulkily" and "she nodded hopefully" makes the writing repetitive and strips away all description and characterization. She exploits her thesaurus in the attempt to come up with non-repeating nouns—and as a result uses words like "pudenda" in sex scenes and "proboscises" when discussing French men's noses. The combination of overused adverbs and "unique" nouns means that the text is often hilarious to read aloud—not a desirable attribute for the sections that aren't intended to be humorous. Writing style aside, Bushnell constructs her plot in a series of extended flashbacks, most of which take place when her characters are waiting for tables or sitting in cars. The flashbacks remove both reader and character from the action of the plot, and so the characters appear to do nothing and the plot is distant and disinteresting.

In the long run, however, the shoddy writing is not the worst of this book: the worst is how Bushnell deals with—or fails to deal with—would-be-feminist issues. To be fair, she does not attempt to avoid the difficult realities that women may face in patriarchal business and society. In fact, she mentions them often. However, these issues are as subtle and graceful as a baseball bat to the head—and almost as useful. The comments are flippant and empty, pointing out obvious sexists beliefs and contradictions but never providing investigation into how and why they occur or what can be done about them. Even worse, the book is full of equally flippant reverse sexism and discrimination, belittling other cultures and insisting that men are simple-minded, predictable, incapable, and as easily categorized, controlled, and contained as sexist beliefs often insist women are and should be. This is not feminism, it is not empowering; it is not respectful, useful, or even entertaining. It merely perpetuates the use of generalizations and discrimination because it is perceived as humorous, or because it makes the discriminating group feel better about themselves in comparison to the group that they are discriminating against. The fact that the discrimination is reversed does not improve it or justify it one whit.

I did not read this book for pleasure or because I enjoyed it. I only finished reading Lipstick Jungle so that, having read the entire book, I could pass a judgment on the entire book. At points, this book is so bad that it is funny, a litany of flat writing and exaggerated emphasis peppered with horrible cellphone texting transcripts and unintentionally funny words. Otherwise, it is frustrating, both because the story is poorly constructed and presented and because the book—a book about powerful women succeeding in a man's world—embraces stereotypes and discrimination and says nothing at all that is genuinely useful or empowering. In short, I mean to say that this book is horrible, awful, and worth less than the paper it is printed on: it is a promising concept shown a huge disservice by the author's writing and her philosophy. I hope that readers don't turn to it for a good story, because there isn't one. I hope that women—and all audiences—don't turn to it for empowerment or understanding, because it offers none. I was disappointed and disgusted by this book, and a strongly, highly recommend against it.

Read this forever ago when the show came out. Loved the strong, independent female characters and their friendship.

I can feel sex and the city all throughout. Good read.

Predictable, but fun.

2.5 ⭐ Pese a las malas críticas he decidido leerlo igual, y la verdad es que no me arrepiento. Es cierto que no es una obra maestra, pero es entretenido y las historias de cada protagonista acaban enganchando. En definitiva, sí que lo recomiendo si no tienes nada mejor que leer!!

Took a bit longer to get into than Bushnell's other novels, but was totally engrossing when it catches you.

I selected this book while aimlessly wandering the bookstore as an easy, Spring Break read. I was drawn to it because I loved the TV series and I was interested in the book that inspired such a wonderful show.

It's definitely an easy read, but I absolutely loved it. It follows the lives of three of New York's most successful, working women which is a refreshing change from all the other stories that follow the love lives of young twenty-somethings with no strings attached to complicated their lives. The women in this book are balancing careers and families, yet always have time for their friends. I loved reading about women who did not have to forfeit career success to raise their families.

Interestingly enough, my favorite character was Victory Ford; the only one of the three main women who was not married with children. This probably made her more relatable to me. And I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that her love interest in the book was brought to the life in the show by Andrew McCarthy of Pretty in Pink fame (*swoon*).

While I don't believe I will ever be in similar career positions as these women, the book gave me valuable insight into potential problems that may arise later in life while juggling the demands of work and home.

I have to say though, one thing that was completely distracting was Candace Bushnell's choice of character names. The rich billionaire's name is "Lyne", a hotshot president of a movie production company names her daughter "Magda" (also the name of Miranda's nanny in Sex and the City), etc. I'm glad the writers for the TV series had the good sense to change these names because they were really strange choices and not at all fitting for the characters. Other than that, Bushnell's a genius.

Favorite Quotes:
"She imagined that most people would have been shocked at the amount of time she spent in tears, because her public persona was that she was cool and fun and fiercely optimistic, always believing that everything was going to turn out fine and that a new, exciting opportunity was just around the corner." (Victory Ford)

"So this was why they called it heartbreak, the detached part thought. Funny how cliched emotional descriptions were so apt on the few occasions when you were actually experiencing them. Her heart was literally breaking. Everything her heart had believed in, counted on, and trusted, was being wrenched from her. Years of what she thought were irrefutable emotional truths were being snapped like spindly wooden twigs. She would never be able to go back to believing what she had before." (Wendy Healy)

"How can a reasonable, healthy person really be in love with someone who isn't in love with them?" (Shane Healy)

"Success in life could be boiled down to two things: having the courage to hold passionate beliefs and being able to make commitments." (Nico O'Neilly)

"But something happened to you when you'd had lots of relationships, meaning lots of breakups as well. At first, it hurt terribly, and you thought you'd never be able to get over it. But then you learned to be circumspect. You were only hurt because the guy had taken away your dream of the relationship. You understood that hurt feelings were really only about ego, about the self-absorbed idea that every man you were with should love you, that the universe owed you that." (Victory Ford)

een snel weg te lezen chicklit maar geen goede. hypocriete hoofdpersonen, veel geld honger naar succes en warrige overgangen tussen de verschillende verhaallijnen.... geen aanrader dus