By Megan Johnson
Everyone knows the four famous females of Candace Bushnell’s notorious Sex and the City. But in her new novel, One Fifth Avenue, Bushnell uses her keen insight into Manhattan’s upper echelon to deconstruct both sexes through the eccentric inhabitants of an infamous Manhattan apartment building. Upon the death of penthouse owner and society doyenne Mrs. Houghton, new society darling Annalise Rice and her success-obsessed husband, Paul, take over the space to the dismay of first floor residents Mindy and James Gooch, who struggle to keep up with the filthy rich.
Acclaimed author Philip Oakland takes in seductive social climber Lola Fabrikant as an assistant, and she quickly becomes his lover in an attempt to ascend New York society. Other residents include bon vivant Billy Litchfield, who realizes that by associating with the rich he is accepted as one of them, and celebrated actress Schiffer Diamond, whose past relationship with Philip is equally as juicy.
Through the struggle to survive in dog-eat-dog Manhattan, Bushnell’s characters must look beyond their seemingly perfect wealth and privilege to recognize their faults. It’s easy to declare the novel as another chick-lit tale of the obscenely wealthy. However, One Fifth Avenue greatly surpasses Bushnell’s previous writings in poignancy and emotional depth. Through the struggles her complex characters face, the reader comprehends that no matter how privileged a life one leads, the hardest person to see in a negative light is often the one staring back at you in the mirror.
