Trading Up
£0.55
Pure Entertainment - Yes, the character is shallow and a little unlikeable, but I found this book extremely entertaining. It s sort of like watching the life of someone who truly thinks that life owes them, and because of that, she gets exactly what she wants. I like the little insight into the main character s background that we get half-way through the book that go someway toward explaining why she is who she is. It is purely and simply entertaining, in a voyeuristic, unreachable way.
Fun,Mindless,Reading - I brought Trading up on a whim before I went on a 4 hour Coach journey to Bristol. I wanted a book I could get lost in to help the journey go faster. Being a massive fan of Sex in the City I figured I couldn t go wrong with a book written by its creator. Luckily for me I picked right! Trading up is a glamorous tale sharply written by Candace Bushnell. It is so totally unbelievable and ridiculously far fetched to real life that you can t help but switch off your brain and enjoy! It s a fantastic trashy read with beautiful people, spite, revenge and glamour, and it totally beats a copy of heat magazine hands down for a long journey!
Good holiday read - This book fascinated and entertained me. It s perfect for the beach or airport, as it doesn t require much reflection or work interlectually on the reader s part. You just sit back and enjoy. I liked the story, the charaters and all the glamour. Janey s (the main character) view on everything is so different from my own. Some may find it appalling, naive and stupid. I found it entertaining. I ve met people like Janey and always wanted to look inside their mind. Janey is indeed naive and self-obsessed, but she also has a strong belief in her own succes, despite of her flaws. I don t share her values, but I liked reading about it - widening my horizon. I also like the many little stories that are intertwined. I like how the author picks up characters from earlier books and how you meet some of the characters from Trading up in her next book Lipstick jungle (which is also really good!).It s an extra bonus that it takes place in NYC. I love NYC and enjoy reading about it. I m fascinated by the place. The fancy restaurants where one table is more prestigous than the other, where you can meet famous people etc. I liked reading about small things that are important to people in a world far away from my own little Danish capital.
The lost sparkle. - Having read the previous two books by the author, I was disappointed and somehow offended by the lack of depth and the superficiality of the character. Here is a girl who is absolutely clueless, floats about in a bubble, in a dream of ‘beauty can get me anywhere’ and I own the world even though I cannot spell properly. When some people finally start to realise who she is – mind you in the real world she would have been slapped many times over by now -, that she is a pretty face – no brains whatsoever, her response is to throw her hands up in the air and dramatically exclaim ‘ nobody understands me’. Sadly, there is nothing to understand. I have never encountered such a sallow, moronic and frankly annoying character in the books I have read over the years. Surely, every novel of such genre, includes the obligatory amount of glamour, so that the common people might escape their reality for a few moments. But nobody of the real people wants to waste their time with such nonsense. I followed the book to the end, wishing the character would at least admit to her flaws and emerge a bit more mature, and in the process hoping to restore my faith in the author. Sadly this never happened –even though there was some sort of attempt in doing so in the very end-. And I am wondering why a once witty and funny writer would settle in creating such a stupid character and this pointless story. Out of all the characters in 4 blonds, we had to get stuck with the bimbo of the year. Hardly interesting reading. And I ask, why her?
NON-STOP READING!!! - I admit, I have read all of Candace Bushnell s books,but Trading Up is one of those books that you can t stop reading. As in her other books, Candace Bushnell describes with such vivid detail, life of the rich, powerful and beautiful in New York City that you find yourself entering deeply into the story and you really can t let go of the book. Her protagonist Janey Wilcox, is one of those women you love to hate. She has practically everything, beauty, sex appeal, men at her feet and several well-kept secrets. However, the author introduces to us, another side to the New York sex and social agenda, that by the end you find yourself being compasionate towards Jane Wilcox, a fighter, a survivor of a corrupt society that you start liking the character and feeling for her. This is a must-have, must-read book. Enjoy your read!!