Customer Reviews

Gotham Diaries

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Welcome to Manhattan and into the lives of the rich and famous. The Gotham Diaries is Tonya Lewis Lee and Crystal McCrary Anthony's debut into the "Chick Lit" genre. It is most definitely a perfect choice for a summertime getaway-a mixed blend of soap-opera type drama with a combination of middling to quite flamboyant and comical characters.

The plot mainly centers on an extremely ambitious, gay, high-end real estate broker (Manny), a recently widowed and indebted socialite (Tandy), and an "in-search-of-self" naive billionaire's wife (Lauren). Lauren believes Manny and Tandy are her friends, but each one has their own self-serving agenda. The reader is pulled into uptown living through Manny's social calendar, client drama, and his relationship with his boy-toy, supermodel lover. Manny is largely driven to keep his lover happy (usually with expensive gifts) and secure his place among Manhattan's elite regardless of the costs. Tandy's plan to remain on top of Manhattan's social circle despite being penniless involves both Manny and an unsuspecting Lauren. Lauren's desire is to pursue a career amid restlessness and aching suspicions that her husband who is thirty years her senior is having an affair.

After establishing each of the key character's history, the focus of the story is shifted to a real estate deal that reeks of betrayal and deception and will cause dissension among the "friends." The last one standing comes into their own and serves their own brand of justice - destroying the hopes and dreams of the others in the process.

This is a refreshing and often times funny novel with a strong underlying intensity that yields a page-turning reading experience. Hopefully this isn't the last we hear about the affairs of Tandy, Manny, and Lauren - I'd like to see more of them soon. (...)

This book was a quick and amusing read, but I have to agree with the reviewer who wondered what happened to the editing. It is choppy with poor set-ups and flashbacks. It never delves deeply into character motivation and background, thus making it hard to empathize with, connect to or be really intrigued by any character. For example, Ed Thomas, by the conclusion of the book, was reduced to a sniveling idiot -- totally unrealistic for a man as powerful as he is portrayed to be. Though the authors are part of the black New York City plutocracy, they offer few meaningful insights regarding the true complexitiy of this group. Instead there are merely stereotypes, particularly of the sports and entertainment nouveau riche(ironically the two areas from which the authors derive their wealth and position). Mrs. Lewis Lee said in a recent Wall Street Journal article that spoke to the inclusion of the African American upper class in the social bible, Town and Country, that the magazines treats "people of color in a way that seems effortless"; unfortunately, she was unable to do the same in her book. While it's a good beach read, borrow, do not buy this book.

GOTHAM DIARIES is a candid look into the cutthroat world of New York City's harsh haute monde penned by two insiders: Tonya Lewis Lee is Spike Lee's wife and Crystal McCrary Anthony was the wife of former NBA star Greg Anthony. From old money matrons to newly rich rap stars, the characters abound in this brazen book.

First up in this colorful cast is Manny, a country mouse turned city mouse who built a highly successful career as a real estate broker for the most elite of clients. However, Manny has two very expensive habits in his boy toy and his dream to be inside the Big Apple's upper crust social circle.

Tandy is a socialite like no other. She's always been one of the most involved philanthropists in the city, but when her husband dies and leaves her with more debts than money, Tandy sees her social life flash before her eyes. Not to be outdone, she devises a scheme to get her back on her social butterfly course.

Lauren Thomas married an older man who happens to be a billionaire. Lauren, an aspiring filmmaker, is turned off by the media attention and social pressure that comes along with being a powerfully rich man's wife. She learns, though, that all that glitters isn't gold, and that the one person she can trust is herself.

GOTHAM DIARIES is as enthralling, fast, and captivating as the city in which it is set. Lee and Anthony write flawlessly together; a match made in literary heaven. I was enraptured by the lives of these people and by the setting of the city that never sleeps. Unable to put this book down for long, I feverishly devoured its contents.

Reviewed by CandaceK
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

I must admit that I picked up this book several times and put it down. Partly because of schoolwork, but mostly because it was slow in the beginning. I think the authors developed the characters fairly well, but you didn't get to see them do a lot of stuff (if that makes sense). Most of the action took place in the last 50 pages of the book. Those pages were the page-turners for me. Otherwise, I was not overly impressed with the book. It is a good read if you don't have much else to read, but I found my attention being distracted too easily. I had to make myself sit down and get through the first 150 pages. The last 75-100 pages were the best and that's why I gave it three stars.

It was refreashing to read a book by and about African-American's that had nothing to do with drugs, gangs or life in "tha hood" and I look forward to reading more by these two authors in the future! With that said you may be wondering why I only gave this book 3 stars, well it is more like 3 ½ actually, `GOTHAM DIARIES' had the potential to be a 5 star book but it was not long enough (and I don't mean that in a good way). The 269 pages were not enough to fully develop it's characters or to delve more deeply into this society that most people only get a glimpse of through the antics of the Hilton sisters! I would have loved to learn more about Tandy's past and why she feels and reacts the way she does. I longed to know more about the inner workings of Ed and Lauren's relationship and Manny's early days in "Gotham".

The rumor is that they are thinking of turning this book into a Soul Food like series, and if they do I will be there for that. Hopefully the characters will be further explored and the inner workings of the African-American elite will be highlighted. `GOTHAM DIARIES' was a decent first effort for the writing team of Tonya Lewis Lee and Crystal McCrary Anthony but I look forward to seeing them grow as authors in the future.

Gotham Diaries was a slow and painful read. They told a story, drawing the outline, but never really painting the picture. It was neither descriptive nor imaginative.

The main character, Lauren, was a total bore. They wrote her up in this pathetic victim role, but not once did I feel for her, empathize with her. She was beyond naive; she was plain stupid. The small glimmering hope was that in the end she would evolve and learn something, but they dashed and mutilated that one opportunity to redeem the book.

Manny was the one character with which I sympathized and they totally scapegoated and reemed him. He is the only character that popped amongst the one-dimensional cast. He made great observations and had the only deep introspective moments, but they shafted his growth in a failed attempt to make Lauren, Ms. Victim, look better.

The ending was as bad as the rest of the book. The characters were in the exact same place they started.

This is a very good book, i have to give it a 4 since the ending was kind of predictable, but the overall story was entertaining and will keep you turning pages. It reads very fast and will keep you wanting more. This is good for their debut book.

The plot: Gotham Diaries is the story of several hot, beautiful black people in Manhattan. First, we have Manny Marks, a gorgeous, gay 36-year-old real estate broker from Alabama who plays his sometimes-fading accent and good looks for all they can possibly achieve (which is, apparently, quite a bit).But in his eyes, and in the eyes of the more powerful people that he works for, he's still just a glorified salesman with no real influence or power. Manny wants to change his status, and he's willing to do whatever it takes to get there.


Next up we have Lauren and Ed Thomas. Lauren is only thirty-five years old, but she has been married to Ed - handsome, rich, and fifty-five years old - for four years. (The authors make sure to tell us that Lauren is a size four with naturally curly hair. As if I would have imagined her any other way!) Ed Thomas owns Thomas Industries, which is some kind of beverage company. A self-made millionaire, Ed is considered quite the catch, and many people think that Lauren is quite the lucky girl to be married to a man as rich and powerful as Ed. But Lauren isn't feeling so "lucky" about her marriage anymore. Although Ed was initially caring and attentive, he has become distant. (I wonder why . . . Could he be cheating? With someone younger? And prettier?)

Finally, we have Tandy Brooks, a fifty-one year old "living legend in New York society." She's a lawyer with a degree from Boston University, and has always been rich, powerful, and admired. And she's always been the epitome of beauty and grace - five-foot six inches tall, always weighs in at 122 pounds, with "high chiseled cheekbones, deep-set almond-shaped brown eyes, caramel skin, jet-black shoulder length hair softly layered, framing her heart shaped face." (I'm STILL rolling my eyes.) Tandy is afraid she may be losing her "place" to younger beauties like Lauren. She's polite to Lauren's face, but ridicules Lauren behind her back. What's more, Tandy hopes to steal Ed away from Lauren. Largely because she needs his money -- recently widowed and heavily in debt, Tandy is suddenly faced with the possible shame/humiliation of not being super-rich. Tandy, like Manny, knows that she is no one if she isn't super rich and influential. So she and Manny concoct a scheme to make themselves a quick couple million, and betray an unawares Lauren along the way.


The verdict: The book is certainly well-written. It's entertaining, fast-paced, and maybe even addictive, in a soap opera/reality TV kind of way. But, like I said earlier, mostly superficial people and a lot of drama. Tandy and Manny are villains, so they get what they deserve. Lauren is betrayed and hurt, but she emerges still the "It Girl" of black New York. So if you generally enjoy stories about the rich, beautiful, and morally deficient (and most people do), then I predict that you will enjoy Gotham Diaries.

This is a quick "beach" read and nothing more. It appears as though a few choice words were selected as the "Vocabulary" and utilized throughout the book in hopes of making it appear an "intelligent" read. The scenes are thin because the authors failed to maximize on the "Gotham" backdrop. They also offered little insight into the true inner workings of the black bourgeois except for the usual stereotypes. The plot is weak, the characters lack depth and the book overall is deficient of substance. I purchased the book at a B&N and expected a better editing job for the money I spent. My rating of two out of five stars is generous. I expected better.

I gave this book one star only because there's no option to give zero stars. This book was so poorly written it wasn't even interesting. Thank goodness for libraries! One has to assume that it got published only because one of the authors is the wife of Spike Lee. If you want to read a truly excellent novel about the black upper crust, try "Emperor of Ocean Park". It's a fluid, beautifully written, compelling story, with a final chapter that takes your breath away.