Customer Reviews

The Spare Wife: A novel

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ponce is a model turned lawyer who is sleeping with fertility maven Neil Grossman, unbeknownst to her friend Shawsie whose husband Robin is sleeping with editorial-assistant-on-the-make Babette Steele, who finds out about Ponce's affair and decides to write an article about it to launch her career.

And that's about all there is to it. Alex Witchel is a fine journalist in her own right, whose features I always make a point of reading, but her skills don't extend to her fiction. Was I the only person who had to push myself to finish this one?

"The Spare Wife" is a chronicle of NYC A-listers. All the women are rich, mostly beautiful and generally bored and bitchy. Their men are also well-heeled, often idle and generally without virtue and honor. The novel's heroine is socialite Ponce Morris, who is portrayed as an exception to the women's stereotype. She is rich and beautiful, to be sure, but the lady is a tramp. She doesn't have time for people and things that she hates.

This formula is familiar and would have worked a whole lot better for me in this book if author Alex Witchel had given the story a much sharper edge. But this isn't "Bonfire of the Vanities" with its whipsaw extremes of character and behavior and nasty consequences. In "The Spare Wife," the characters seem pushed toward the mushy center of behavior and the concept of "fierceness" is not present. Even the author's heroine, Ponce, who is presented as the paragon of independent spirit and unfailing kindness through most of the story, becomes less unique and kind in her theoretical triumph in one of the last chapters of the book. At the other end of the character spectrum, the story's villainess--young, beautiful and sneaky, Babette, is punished in the end by "having" to marry a handsome, megarich "older" man. This is punishment that is hard to see as justice.
Author Witchel is a decent writer and delivers some witty zingers in the book's dialogue, but on the whole, "The Spare Wife" is froth without the guilty pleasure of whipped cream, from beginning to end.

I wanted to like this book. I did find myself wishing it was finished by the time I hit page 34. Tedious, boring and takes forever to get thru it!!!! .

This format has been done-to-death. Rich New York social beauty fighting to say on top from a social-climbing hussy. There's a million of these books out there, and while this one isn't much different, it did have some meat to it. I actually really enjoyed this book. Ponce (the main character) wasn't a character I loved, but she had just enough redeeming qualities about her that I was able to forgive her for her misdeeds.

Babette (the social-climbing hussy) was just an awful character. Even her name irritated the heck outta me, but I guess that's supposed to be her purpose in the book, and she played it to perfection. While there are a lot of characters, and they almost all have some pretty despicable traits, this book is a page-turner. If your looking for something to read on a quiet weekend, or to just kill some time, then I absolutely recommend this. But if your looking for something a little less 'fluffy', you should probably look elsewhere.

I listened to this book and it kept me entertained, although I knew it wasn't great literature. I am generally less critical of books I'm listening to, as I always am doing something else at the same time. Therefore "reading" the less-than-great book doesn't feel like a waste of time.

That said, I found the characters rather flat. None of them really changed over the course of the book. I, too, was reminded of "The Bonfire of the Vanities" by the setting and "types." But this came nowhere near Tom Wolfe's classic.

Following her well received first novel "Me Times Three," New York Times Magazine writer Alex Witchel serves a delicious witty diss of Manhattan's upper echelon - the very, very rich and the famous (both now and then). In other words, it is a strata where "The rich always mattered most, and the well known - an ever-changing group of the hot then the not, who were the evening's equivalent of the entertainment - always mattered less."

Witchel's dialogue sparkles and descriptions are deft as she opens her tale with a posh Park Avenue dinner party where guests were "murmuring over the string of Tissots that reached from the dining room entrance to the duplex's main stairway. It looked like an opening night at the Met."

Observing this scene while very much a part of it is Ponce Morris, a former model still knockout gorgeous at 42. A widow, Ponce has found a place for herself as a friend, one who shops or lunches with women and talks sports with the men. She's known for her agreeable nature and total disinterest in sex. (Not quite true).

She has helped the recently divorced Jacqueline Posner put this evening together in order to show their small world that Jacqueline is fine, her design business is steady, and she has no mind to fade into obscurity (after all, a move to Gracie Square isn't exactly nowhere).

The guests are an interesting group - most noteworthy is BabetteSteele a bosomy young assistant at a trendy magazine who has been invited to amuse Montrose Merriweather who likes his women younger as he grows older. Although Babette's writing ability seems to be a moot question she has made herself helpful at the office and wants very much to be a full-time staff member - wants it so much that when she discover Ponce and Dr. Neil Grossman are having torrid togetherness she decides to sell this juicy tidbit in order to prove her editorial mettle.

Will she or won't she? Ponce, quite obviously, is an able adversary while additional alliances throw rocks on Babette's path to success.

Alex Witchel wields a barbed pen with the best of them while she invites us to smile at the absurdity of the existences described.

- Gail Cooke

Be glad you don't know any of the people in this book. There's not a decent one in the bunch. And the magazine, Boothby's Review, which is at the center of the book, sounds like total crap.

I listened to this one on audiobook and had to go back several times because I found the storyline confusing in places. There's a lot of people and a lot going on. The reader did a FABULOUS job, but it's a very "busy" plot. I think this book is just okay. Not only is the storyline confusing and busy, but there really aren't any likable characters in the whole book. I found myself not really caring about whatever would happen. I suppose that is the point, it's high society and they are all snooty, but I really didn't find any redeeming qualities in anyone and that makes it hard for me to really get invested in the story.

This WAS however, a pretty light read, just don't expect any big payoffs at the end, it just is what it is.

A few years ago, I read ME TIMES THREE by Alex Witchel; and while I don't remember much about it, I do remember liking the author's writing style. So when the opportunity came to participate in a book tour for THE SPARE WIFE, I jumped at the chance. I can definitely say that I enjoyed THE SPARE WIFE, and I found it to be a more enjoyable read than ME TIMES THREE.

The storyline in this book sounded promising -- a middle-aged divorcee is caught in an affair with a prominent married man. Unfortunately, the premise is not that surprising in today's world, but I thought this story was unique in that the characters involved were members of New York's high society. By writing the story around these types of people, the author was able to create very unique characters that are certainly memorable for the reader. In so many ways, each character was more despicable than the next; and this story wasn't lacking for affairs, lying, cheating, etc. Those types of people and their actions no doubt can make for entertaining reading!

I have to admit that when I first started reading THE SPARE WIFE, I did have a difficult time keeping track of all the characters and how they related to each other. I was frustrated for a short time; but after I thought about it for a bit, I kind of liked the effect the first few chapters had on me. The story begins with a woman who is throwing a type of "coming out" party after her husband leaves her. Her life is in a huge state of change and there are many people at her party that she doesn't even know. Because many readers will feel a little overwhelmed at the beginning, I think the author actually did a good job setting the tone of this novel. As confused as I was for a few pages, all of the characters did have a reason for being in the story and their relationships and interactions came together very nicely.

While the story was interesting, the real beauty of this book is Ms. Witchel's writing style. I think she did a terrific job of giving an insider's view into New York society; and the characters she created were definitely interesting. I can't relate at all to any of her characters in this story, but I thought she did a good job of developing them (and even some of their reasons for their behavior.) What I really appreciated though was the humor that was prevalent throughout this novel. I found myself laughing at so much of the characters' behavior because it was so ridiculous, but then a part of me kept wondering if it really were that ridiculous. I guess that's the beauty of a satirical book -- I wasn't sure how much of it was true or exaggerated. I would think that writing satire would be extremely difficult; however, I think Ms. Witchel successfully managed to do just that with THE SPARE WIFE.

This book is hilarious and very fun to read; and each of the characters and their actions are more outrageous than the next. There is also a large part of the story which deals with revenge that I found entertaining. Having said that, this book does have touch on some serious issues including adultery, loss of a spouse, and infertility. I enjoyed that there were some moving parts of this story and that some of the characters do show a softer side (and even some compassion.) There are also underlying messages of healing, forgiveness and redemption. Overall, it's a very entertaining read that fans of satire will enjoy!

This is a sophisticated look at the lives of the privileged few. It is clever and ironic, while remaining a good read. I was gripped by the story, and engaged by the characters. The characters are multifaceted and have real stories.

The ending is an ingenious and funny twist and can be read differently by each reader.

Incidentally, it is also a pleasure to read a book about 40ish women which is not "mommy-lit".