Customer Reviews

Women about Town

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This smart and witty novel hits the nail in the head when it comes to New York women's preoccupation with having a successful career. Iris Biddle and Lana Burton have one thing in common: ambition. The two Manhattanites are too caught up in their careers to make room for relationships. Especially Iris who, having experienced a painful divorce, is neither desperate nor inclined to find Soul Mate Number Two. And climbing the corporate ladder is the only thing in Lana's agenda. A theater critic that lands a job in Vanity Fair, she might as well say goodbye to love.

Women About Town is an intelligent novel about the pitfalls of being a career woman in Manhattan. New York is the perfect backdrop for this novel. This is certainly an excellent read and I highly recommend it.

Six months after reading this novel I still think of prim, careful Iris and her silk-covered lampshades. The novel is quiet and contained, and does something that few others do: portray the way that women interact with one another -- sometimes nicely, sometimes meanly -- in a balanced and sympathetic way. Anyone who appreciates Jane Austen's Elizabeth and Elanor or felt that a piece of the sad but surviving Mirabelle from Steve Martin's Shopgirl was inside of them would also enjoy this book.

You really have to pinch yourself to keep awake for this book. It reminds me of something they made you read in school - you know that there is a lot of stuff going on under the surface, but you don't really care, and you are left waiting for some action. I skipped over entire paragraphs with wordy descriptions of nothing. If you must read this, get it out of the library and save your money.

I enjoyed this book quite a lot. It doesn't have much of a plot, more of a glimpse into the lives of the main characters. But Iris and Lana are very likable. I disagree with the review comparing it to Sex In The City. These women are much classier than that. This book left me wanting to read more about them. I will be on the look out for any new books by Ms. Jacobs.

Laura Jacobs, a first-time novelist, has written a powerful piece about a pair of women who are thirty-something and unmarried. The two principal characters within "Women About Town" are Iris Biddle and Lana Burton, New York City women who aspire towards a successful career and a loving marriage.

Biddle creates Iris Originals - one-of-a-kind lampshades - a craft that barely keeps her financially afloat. She is reluctantly single after her husband suddenly vanishes to Africa via a Peace Corps mission. Burton is an up-and-coming art critic who is dating Sam - a man who flinches at any notion that brings him closer to the "M" word.

The deftly written chapters on each character leaves us wanting more and asking the proverbial question, "What happens next?" Jacobs' novel is worthy due to its ear for dialog and its ability to capture the emotions within the women's dissatisfied lives. Biddle places a bird ornament upon the Christmas tree and laments, "I'm like you, stuck in old tinsel."

Jacobs writes believably throughout the novel. However, the climax proves to be too perfect as the character's loose ends are brought together rather quickly. The ending is predictable as a box-office movie's last fifteen minutes and is not worthy for the literary writing present beforehand.

Bohdan Kot

I had such high hopes for this book after reading several reviews, but find myself terribly disappointed. The plot is shallow (what there is of it) and the main characters are so boring, I didn't care what happened to either of them. For such a short book, there seems to be endless prose that goes nowhere. The characters dwell on every mundane aspect of their lives and you are left with the feeling that they take themselves far too seriously. The NY portrayed in this book is not the city that I know and love, although the rare glimpses that shine through are what makes it readable. Any comparison to "Sex and the City" is mere fantasy--these characters should be that interesting!

Yes, it is a "quiet" book --- and, I suppose, the reader is supposed to search beneath the surface to explore the author's subtle inferences, but - why bother??? There is little by way of character development to even care about the people, the plot line was boring, and nothing was said or done that was beyond cursory. A grocery list might have been more entertaining reading. Of course, life is usually mundane, but the author fails to intrigue or even to write in a way that gives the reader new insight or allows us to draw upon our own thoughts or feelings. When I finished the book - a feeling of "so what" crossed my mind and of "ho hum." (Then I usually marvel at some publisher who actually PRINTED such a bunch of nothing fluff.) Usually I pass books along to fellow readers but this one goes directly into the Goodwill bag. Really, don't bother.

i really didn't care for the characterizations in this book, they seemed lackluster, and shallow. the plot, what little there was of it seemed juvenile. the only things i liked were the ny references.

Perhaps WOMEN ABOUT TOWN rates low among Amazon readers because of its slow start. True to its praisers, this is a thoughtful, engaging read that succeeds in making you feel that you have gotten to know and appreciate Iris and Lana by the end of the story. This is the stuff of juicy girl talk--and, to be sure, would make a popular women's book club selection. (By the way, any comparison to the heroines of SEX AND THE CITY is short-sighted.)

Women About Town is overhyped. The two main characters are Iris and Lana. Initially, every other chapter is devoted to one of them. I could barely continue reading the chapters on Iris. She is self-absorbed and elitist - not in a tragically funny way. Reading about Lana was more interesting, but she lacks real courage when it comes to her relationship with Sam, and is a passive player in the end. The climax of the book, I guess, is when Lana actually interviews Iris in, gasp, Vanity Fair - which is apparently the BEST magazine for all people in the know. When these two pretentious women meet is the climax??? Their conversation lacks integrity, tension, wit. The book is YAWN boring, the entire plotline a complete disappointment. DO NOT READ if your hopes are to laugh, or see some city women really be successful in their lives. Iris and Lana are very small, and now that I have finished the book, I realize they are inconsequential, as well.