Trading Up (Hardcover)

by Candace Bushnell (Author) "IT WAS THE beginning of the summer in the year 2000, and in New York City, where the streets seemed to sparkle with the gold..." (more)
Key Phrases: untitled screenplay, New York, Janey Wilcox, Comstock Dibble (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Janey Wilcox is an M.A.W. (that's Model/Actress/Whatever to the uninitiated). The problem with Janey, the protagonist of Candace Bushnell's first novel, Trading Up, is not the M or the A part. It's the W. Here is a rare alphabetical anomaly: In Janey's case, W stands for "prostitute." Oh, Janey never crosses the line into actual hookerdom, but she does sleep with extremely wealthy men in the hopes they'll improve her status, her financial situation, or her lifestyle. When we first met Janey in Bushnell's novella collection 4 Blondes, she was up to her usual tricks (so to speak)--scamming a guy for a Hamptons vacation rental. At the opening of Trading Up, her fortunes have improved. She's now the star of a Victoria's Secret ad campaign, and as such she's found access to undreamed-of echelons of New York society. She makes friends with Mimi Kilroy, a senator's daughter "at the very top of the social heap in New York." She gets invited to all the best parties. And she finally finds a wealthy man who will actually marry her: Seldon Rose, a powerful entertainment industry executive. Of course, Janey's social ambitions are not stoppered by her marriage to Seldon, and the clash between her expectations (more parties!) and his (normal life) send Janey into a tailspin that leads to heartbreak. Bushnell is clearly trying to channel Edith Wharton (The Custom of the Country is even invoked by Janey as a screenplay idea), but ends up sounding a lot more like a cross between Tama Janowitz and Judith Krantz. This is a novel about shopping and sex, and while it's fizzy enough, it's not Cristal. --Claire Dederer

From Publishers Weekly
"It was the beginning of the summer of the year 2000, and in New York City, where the streets seemed to sparkle with the gold dust filtered down from a billion trades in a boomtown economy, it was business as usual." In other words, it is business as usual for bestselling author Bushnell (Sex and the City; 4 Blondes), who expands here on the career of shallow, predatory Janey Wilcox. In 4 Blondes, Wilcox was a mildly famous one-time model who bedded men based on their ability to provide her with a great house in the Hamptons for the summer. Now she has become a Victoria's Secret model, a bona fide success in her own right. As the latest summer in the Hamptons kicks off, Wilcox becomes the new best friend of the socialite Mimi Kilroy, who is eager to introduce beautiful Janey to the very rich Selden Rose, the new head of the HBO-like MovieTime. Unlike Janey's many previous hookups, Selden is the marrying kind. What ensues is a grim if well-observed account of a match made in hell. Here's the problem. There is a black hole in the center of the book in the form of Janey Wilcox, a character so dull and humorless that she makes this whole elaborate enterprise one long, boring slog. Granted, Bushnell sets out to chronicle the workings of "one of those people for whom the superficial comfortingly masks an inner void," but Wilcox is not evil enough to be interesting, not talented enough to be Mr. Ripley. Wilcox proceeds from model/prostitute to "Model/Prostitute" on the cover of the Post. But who will care? Bushnell has committed the real crime here: failure to entertain.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078686818X
• ISBN-13: 978-0786868186
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (203 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #98,514 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars An absolute waste of paper..., June 8, 2006

By	A. Sharp "book witch" (book witch) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Trading Up (Paperback)

This is the first book that I have read by Candace Bushnell and I was very disappointed. Instead of wasting the paper it was printed on, the story should have instead been made into a cheesy Lifetime movie starring Tori Spelling. The plot was slow, boring and predictable while the main characters were detestable. Don't waste your time reading this book!

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not the worst book I've read, but I still wouldn't bother, November 18, 2003

By	Julia Flyte - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This is a pretty mediocre book. Its worst flaw is that every one of the characters is so downright despicable that you end up not caring a jot what happens to any of them. You find yourself hoping that Janey will get her come-uppance, but unfortunately when she does, it's short-lived. The writing is barely okay, certainly nothing outstanding, and the plot development is sluggish.

On the positive side, Candace Bushnell obviously knows the Manhattan social scene well and at times you feel that the descriptions are depressingly accurate. I say depressing because it comes across as being such a shallow and superficial world that I am happy to be well removed from it. It's kind of fun to guess at the inspiration behind some of the characters - Gwyneth Paltrow, Rupert Everett, Anna Wintour, Aerin Lauder...

I continued with this book hoping it would get better. It didn't. It's not the worst book that I've read, but I still wouldn't recommend it.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A disappointment, November 23, 2003

By	page22 (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This book was really not that fun of a read. I was expecting a light-hearted book with a plot and characters I would enjoy reading about, but did not find any of this with Trading Up.

The book is about Janey Wilcox, a Victoria's Secret model who uses anyone and everyone that comes into her life to make it to the top. From a socialite to several movie producers to her own sister, she uses them all to get what she wants.

The only reason I made it all the way through is because I kept thinking, this has to get better. I was wrong. By the end of the book I really did not care what happened to Janey and therefore didn't care that the ending was as bad as it was.

I'm disappointed and definitely would not recommend Trading Up.