I came away on holiday with three books to read: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne, On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan and Burning Bright by Helen Dunmore. Of course, this did not stop my from buying a book at the airport (I am a serious bookshop junkie) and since I was going on holiday, I thought I would get something fairly trashy and easy. I opted for Candace Bushnell´s Lipstick Jungle seeing as I am enjoying the TV show. I have just finished it and I have to say I am pretty disappointed. Whilst I am all for reading about powerful women, succeeding and battling it out in a supposed man´s world, I was bitterly disappointed with the characterisation of these women who came across as entitled, whinging and unlikeable. The bleat of ´men get away with it, why can´t we´always sits uneasy with me – just because men do ´get away with it´(although there is an argument to say that these men are just as unlikable), does not mean that women should try too. And I don´t mean try to succeed, I mean try to screw people over or try to have affairs or try to blame others for their shortcomings etc. etc.
The main point of contention for me, though, was Bushnell´s rather heavy-handed prose. The art of leaving things to the reader´s imagination appears lost on her. She will explain every metaphor and ram every viewpoint down your throat so many times that it becomes tiresome. Whilst I really enjoyed the TV shows Sex and the City and Lipstick Jungle, which were both inspired by her writing, I think the credit for their respective (and, admittedly, varying) success belongs to people other than Bushnell herself.
Next up: On Chesil Beach which I have already started and anticipate devouring pretty quickly.
