Es un libro que te muestras distintas facetas de la vida de tres mujeres exitosas de Manhattan. Nico, Wendy y Victory tienen lo que muchas mujeres desean, independencia, libertad y dinero en sus cuentas bancarias, pueden dedicarse a aquello que aman y estar en la lista de las 50 mujeres más poderosas de la ciudad, pero, es todo tan fácil? No, no lo es. Porque aparte de mujeres exitosas, son madres, son esposas. Y no es fácil encontrar un equilibrio entre tu vida personal y tu vida laboral cuando se está siempre tan ocupada.

Cada una en sus respectivas vidas tuvo mucho que reflexionar, aprender y afrontar. No todo es perfecto y el dinero, tristemente no lo es todo. Me gusta otro detalle del libro, aunque es feminista, no muestra sólo las ventajas de que la mujer alcance los mismos puestos y responsabilidades de un hombre, sino las cargas y sacrificios que ello conlleva. Los problemas detrás de las puertas.

Porque así como ser mujer no es fácil, ser hombre tampoco lo es.

On pourrait résumer le livre entier en trois mots « Desperate Rich Women » … c’est assez moyen, féministe sur les bords, mais les personnages se lamentent tout le temps, c’est vraiment lourd, car rien ne va jamais dans leurs vies.

Ma chronique : https://mellecupofteabouquine.wordpre...

Do you remember Tom Wolfe’s ‘Bonfire of the Vanities’ where he talked about certain Wall Street moguls being ‘masters of the universe’? Candace Bushnell’s ‘Lipstick Jungle’ is like that except the ‘masters’ in this case are three women at the top of their professional game. For some of you not fluent in female pop culture, Candace Bushnell was the inspiration (as well as the creator) of the ‘Carrie Bradshaw’ character in ‘Sex in the City’. Like the first few seasons of ‘Sex,’ ‘Jungle’ displays the same sort of non-descript characters who are more walking stereotypes than actual people a reader would want to meet.

tOne woman is a clothing designer (who starts dating a character suspiciously like ‘Mr. Big’) another runs a film studio, and the other is in publishing - all semi-glamorous professions that Malibu Barbie would have aspired to. Within this sisterhood, two of the characters are married and mothers, one is having an affair with a male model, the other is supporting her husband while he makes her feel as if she isn’t doing enough. I would add the characters’ names but I have already forgotten them.

tDo you remember how ‘Sex’ always had Carrie type out questions that were going to be answered within the show? They would either be vulgar or insipid. You know, ‘Is ___ sex the new ___job?’ ‘Are men just accessories to match shoes?’ Thus leaving this reader/writer in the Midwest to inquire, ‘Are all women who live in New York this boring and dumb?’

Granted, I adore fashion but never have I thought it was central to human development. I wouldn’t snub a potential friend because I thought her shoes were ugly, but I always get the feeling (after reading a lot of chick lit) that had I been unfortunate enough to have been born on the East Coast (instead of our wholesome Kansas City community) the quality of my female friendships would have left something to be desired. The more fabulous Bushnell tries to make New York and its social swirl sound, the less impressed I am.

Perhaps I am unfair to Bushnell, because the book did demonstrate wit at certain points. One particular character has to deal with her husband leaving her and taking their four kids with him. She is put into a situation of having to choose too many times between work over family. In fact, had Bushnell stuck exclusively with that woman’s tale, adding a few tidbits about her friends, the book would have worked for me on a whole new level.

The problem I think Bushnell has is that she has bought into all the clichés of current female pop literature. I’ll call this the phenomena ‘Charlie’s Angel’s feminism’. It is the type of philosophy that motivates women to be as competitive with men in the workplace while at the same time looking no more than 27…35 tops. As a girl at play, I wanted a full head of hair that would elevate me to the image of Goddess while chasing the bad guys with my gun. The problem with this philosophy is that it doesn’t take into consideration that goddess hair takes time to create (more time than most women have in the morning) and that there aren’t really too many bad guys out there that need you sticking a gun in their face in order to fix them. Further, there are all these glamour novels hitting the market that set the bar at having women wear the latest in clothes (usually way too expensive from what clothing should cost in a world in need of resources). This is the quagmire that Bushnell finds herself in. I think it is safe to say that she is this generation’s Danielle Steel.

Overall, I think fashion and such is only fun when it allows some sort of escapism from the real issues of our lives. Few people want to read a tome about succumbing to cancer as a way to relax at the end of the day, yet there has to be some sort of balance between that and a character’s boyfriend said something that really ticked her off (Oh, how could he!). Sure, there are books on the bookstore shelves about bad first dates causing dilemmas, but I have the impression that Bushnell wants to be more than a Plum Skyes.

I’ll admit for the longest time I didn’t like ‘Sex in the City.’ If Carrie whined one more time that Mr. Big didn’t ‘get it,’ which always gave her an excuse to do some shoe therapy (usually setting her back at least four hundred dollars) I was going to say something really mean about that mole on her chin that she needs to get removed. The show only got interesting for me when Miranda had a baby, Samantha survived breast cancer, and Charlotte married outside her religion. It still had the fashion, but now most of the characters had true blue lives that didn’t center around if they were single or not.

‘Lipstick Jungle’ isn’t as bad as the early episodes of ‘Sex’ but it isn’t as brilliant as the later seasons either. There are too many stories, too many non-essential details, and too shallow character development for me to recommend this book as a read.

Since writing this review in 2006, ‘Lipstick Jungle’ was the basis of a television show of the same name that starred Brooke Shields in the role of the movie executive character. The series lasted from February 2008 to January 2009 (twenty episodes in all). Bushnell produced it which was ironic because it competed, during its first season with the Darren Star produced drama, ‘Cashmere Mafia’ which had a similar storyline revolving around three female leads (Lucy Liu being the most recognizable name). Like ‘Lipstick’, ‘Cashmere’ was canceled too. It lasted only seven episodes. Since that time, two ‘Sex and the City’ movies have been made. The first one thus far, seemingly most popular with the American audiences. Bushnell revived Carrie in a younger form in the recently released ‘Carrie Diaries’ about Bradshaw’s life before New York and her three best buds, when she was just another girl in high school.

I haven’t read chick lit that is also a page turner and have characters that i so rooting for for the longest time. I absolutely enjoyed reading the book and made me learn alot about the price of being a successful women.