Underhållande bok men inte så mycket mer. Men den är vad man förväntar sig från en bok som heter ”Lipstick Jungle” Har inte läst på ett tag så skönt med en enkel bok så man kommer igång med läsning igen. Dagen efter jag började läsa boken var den utläst!

Karaktärerna speciellt Wendy blev jobbiga på slutet. Wendys story var dålig, Nicos helt ok och Victorys ganska bra. Känns som Wendys story gick emot girl power temat. Boken saknade röd tråd och hade dålig ”dramaturgi” som var svårt att följa. Oftast så började kapitlet med att något stort hade hänt och sedan tänkte karaktären tillbaka på det. Men efter ett tag blev det för mycket och man ville bara att boken skulle vara i kronologisk ordning.

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.

2.5 stjärnor. Inte förtjust i berättelser som har karaktärer som har affärer när de är gifta. Varken män eller som i detta fallet kvinnor. Resten av boken lyckades rädda lite av den för mig med sin humoristiska ton och lättlästa språk. Hade troligen varit en bok jag annars lagt undan, trots detta så gillade jag delar av de tre huvudkaraktärerna men om man bortser från sidokaraktärer som Seldon Rose och Seymour så hade jag svårt för alla personer i boken. Dottern till Nico verkade alldeles för förnuftig för sin ålder. En helt ok bok men inget jag skulle vilja läsa mer om. Slutet var väl trevligt visserligen men jag kände det var synd att vi inte fick mer av Seymour och hans syn på saker, många obesvarade frågor där enligt mig som varför vill han inte ha sex? Är han asexuell?

Since the television series was about to come out, I thought I would read this book. I just saved myself and my tivo a lot of hours if the series is anything like the book.
*spoiler alert*
Generally speaking, the three main characters have no depth, no true conflict, and no real resolving storyline. Nico, the magazine Editor-in-Chief, fights her way to the top, has an affair with a younger man, and ends it but never tells her husband.
Wendy, a movie company president, married a weak man & had three kids, then throws money at him to solve all their at-home problems until he finally divorces her.
Victory, a famous fashion designer, falls in love with a billionaire and decides she too would like to have that kind of money by working hard at fashion.
YAWN!
I see this book as a ridiculous attempt to capture the experience of Sex In The City without any real drama.

"Lipstick Jungle" offers a glamorous and fast-paced look into the lives of three successful women in New York City. Candace Bushnell's novel explores their careers, relationships, and personal struggles with wit and sharp observation. The characters are vibrant and relatable, navigating the challenges of ambition and friendship. It’s an engaging read that provides a fun and insightful glimpse into the world of high-powered women balancing their careers and personal lives.

Because what self-respecting 27-year-old doesn't devour this book in like 72 hours. (Can't believe I'm admitting this on Goodreads...)

Not great but much better than Sex and the City.

If Miranda, Carrie and the gang were high-powered businesswomen, this would be their story. It's the same old "Sex and the City" tale: Can women find happiness, friendship and success in the Big Apple?

Bushnell is a smooth, entertaining writer. A perfect beach read.

I enjoyed the most part of "Lipstick Jungle", as it is a novel telling the story about successful middle-aged women and their struggles with kids, not-so-successful husbands, affairs, competitive colleagues, business, single life and so on... and most of all, prejudice. Prejudice against women who also have priorities other than their families, who are independent and able to make their own living, thereby climbing the career ladder in a manner that in the past was reserved for men only... which was mentioned over and over again, which is why I said in the beginning that I enjoyed most part, not all of it, as I am a bit allergic to constant repetitions ;)

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.

Lipstick Jungle weaves the stories of Nico O'Neilly, Wendy Healy, and Victory Ford, numbers 8, 12, and 17 on The New York Post's list of "New York's 50 Most Powerful Women."

Love reading books about women in power. Sure, some parts annoyed me but it's a nice refreshment to see women with money, power, and choices. Plus, it was also a nice refreshment to read about older women, women in their late 30s who can do it all and have it all. This was like Sex and the City, but smarter.

Rounded up from 2.5 stars. I wanted to stop reading but ended up pushing through it and I’m not sure why or what I got out of doing so. Nevertheless, this book wasn’t terrible but not amazing either.