[.ca] The Right Address (ISBN 0767917219)

Sarcastic Drama Fills the Bill:
I loved this book - trailer trash type aspires to be part of the affluent NY society and sets out to make it happen. One part NANNIE DIARIES and one part MY FRACTURED LIFE, it is fun yet with biting commentary hidden beneath the sarcastic asides.

Loads of Fun:
What a fun little book! If you enjoyed "Citizen Girl", "My Fractured Life" and "The Second Assistant" then this is one you'll definitely enjoy. A very witty sense of humor.

Too good to be true:
Recently our book club enjoyed several books, all of which are pretty well known and sought out-so it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that we felt the same way that many others did. McCrae's THE CHILDREN'S CORNER took our breath away with its sordid and deeply probing look at infidelity, loss, love, and the human condition, and the novel PREP wowed us with its concise and straight forward writing and no nonsense way of pacing the plot just so. But THE RIGHT ADDRESS was our favorite. I couldn't put this book down. It is pretty sad to think that this is modeled after real life. If people are so catty at the top, then it is difficult to conceive that people aspire all their lives to live on Park Ave. I laughed out loud reading this book and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I thought the character depictions were quite interesting and from what I understand based off of real people. I think there are websites that unveil the real people that these characters are modeled from. A DEFINITE MUST READ!

Not even a beach book:
I would have given the "Nanny Diaries" 4 stars, and the "Devil Wears Prada" 3, with the understanding that we are not expecting literature from these books. This one was so formula based I could have told you the whole story after a few chapters. I thought it would at least provide a window to a different world, but it did not even accomplish that. My suggestion, don't bother.

Children of the Korn:
Think of "The Right Address" as "The Nanny Diaries" without the nanny -- just the uppermost echelons of NYC's rich, shallow and moneyed. Carrie Karasyov and Jill Kargman don't forge much new territory, but they manage to craft a beach read with a likable lead and storylines straight out of a guilty-pleasure soap. Melanie is newly married to coffin mogul Arthur Korn. But now the honeymoon is over, and she is desperately trying to fit into his world -- a chic, coded world that sees her as a trailer-park upstart and ex-stewardess. And the harder she tries to impress, the nastier everyone is to her. And unknown to her, Arthur is besotted with a gorgeous socialite-author. Her neighbors have problems of their own -- Morgan Vance is being threatened by his trashy mistress Maria, whom he has just had a baby with. Problem is, Morgan has just realized how he loves his wife -- and he's willing to hire a hit man to get Maria out of his life. Meanwhile, one horrible interview shatters Melanie's chances of ever making it in high society -- until she figures out what is really important. "The Right Address" is one of those books that you'll enjoy a lot more than you think you should. It's a guilty pleasure, with soapy subplots and dirty little secrets. Some of the stories -- like the Mexican maid mistress -- should have been slashed out completely. So long as they stick to the guilty pleasures of the moneyed, things are good. Kargman and Karasyov do manage to avoid one deadly sin of Manhattanite chick-lit -- they don't name-drop. Well, they do, but mostly in a negative way -- rather than necessities, designer labels are part of the despised clique atmosphere. If you don't have THIS designer or get special purses from THAT person, you are gauche -- end of story. Most of the writing is quite ordinary, except for the occasional spurt of wit (a chaotic room is called "total Iraq"). But one of the most striking passages of the book is a pleasant interlude where the shunned Melanie goes walking in one of the un-chic areas of New York, and comes to a stunning realization. Nor, for all their barbs, do the authors descend into vengeful vitriol. Melanie is a likable character -- she always tries her best, is honest and genuinely kind, but she doesn't fit in a world of artificiality. Morgan is almost a cliche of the cheating man, but his increasingly lost wife Cordelia is a character almost as nice as Melanie. And the swarms of acid-tongued socialites are loathsome and catty in a rather over-the-top way. The big character flaw? A caricatured Latina maid who manipulates her boss like a puppet. Down with those racist stereotypes -- why does the maid need noticeable ancestry of any kind? If Plum Sykes' "Bergdorf Blondes" had you gagging with distaste, then "Right Address" might be the antidote. Despite some massive flaws, this is a perfect example of a guilty pleasure.