The Right Address (ISBN 0767917219)

Amazon.com Review:
Written by Carrie Karasyov and Jill Kargman, childhood friends who met at one of New York's most elite prep schools, The Right Address seeks to expose the cruel and wicked ways of the top echelon of the Park Avenue crowd. Peppered with seemingly unbelievable accounts of social-climbing at its worst, the characters in this novel glide from party to party, relishing every possible chance to destroy each other's reputation while simultaneously air-kissing one another. The story revolves around Melanie Sartomsky, a former airline stewardess who is thrust into the world of shatoosh parties ("they make cashmere feel like emery boards") and Narcolepsy benefits after she marries Arthur Korn, a billionaire who found his fortune in funeral homes. As Melanie tries to adjust to her new life, the authors expose us to the darker side of high society--steamy affairs between CEOs and their custodial staff, salacious scandals in Harlem flophouses, and a discreet arrangement between a kleptomaniac's husband and Tiffany, where this pedigreed socialite enjoys pocketing the wares. A prime example of the Gossip Lit genre, which began its ascent after The Nanny Diaries and The Devil Wears Prada hit the scene, The Right Address could have been an amusing, albeit extreme, expose of the lives of the rich and well, rich. However, the unsteady cadence of the novel, coupled with the absence of any real human emotion, turn this effort into simply one nasty gossip session after another. The reader never feels invested in any of the many characters, and even when our heroine comes to her senses, there's no real sense of relief or delight. So while the tell-all nature of the book may make it hard to put down, the only real joy lies in the fact it ends quickly. --Gisele Toueg

The Right Address:
I thought the book was really good. It was a little different. You were told the story from many different people so you were able to see how they really felt. Definitely interesting and it had a great ending.

Wonderful plot went to waste without humor:
The plot was interesting with plenty of twists and turns but it was useless without clear humor presented in the dialogue or insight. Unlike other chick lit/Park Avenue lit, there were no exaggerations (except to portray the wealth people have), no sarcastic views of things, no, well, no nothing. Honestly, it was sad to see such a good plot go to waste when clearly there were instances where the reader could have laughed out loud if the authors put a bit of work on it.

Not Their Best Book:
It's a tired cliche about a lower-class woman from Florida being shunned because she wasn't of right background, upper-class adultery, one of them involving a Mexican housekeeper turned mistress of a very prominent man whose life with his proper wife has been of boredom, yadda, yadda. A "gay" man gets murdered in the "wrong part" of town. This book has loads of cliches of the upper class. It wasn't well-written. I recommend Plum's book, Bergdorf Blondes or The Nanny Diaries. At least those books aren't boring.

Meh:
It just wasn't that good. I finished it just to be done. There were tooooo many characters, so none really ended up with any depth.

Almost - but not quite - a waste of time:
I guess as a brainless way to kill some time, it was OK. Not anywhere close to great, and the plot was basically nonexistent. The book just kind of meanders around aimlessly, then ends with a thud. The characters are all very plastic, although they could have been more if the authors had put more effort in. Solid concepts with bad execution. Basically a romance novel without the graphic sex which is fine, I guess, but not memorable or worthwhile.