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One Fifth Avenue

by Candace Bushnell, Donna Murphy (Reading)

3.17 of 5 stars 3.17 · rating details · 11,480 ratings · 1,122 reviews

"ONE FIFTH AVENUE is a modern comedy of manners -- a landmark novel, if you like. Its observations about money, the Internet, the function of art in society as wellas sex romps, social climbing and snobbery enhance Bushnell's reputation as an astute observer of modern life....Carrie Bradshaw wannabes as well as women (and men) near Bushnell's age -- she turns 50 this year...more

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Published September 22nd 2008 by Voice (first published January 1st 2008)

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Oct 10, 2008 Jessica rated it 1 of 5 stars

Don't do it. Don't spring the cash for the hardcover of Sex and the City creator Candace Bushnell's latest, One Fifth Avenue. Instead, eat an entire bag of Twizzler's, spend some money you don't have at a high end department store, look up on Facebook the shady college boyfriend that made you cry, research the current value of your home or 401K and then read all about how the big hedge fund managers are faring during the economic crisis. You'll feel about the same stomach pain if you waste your...more Don't do it. Don't spring the cash for the hardcover of Sex and the City creator Candace Bushnell's latest, One Fifth Avenue. Instead, eat an entire bag of Twizzler's, spend some money you don't have at a high end department store, look up on Facebook the shady college boyfriend that made you cry, research the current value of your home or 401K and then read all about how the big hedge fund managers are faring during the economic crisis. You'll feel about the same stomach pain if you waste your time reading this book.

It's supposed to be a feminine Tom Wolfe commentary or modern Edith Wharton-style farce, and the Lily Bart that works her way into ruin is the old New York of the Sex and the City glory days. But if I want the stuff of Wolfe or Wharton, um, I'll read the real deal. When the stress of air travel prompts me to pick up some chicky fiction, I'd really just like a good story. This doesn't have it. Unless you think NYC co-op building politics are titillating, but in this era of good people trying to make their mortgage payments, I personally can't get into it.

What is OK: The book does show how the fancy free fun of the former Sex and the City life can spin out of control into scaryville. Spending the rent money on Manolos a la Carrie Bradshaw is no longer fun but truly dangerous. Single women engaging in casual relationships in the coat closet at Bowery (or now, B Bar) are no longer strong feminist renegades but vapid climbers using their Brazilian waxes and Blackberries as tools to ensnare rich and successful dudes. And those elusive rich dudes? Bumbling idiots, emasculate and mean as snakes.

The married women in the story are the worst. The young wife of a hedge fund manager is completely spineless, willing to give up career and original thought and be treated badly in exchange for jewelry she doesn't like. The biggest villain? The harpy wife and mom that starts a blog and is so pathetic she lives on a middle class income, miserably gnashing her teeth at not having millions in the bank or wearing clothes with a comma in the price tag. Ah ha! NOW you know why I did not like this book.

This is definitely not a fun homage to shopping and shtuping. It's more like a horror movie with bad editing. There are even typos printed [shudder.:] Don't do it.

Cost: $25.95 of wasted precious cash at the Fox News airport store, $15.57 at Amazon(less)

26 likes · like · see review

Jan 29, 2009 Elevate Difference rated it 1 of 5 stars

I prefer not to make New Year’s Resolutions. However, there is one that I intend to make and keep. I will never read a "chick lit" book again. For years, the vapidity of this genre has enthralled millions of women and kept the printing presses running at publishers’ establishments. I frankly refuse to even glance through something of this standard ever.

I read One Fifth Avenue on a whim. A college friend suggested it to me after I admitted that I had never watched Sex and the City. “It’s Candace...more

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Dec 10, 2008 Kimberly rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book made me grateful that I do not lead a life like the one it portrayed. I feel like the upper class lifestyle that Bushnell describes is too superficial and artificial for me to really appreciate it. I am baffled that there are people that actually live their lives in such a supercilious manner towards others just because they have more money. I am also baffled that people can actually spend that much money on objects and luxuries. I am not sure which character I despised more - Lola or...more

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Jan 17, 2009 Sam rated it 4 of 5 stars

There's a couple of things you need to remember when you start to read this book:
1. There are lots of characters, seemingly only linked by a very thin thread. Don't worry, you will start to remember who they are and who they love and hate after 50 pages or so.
2. It's a fairy tale, so please don't be too disappointed about how it all turns out.
3. Best read in large chunks (eg. holiday reading) rather than 20 minutes a day on a train- you'll forget who's doing who and who hates who.

In One Fifth Av...more

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Aug 16, 2010 mary rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chicklit

I so seldom read chick-lit that I hardly know how to comment on this book. It certainly isn't what I was expecting. As one of the few Americans to have avoided wathcing a single episode of Sex in the City, I didn't even have that as a frame of reference. One Fifth reminds me of Tom Wolfe's A Man in Full, of Jacqueline Susanne's Valley of he Dolls, and of Grace Metalious's Peyton Place, all, I suppose, because of their almost anthropological glimpses into particular societies. I plan on finishing...more

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Jul 31, 2009 Courtney rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: chick-lit

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. You know, I really don't understand what the big deal is about Candace Bushnell. Her writing is either hit or miss for me. I never understood the appeal of Sex and the City. Carrie Bradshaw was NOT a likeable character. I don't know if I'd even define Sex as a book, because it's written more like a series of short stories than a novel. 4 Blondes was the same way.

That having been said, One Fifth Avenue is an enjoyable enough read. Bushnell did throw me for a loop a few times, using technical term...more

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Jan 05, 2009 Laurel-Rain rated it 5 of 5 stars

In an Art Deco building in one of Manhattan’s oldest and most hip neighborhoods, a conclave of fictional Manhattanites reside; they are a mix of old and new money, a power-hungry and socially eager group that will do almost anything to maintain their residences – and hence, their social positions – in this piece of real estate that represents so much more to each of them. Thus begins the tale of One Fifth Avenue.

First, we meet some of the elder residents – those who have the respect of the other...more

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Oct 09, 2008 Michele rated it 3 of 5 stars

Real Estate is the New Black
This novel, One Fifth Avenue, gets its name from the Art Deco building in New York's ultra-hip Greenwich Village. Living there has a certain status to which the middle-aged main characters aspire. In "Sex and the City" it was shoes. In this book, it's real estate.

Mindy Gooch is the building's board president. She's a bitter blogger, whose husband, James, writes a commercially successful novel. Schiffer Diamond is an actress who has a relationship with a fellow tenant,...more

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Oct 13, 2012 Timothy Springer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Knowing when to poke fun at her own craft, Candace Bushnell springs forth yet another tale of elite New York womanhood and their Amazonian destruction on modern society. Their tongues wag, their credit cards fly, and their lipsticks smirk in this fun farce revolving around a New York apartment building set smack at the beginning of Fifth Avenue.

It is clear before the prologue concludes that one never really emotes to any of these people and the sycophants that cling to them for the publicity the...more

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Nov 26, 2011 Lora Ofelia rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2011

One Fifth is definitely what I consider "fluff" reading material, read for a break from reality. I appreciate the large number of main characters woven into the story since this allows them to interact with one another.

Being that the reality of life in New York is far from my scope of knowledge, I do appreciate a glimpse into that society - even if it has been deemed an extremely exaggerated glimpse.

Although the concrete details/events of One Fifth seem unrealistic, I feel the book stays groun...more

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Jul 30, 2011 Rebecca rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: chicklit

I don't know why it's taken me this long to read this book. I think it came out when I was overseas. That is the excuse I am going to use. Even though I don't really need one. Anyway, this is Busnell (aka SATC)'s latest and as usual, it was a total turd. Her books are getting more mainstream-ish, but they still are pretty crappy. This one revolves around people who live in a exclusive building in NYC. The people are very range-y. From not so rich and living in what is essentially a coat room too...more

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Jul 16, 2011 AJ rated it 4 of 5 stars

J'ai terminé mon bouquin cette semaine... One Fifth Avenue de la célèbre Candace Bushnell, auteure de Lipstick Jungle et Sex and the City.

La vie des gens riches et célèbres. Des gens qui vivent dans des apartements sur Fifth Avenue à New York - des apartements qui coûtent entre un et 20 millions... c'est juste débile!!! Du bitchage, du magouillage, de la fraude, du sexe, des vieux riches, des nouveaux-riches et des 'wannabe rich'.... C'est ça One Fifth Avenue.

J'avoue qu'au début du livre, c'étai...more

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Feb 21, 2010 Yang Shu-yuan rated it 4 of 5 stars

One Fifth Avenue, ein kleiner Ausschnitt nur, aber hier tummelt sich alles, was Rang und Namen hat, oder haben will. „Sex and the City“- Autorin Candace Bushnell macht das altehrwürdige New Yorker Appartementhaus zum kapriziösen Dreh- und Angelpunkt für Geschichten und Begegnungen, Intrigen und die große Liebe.
Ein Todesfall bringt Aufruhr und Unruhe in das Haus, das viele Jahre „so etwas wie ein inoffizieller Club für Künstler aller Art gewesen“ war: die „Heilige“ und stinkreiche Mrs. Houghton...more One Fifth Avenue, ein kleiner Ausschnitt nur, aber hier tummelt sich alles, was Rang und Namen hat, oder haben will. „Sex and the City“- Autorin Candace Bushnell macht das altehrwürdige New Yorker Appartementhaus zum kapriziösen Dreh- und Angelpunkt für Geschichten und Begegnungen, Intrigen und die große Liebe.
Ein Todesfall bringt Aufruhr und Unruhe in das Haus, das viele Jahre „so etwas wie ein inoffizieller Club für Künstler aller Art gewesen“ war: die „Heilige“ und stinkreiche Mrs. Houghton stirbt und von da an gibt es nur ein Thema: wer wird das Appartement als Nachmieter beziehen?

Wer erfolgreich sein will, „muss sich unter die Besten der Stadt mischen. Kontakt aufnehmen. Darum geht es doch in New York“. Und natürlich eine adäquate Adresse haben, wie jenes ‚eindrucksvolle, klassische Art-Déco-Gebäude aus blassgrauem Sandstein’. Wieviele Träume und Seifenblasen platzten schon hinter diesen Fassaden, wie viele Illusionen und Utopien wuchsen hier und überragten das stattliche Gebäude vor ihrem Einsturz um Längen? Candace Bushnells Porträt des Hauses und seiner Bewohner könnte funkelnder nicht sein. Auf 500 Seiten sicherlich sehr breit angelegt, bereitet aber der sich anbahnende Streit um das begehrte und nun frei gewordene Appartement schon auf den ersten Seiten eine diebische Freude. Wie herrlich unterhaltsam können Eitelkeiten doch sein, wie süchtig geradezu machen Einblicke in die High Society Tratsch und Klatsch-Szene. „Aber so läuft das eben in New York. Es geht nur ums Äußere.“

Mit spitzer Feder, Augenzwinkern und einem Schuss Boshaftigkeit gelingt der unermüdlichen Autorin ein glänzendes Gesellschaftsbild: in Sachen Karriere, Aussehen oder Portemonnaie, voller Ängste, „es nicht zu schaffen oder den Anschluss zu verlieren“, voller Stress immer auf dem Laufenden sein zu müssen, was den einfallsreichsten Schönheitschirurgen, das neuste Schuhgeschäft oder den angesagtesten Innenarchitekten angeht. Brillant getroffen, herrlich ins Schwarze treffend, schwungvoll geschrieben, eine Lektüre, von der man lange etwas hat.- Barbara Wegmann

(less)

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Sep 20, 2009 Tara Chevrestt rated it 4 of 5 stars

As usual, Bushnell writes about a most eclectic group of people, all money hungry, selfish, greedy, promiscuous and never satisfied with what they have. The most normal character in the book was an adolescent boy. Everybody has more money than they know what to do with it, but never enough. I was both appalled and entranced. It was like reading porn. Is utterly pointless, but you cannot put it down. You have two men that think with their lower body organs instead of their actual head, a woman th...more

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Aug 21, 2009 A. S. rated it 1 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I really had high hopes for this chick-lit novel. I mean, it was being compared to the best of Edith Wharton on the inside flap! Clearly I should not be as naive as to believe everything that is written for a book promotion. I am especially glad I did not pay for this book; while I'm willing to shell out for certain guilty pleasure novels (Sweet Valley series, I'm lookin' at you!) One Fifth Avenue isn't even worth the paper on which it's printed.

The politics surrounding housing co-ops are intere...more I really had high hopes for this chick-lit novel. I mean, it was being compared to the best of Edith Wharton on the inside flap! Clearly I should not be as naive as to believe everything that is written for a book promotion. I am especially glad I did not pay for this book; while I'm willing to shell out for certain guilty pleasure novels (Sweet Valley series, I'm lookin' at you!) One Fifth Avenue isn't even worth the paper on which it's printed.

The politics surrounding housing co-ops are interesting, so this had the potential to be more compelling. I've never been in a building like that, but I've lived in places where the development board is super strict and can be bribed and swayed into making certain decisions. The characters however, are not realistic at all. There isn't a single male character with whom I could sympathize. I often consider myself a bit of a male-hater, but even I can't go this far; the males are either conniving, greedy, and snobbish, or emasculated, or so focused on their sexual urges they seem less like Homo sapiens and more like gorillas. Most of the women aren't much better, as they are either vapid, idiotic, greedy, and social-climbing, or spineless liars. By far, the most hateable character in the novel is Lola Fabrikant, a 22 year old obsessed with bedding wealthy men so that she doesn't need to work a single day in her life. She connives to stay on top, but because she is so idiotic, she can't even gain my sympathies as a bitchy, over-the-top villain with biting retorts. She just seems dumb and shallow, the type of person I'd like to slap silly if I ever met. She also never learns or grows as a person; I kept looking for character development and personal growth, but she essentially stays the same from the first pages to the last.

Bushnell's description of wealth also seems a far cry from reality. In what world are the Gooches, with nearly a million in savings, considered middle class? Middle class is lower six-figures in income and below, and that's pushing it. Mindy Gooch is not only a shrill harpy, but a bad mother, letting her son get away with cutting another resident's (Paul Rice) Internet cables and causing him to lose millions. Even though Paul Rice is supposed to be a child-hating villain, I felt it was an injustice to allow the kid to get away with vandalism and what could have been disasterous if Rice had been working with national security issues. Philip doesn't deserve Schiffer--he's so focused on sex and appearing with a younger woman that it makes him lose his spine and never let Lola go. Why exactly would Schiffer want someone who cannot make decisions for himself? His aunt Enid took care of Lola--he couldn't even do that for himself. And because of the lack of characterization, I'm not sure why Philip didn't want to marry Schiffer from the get-go. She seems to be the only female character that cooks not only for herself but for her lover as well and seems to be reasonably intelligent. I don't buy Philip's excuse that she was too flighty; if anything, this could describe Philip himself. The lack of intelligent narrative voice (something Wharton did extremely well) means the reader cannot grasp these complexities.

The whole deal with the Bloody Mary cross was introduced, but was a poor plot device. I kept wondering if the cross would lead to something significant because it was mentioned several times early on, but then the book shifted focus onto Philip's and, to a lesser degree, Paul Gooch's sex lives. When the importance was finally revealed, it wasn't that significant and I figured out the twist. With so many characters, it was hard to figure out why seemingly unimportant characters that didn't get much paragraph space (Paul Rice, Billy Litchfield, Sandy and Sandy's dancer wife, and Flossie) were supposed to inspire the reader's sympathy. Many of those background characters had the glimmers of personality and conscience, but they, plus Enid and Schiffer as well, were given the shaft. Thus, there was almost no character that became redeemed at all. It makes me wonder what the point of the novel was.(less)

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Aug 17, 2009 Ariela rated it 4 of 5 stars

I loved HBO’s adaptation of “Sex and the City”, but until now I had never read a book by Candace Bushnell. After reading “One Fifth Avenue” I wish I hadn’t waited so long. She’s a gifted writer, seamlessly blending vibrant characters and an engaging storyline with social critique. One fifth avenue is the address of an exclusive New York City building, and each of the characters in this story has a particular relationship with it. Lola Fabrikant, a recent college graduate who’s greatest desire is...more

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Jul 04, 2009 Justine rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Okay yes. This selection is definitely worth judging. But when one is abroad and at a train station trying to purchase a book, the options are few and far between. Let it be known that it was between this and other selections that were WAY more unsavory. (As a rule, I do not read books that contain the word "keeper" in the title. Nor do I read anything that could be put into screen form and then set to Coldplay knockoff soundtracks that are supposed to make me cry. Ick.)

This is my first foray in...more Okay yes. This selection is definitely worth judging. But when one is abroad and at a train station trying to purchase a book, the options are few and far between. Let it be known that it was between this and other selections that were WAY more unsavory. (As a rule, I do not read books that contain the word "keeper" in the title. Nor do I read anything that could be put into screen form and then set to Coldplay knockoff soundtracks that are supposed to make me cry. Ick.)

This is my first foray into the genre known as chick-lit, and if noting else, I've probably started at the top. Candace Bushnell has built an empire around a subgenre of Manhattan-oriented, Hamptoned-out, financey, bitchy characters, many of whom have been turned into prime time shows. Given that I was expected obscene amounts of crap, I'm happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised. Whereas I could have received Sex And the City rewritten, I got something far more tragic.

One of the interesting things about One Fifth Avenue (the elite Manhattan apartment when artists, writers, finance people (heaven forbid!) and whoseewhatsit measure their wealth and status and bicker in a way that is all too stereotypical) is how pervasively unhappy everyone is. Even the chipper, up-on-top old money that is perfectly content seems to be sad and old and lonely and dying. Happiness, when attained, is stretched thin and meaningless.

I am confused, I will admit, about the point. The writing is snappy and as delicious and guilty as a gossip column, but does Bushnell endorse her characters? Is this meant to be a window to show how vapid an entire subset can be? My impression is that this entire book probably shouldn't be taken too seriously. Anything that turns everyone into such a caricature (one hopes) can't be real.

All in all, I left this book with the same feeling I get when Fergie's "The Labels of Love" lurks its way onto my ipod on shuffle. I'm caught between doing a little dance and wanting to vomit.

Knock knock.
Who's there?
Orange.
Orange who?
Orange you glad your snobbery is based on intelligence and education rather than wealth and possessions?
(less)

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Jan 07, 2013 Heather McDaid rated it 1 of 5 stars

I've never read anything by Candace Bushnell, but considering she was behind Sex and the City, she seemed worth a try. Now, I'm not going to say her other books are bad, but based on this I might never find out. This book was drawn out, tedious and a complete waste of time. I kept battering to get through it just so I could move onto something else.

New York is, I assume, supposed to be romanticised in this book considering every character seems to have some form of love for either the city itsel...more I've never read anything by Candace Bushnell, but considering she was behind Sex and the City, she seemed worth a try. Now, I'm not going to say her other books are bad, but based on this I might never find out. This book was drawn out, tedious and a complete waste of time. I kept battering to get through it just so I could move onto something else.

New York is, I assume, supposed to be romanticised in this book considering every character seems to have some form of love for either the city itself or One Fifth Avenue. Instead, the city is portrayed as dull, filled with wannabe socialites and people who have their own dreams and put down one another's.

Is there supposed to be a battle of young and old? A clash of old culture versus the new internet-age that's infiltrating everywhere? I guess there is, but it's very poorly done. From Enid's immediate dislike to Lola to Mindy's pursuing of her own blog, there is absolutely nothing interesting here.

Be it the middle aged woman who is unhappy in her marriage and blogs about that rather than trying to fix it, or the young girl from a rich background who is one of the most easily dislikable and bratty characters I've ever come across, or even Enid, who just seems to be a cranky and interfering old woman... I'd assumed, based on Sex and the City being in her back catalogue that this would have some diversity in the female characters, but something that brings them together. Sadly, everyone is dull and unlikeable.

Whether it's being handed everything on a plate or changing yourself entirely to fit in with a rich society you don't care for, One Fifth Avenue was not exciting in any form to me. So much time was spent on the petty politics of the building itself that it proved a struggle to get through. There were so many characters that it was all too easy to forget who did what and who was linked by what thin thread. If you read in bulk, you retain the information, but barely.

Will I ever read a book by Candace Bushnell again? I doubt it. (less)

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Oct 14, 2008 Shiloh rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I must say I really liked Lipstick Jungle, but this was not another group of women trying to have it all in the big city.

The book starts off pretty slow because there are so many characters to keep track of, and I was trying to pin one down as the main character. And there really isn't one. Lola was interesting--she brings a lot of conflict to the story, but it's definitely not about her. I think this is a good story about greed and what people will do to get ahead.

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Mar 20, 2013 Val rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I bought this book at the sales table in Barnes and Noble and thought I would give it a try as I had never read this author before but I did watch Sex and the city on TV. I found the first chapters rather boring, so much that i quit twice, to take it up again later on. But after the introduction to all the characters (boring)and once you get in the story, it gets pretty entertaining. I liked the way she portrayed those characters. They live in their own little private world which is One Fifth, n...more

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May 06, 2009 Sarah rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009-reads

When I was a wee one, I used to write stories, and people in these stories had really unlikely names. My mom still has a tendency to say "That sounds like one of your made-up names!" However, I was eight. What is Candace Bushnell's excuse? The names in this book (in all her books) -- "Thayer Core"? "Lola Fabrikant"? -- I take as stabbingly irritating synecdoches for her overall style, which is hackneyed, hollow, and underimaginative under the guise of being sharply observant and classily cynical...more

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Dec 29, 2009 Summer rated it 1 of 5 stars

One Fifth Avenue takes us on a tour of the New York City, socially elite crowd of one of the most prestigious buildings in which to live. The reader follows many of the residents of One Fifth, though difficult to track at first, through their triumphs and "misfortunes," as they go about their daily, wealthy lives.

As you can tell from the rating, I was not a fan of this book. My intention was to read this as a sort of brain-candy, guilty pleasure read between heavier novels. Unfortunately, it di...more

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Sep 19, 2009 Kari Anderson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As a fan of the show Sex and the City, when I first saw this book on the shelves, I knew I would like it. As much as I love small town life, I am a sucker for books and tv shows about the sickeningly wealthy. Real Housewives, Laguna Beach and The Hills, NYC Prep… They are all shows I can’t tear myself away from.

This book reminds me a lot of the movie Crash. There are soooo many characters and their lives are all intertwined at some point of the book.

Mindy Gooch, her husband James and son Sam liv...more

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Jan 19, 2012 JC rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: celebrity, chick-lit, new-york, popular-culture

I think I gave this one star more than it deserves just because I kind of enjoyed disliking it so much. To be honest, I am not a big fan of Candace Bushnell's writing. I think that one of the reasons why Sex and the City the telly show actually became successful was because they worked on humanising the rather cold, distant characters of the original Sex and the City short story collection. Since that collection, I do think that Bushnell has been trying really hard to give her readers more insig...more

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Aug 08, 2010 Sig821 rated it 3 of 5 stars

I bought this book to read on the plane. Usually I pick murder mysteries for this purpose, but I wanted to try something different. I’ve read one book by Bushnell previously (Four Blondes), and have never seen Sex and the City. Suffice it to say, I am not a big fan of chick-lit. I am torn about how to rate books and movies in general. If a book holds my attention—i.e. “I couldn’t put it down”-- then I feel it merits a higher rating. By that criterion, I would give this book a high rating (I stay...more

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Sep 20, 2012 Shannon rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: chick-lit, fiction

I like my chick lit with a plot. This does not have one. I am a fan of the show "Sex and the City" although I have not read the book or anything else written by Ms. Bushnell, but I had high expectations. This book didn't come close to meeting any of them. Aside from the aforementioned lack of plot there was also a lack of any sympathetic characters. There was a lot of social commentary (as to be expected), but even that seemed to be all over the place. Was the focus on rich versus poor? Those in...more

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Jun 24, 2010 Jeffrey rated it 2 of 5 stars

I was a bit disappointed after reading "Sex and the City" Most of the characters were unlikeable, spoiled rich people. I found the character of Lola particularly annoying and kept hoping that someone would push her down an elevator shaft or hit her in the head with a shovel even though I knew this was not a murder mystery. overall I would say that the book was an enjoyable read though.

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Jan 31, 2010 Katy Major rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, chick-lit, highland-library, fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I'm not normally one to read books such as "One Fifth Avenue." They're hefty books full of light banter and romantic problems, sporting colorful covers that attract female readers that want something to read, but are intimidated by or else uninterested in more serious literature. However, after a few trickier books that I had been reading, I needed something less serious and more airy.

"One Fifth Avenue" was exactly what I needed. It has a mild, likable set of characters that have unalarming prob...more

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Sep 13, 2011 Danielle rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: garbage

Pretty much read to page 16 then skipped oh pratically the whole book. Read thr last chapter and got the jist of the entire book. The book didnt flow well, it was very choppy, and didnt realyy understand what the book's message was. Was it that greedy always want money? That they are hateful? I mean in the book it pretty much says that these people are so self obsorbed that ll they think is about money. The women are re portrayed as money hungry and pretty just wives, then you have a 22 year old...more

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Sep 25, 2010 Krystle rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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About Candace Bushnell

Candace Bushnell is the critically acclaimed, international best-selling novelist whose first book, Sex and the City, was the basis for the HBO hit series and subsequent blockbuster movie. Her fourth novel, Lipstick Jungle became a popular television series on NBC. Bushnell’s novels include Four Blondes (2000), Trading Up (2003), Lipstick Jungle (2005), One Fifth Avenue (2008) and The Carrie Diari...more

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The Carrie Diaries (The Carrie Diaries, #1)

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Trivia About One Fifth Avenue

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Quotes from One Fifth Avenue

“That's the difference between girls and women: Girls find men fascinating. Women know better.” — 181 people liked it

“Retribution is tricky. . . . The insult isn't usually worth the risk of punishment. And eventually one learns that karma has a surprising way of taking care of these situations. All you have to do is sit back and watch.” — 147 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2804776-one-fifth-avenue?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1255607925l/2804776.jpg[/img][/url] [url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2804776-one-fifth-avenue?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell[/url]

One Fifth Avenue

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