The Right Address: A Novel

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