FROM OUR EDITORS

Much-mourned Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein pinned her first (and now, alas, only) novel on a Strunk & White aphorism: "Style not only reveals the spirit of the man but reveals his identity." With the sure hand of a veteran dramatist, she draws out the emotions of wealthy Manhattanites as they cope with post-September 11th uncertainties. As always, Wasserstein's writing calls for full ensemble participation; and as always, the voices reverberate long after the action is done.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and author of the essay collection Shiksa Goddess ("Utterly delicious"-Judith Thurman), a dazzling debut novel, a comedy about New York's urban gentry living in a post-9/11 world-the arbiters of fashion and the doyennes of charity balls; about the rich and the nouveau rich(er), the glamorous and the desperate to be.

We meet Francesca Weissman, the Upper East Side pediatrician rated number one by Manhattan magazine, who takes us into the upper strata of privilege and aspiration (she's originally from Queens with a father in hosiery; life on the fringes of glittering New York is fine with her) . . . Samantha Acton, thoroughbred descendant of the Van Rensselaers and the Carnegies, who defines the social order in the great tradition of Mrs. Astor and Babe Paley . . . Judy Tremont from Modesto, California, daughter of a cop-her life's work, her obsession, is New York society and its richest families . . . Barry Santorini, Republican, moviemaker, winner of twelve Oscars, and his wife, the Italian supermarket heiress and former media rep for Giorgio Armani . . . and many more.

As Elements of Style opens out, we see a madcap mosaic of the social lives and mores of twenty-first century Manhattan-of romance, work, family, and friendship. Satiric, fierce, touching-and deliciously Wasserstein.

FROM THE CRITICS

Janet Maslin - The New York Times

By the end of the book, no amount of shopping and skiing and sleeping around has kept the darkness at bay. One character is a casualty of violence. Another becomes mortally ill and makes stealth visits to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (where Ms. Wasserstein died) in a limousine. Elements of Style is both a blithe, funny feat of escapism and a sobering reminder of the inescapable.

Publishers Weekly

In the classic primer that Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Wasserstein (The Heidi Chronicles) names her dishy first novel after, Strunk & White note, "Style not only reveals the spirit of the man but reveals his identity." Wasserstein tries to apply that aphorism to Manhattan's wealthy elite shortly after 9/11. Upper East Side pediatrician Francesca "Frankie" Weissman doesn't have quite as much disposable income as the Manolo moms and Bonpoint babies that frequent her office. She's drawn into the city's circles of old and new money, including those of blue-blooded Samantha Acton; reinvented Californian Judy Tremont; and self-made film mogul Barry Santorini, son of a South Philly cobbler. As mothers stockpile Cipro and gas masks after 9/11, none of them stops believing that "life could be controlled if only you had the right resources." As the question of how, when and with whom Frankie will couple narrows, the novel hits a disconcerting number of false notes: points of view shift with jarring speed, a bathetic account of a suicide bombing rankles and it is hard to care much about characters who utter such lines as "That's love, babe. You always have to give 200 percent." But Wasserstein gets the trappings and tribulations (of friendship and of romance) right, making her depiction of the rich and fab trying to connect with one another witty and entertaining. (Apr.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

In the wake of 9/11, New York City's A-list socialites struggle to find meaning in their lives even while they continue to worry over what to serve at their dinner parties. The colorful cast of characters includes style-setting Samantha, who suffers from self-esteem issues; Judy, a carb-abstaining gossip, whose social machinations make up a full-time job; and Clarice, who lists among her accomplishments the keeping of a steady supply of her husband's favorite English muffins at each of their four homes. The more narcissistic characters are balanced by Frankie Weissman, the down-to-earth pediatrician who treats the children of the rich and famous but is not affected by their excessive lifestyles. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Wasserstein (The Heidi Chronicles), who died just before the publication of this first novel, has done a good job of simultaneously poking fun at high society and evoking the anxiety of maintaining a perfect image, capturing a world that is at once fascinating, appalling, and amusing. Chock-full of shopping, mansions, spa treatments, and fine dining, it is a sensuous read, but Wasserstein's ironic perspective saves it from being merely decadent. Recommended for popular fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 12/05.]-Joy Humphrey, Pepperdine Univ. Law Lib., Malibu, CA Short stories Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

In her first and only novel, the recently deceased Wasserstein (Shiksa Goddess, 2001, etc.) chronicles the lives, loves and sartorial choices of Manhattan's moneyed class. Frankie Weissman is the Upper East Side's favorite pediatrician. Samantha Acton is a beauty with an impeccable pedigree. Judy Tremont is a spunky social climber. Barry Santorini is a movie producer who never misses a chance to remind people that he was once a poor kid from South Philly and that he's rich and powerful now. These are just a few of the well-to-do Manhattanites in this overpopulated book. Unfortunately, no character is given sufficient space to develop as a real person, and there's no strong narrative perspective to turn any of the stories into more than the sum of their parts. There are a few moments of sharply observed detail-Judy Tremont's favorite snack is "four soybeans, for protein, and a chocolate chip, for fun"-but they're few and far between. The story veers between the tragic and the trivial in a way that is merely disharmonious rather than revelatory. Frankie's father's Alzheimer's sits in uneasy juxtaposition with dissections of who's wearing what at a benefit gala. Characters occasionally mention the anxieties of living in post-9/11 New York, but the main impact of that event seems to be spending a Christmas in Palm Beach instead of traveling abroad. A deadly bomb attack on a Starbucks comes off as gratuitous. Ultimately, the reader is presented with notes toward a novel rather than being a completed one. Is this a farcical send-up of New York's elite, or is it earnestly sympathetic women's fiction? The reader never knows, because the author doesn't either. This will not be remembered as animportant part of the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright's oeuvre. First printing of 100,000