One Fifth Avenue

I picked up One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell off the express shelf last weekend not really expecting to like it. I'm not sure what I had against it. I enjoyed Sex and the City and Four Blondes (both by Bushnell, obvi). Anyway, it started off a bit slowly as it follows the intertwining lives of a cast of characters living at One Fifth Avenue, from the power hungry President of the Board to the screenwriters, actors, and new money that also reside there. The problem I have with books that have no focal character is that I think they lack just that, focus. The first half of this book fell prey to the difficulty, I think, of devoting enough time to each person in the ensemble to properly develop them. However, Bushnell turned it around and I geniunely became invested in all of their lives. I don't really have a full synopsis to give. It would be too long, also I can't remember all of their names. If you like Bushnell's stuff, or just want to live vicariously at this ritzy address, it's a good light read. However, Bushnell references Sex and the City multiple times (necessary?), gave a character her own last name, and gave another character the last name of a county that she references later on in the book. I suppose if those are my main beefs, it was worth reading, right?