review: the recessionistas by alexandra lebenthal

The Recessionistas takes place in September 2008 as the recession is starting to hit the wealthy citizens of the Upper East Side. The men are scheming while many of the women are continuing to outrageously spend. It sounded like a great plot, but unfortunately the writing is awkward particularly when it comes to the dialogue. The characters had such a formal way of speaking that it sometimes seemed like I was reading a very bad academic paper instead of dialogue. Furthermore, the characters, with the exception of Renee and Sasha, were not distinguishable other than in terms of gender. It was nearly impossible to remember which self-absorbed woman was married to which self-absorbed man, especially since they experienced the same events (divorce, loss of money, etc.).
1/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Grand Central Publishing.