The Spare Wife

DEVILISHLY FUNNY

Following her well received first novel 'Me Times Three,' New York Times Magazine writer Alex Witchel serves a delicious witty diss of Manhattan's upper echelon - the very, very rich and the famous (both now and then). In other words, it is a strata where 'The rich always mattered most, and the well known - an ever-changing group of the hot then the not, who were the evening's equivalent of the entertainment - always mattered less.' Witchel's dialogue sparkles and descriptions are deft as she opens her tale with a posh Park Avenue dinner party where guests were 'murmuring over the string of Tissots that reached from the dining room entrance to the duplex's main stairway. It looked like an opening night at the Met.' Observing this scene while very much a part of it is Ponce Morris, a former model still knockout gorgeous at 42. A widow, Ponce has found a place for herself as a friend, one who shops or lunches with women and talks sports with the men. She's known for her agreeable nature and total disinterest in sex. (Not quite true). She has helped the recently divorced Jacqueline Posner put this evening together in order to show their small world that Jacqueline is fine, her design business is steady, and she has no mind to fade into obscurity (after all, a move to Gracie Square isn't exactly nowhere). The guests are an interesting group - most noteworthy is BabetteSteele a bosomy young assistant at a trendy magazine who has been invited to amuse Montrose Merriweather who likes his women younger as he grows older. Although Babette's writing ability seems to be a moot question she has made herself helpful at the office and wants very much to be a full-time staff member - wants it so much that when she discover Ponce and Dr. Neil Grossman are having torrid togetherness she decides to sell this juicy tidbit in order to prove her editorial mettle. Will she or won't she? Ponce, quite obviously, is an able adversary while additional alliances throw rocks on Babette's path to success. Alex Witchel wields a barbed pen with the best of them while she invites us to smile at the absurdity of the existences described. - Gail Cooke

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

powerful character study

After graduating high school in Harding, South Carolina Ponce Porter heeded Sinatra¿s advice by coming to Manhattan to make it as a model. Instead the teen married wealthy TV producer Lee Morris, who was older than her parents. Finding marriage to a man four decades older than her boring, Ponce went to NYU and law school. --- Over two decades later, the fortyish Ponce is a wealthy widow known by her socialite friends as 'THE SPARE WIFE' as she is a companion to husbands at sports galas and to their wives at charity events. Everyone trusts the popular Ponce. However, in Chicago Boothby's Review wannabe reporter Babette Steele catches Ponce kissing happily married fertility Dr. Neil Grossman. Whereas Babette feels she has the ticket into journalism. Ponce and her friends begin a discrediting campaign to spin the story by destroying the aspirant and the other jealous media sharks trying to devour their affluent superiors. --- Ponce and her social set prove that President Bush is right that the economy must have a strong base affirmed by the excess hedonistic extravagance in which one would expect this crowd to answer health care issues with ¿Let them eat cake¿. Alex Witchel goes deep into the soul of the title character, ironically a shallow person socializing with her superficial friends. Readers will enjoy this powerful character study of the ultra elite whose earmarked connections would be the envy of lofty politicians. --- Harriet Klausner

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Decent read

I was impressed, probably because I wasn't expecting much out of this book. It was entertaining and an easy read.

Could have been better

Life for the wealthy in New York makes for good reading and has since the days of Edith Wharton. The problem is that few writers past and present, especially present are as good as Wharton. Sadly people like Candace Bushnell are often compared to Wharton merely because they write (or try to) about wealthy people in New York.

For well written escapism about New York's wealthy inhabitants the only modern day writer to really pull it off is Dominick Dunne.

There are a few who manage to come up with some reasonably well written escapism (Olivia Goldsmith and Jane Stanton Hitchcock are favorites of mine) but generally the bookshelves are packed with bad attempts and this is one of them.

While many of NY's social elite do have some comical names (Dunne was a master at capturing this) the character names in this book were just stupid and grating much like the characters themselves.

None of the characters were likeable or interesting and while I hung on to the end to see what happened there were no surprises and no one to root for or against.

Editors and publishers need to stop publishing drivel like this based only on the tried and true formula of wealthy NY residents and start digging for some well written work that tackles this very fun and addictive subject matter.

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