Spicy treat
Aradhika Sekhon

Lipstick Jungle
by Candace Bushnell.
Abacus. Pages 432. £ 2.50

Well, if you are looking for a masala potboiler with doses of power play and convoluted relationships, here is the book for you. Written by the author of the popular bestseller, Sex and the City, this book is all that the titillating title suggests. Lipstick Jungle is the story of three women —Victory, Wendy and Nico, who are surfing the high tide of success. While Victory is THE happening designer, Wendy is the President of Picador Pictures, with a sure-fire hit under her belt, a few Oscar nominations, a handsome husband, and three lovely children to boot. Nico, the third of the trio of friends is the editor of Bonfire magazine and together, they are the faces of success in New York City.

No man dare stand in their way. They play tough business games and are adept at stomping forward if need be. Living by the business rules made by men, these women can go ahead, play with the sharks, and emerge winners. It’s a jungle out there, all here agree. However, as Nico says, opening her arms and encompassing the city in her embrace, "it’s a lipstick jungle."

Sitting on the top of the line, sometimes it appears that the paradise may be lost. With savage competitors, colleagues vying with them to edge them out of the top slot and troubled relationships, their lives are actually one hell of a roller-coaster ride. Though sometimes they fear, fret, and worry, none of the three is willing to step off the roller-coaster. If they have to scheme and plot to stay in, so be it.

All three ladies are earning megabucks and so, they are the ones who are calling the shots in their families as well. Wendy has a gorgeous husband, whose slightest wish is fulfilled. His role is to look beautiful and take care of their three children. He can spend a bomb on the most exclusive designer labels and Wendy will finance every venture that he wants to start just so long as he discharges his primary role—that of a house husband. It is only when Shane finally revolts and decides to take of with the children that Wendy discovers that her 12-year old marriage with her metrosexual husband is in a freefall.

Victory Ford, who had been ruling the New York fashion world with her designer clothes year after year, is shattered when her latest collection bombs. Store after store dumps her and the critics trash her. To top it all, she is pursued by a multi-millionaire whom she finds very peculiar and is not even too sure she likes very much.

Nico has hit the prime of her career as the CEO of her company, not only being right on target while delivering the goods but also some shrewd and dexterous moves to get her competitors out of the way. However, Nico too has a guilty secret. Although she has a beautiful daughter and a supportive husband, she is looking for sex outside her marriage and is involved in a torrid affair with an underwear model.

Though these women can buy the world, they can’t buy themselves happiness. Yet, happiness is, "just about staying in the game...they always want to push you out if they can…they try but they can’t." So while they are in control most of the time, sometimes they lose control and sometimes, they are totally out of control. Life is all about losing some and winning a whole lot more and that’s what makes this book real racy reading.

HOME