Review by New York Times Review
Pandy Wallis, the heroine of Bushnell's eighth novel, is a writer bedeviled by the success of her famous fictional creation, the Monica of the title. The book follows Pandy on a breakneck odyssey through Manhattan, Hollywood and the Caribbean as she copes with a divorce, grieves over a lost friendship and attempts to win the critical respect that has eluded her. Bushnell is an indefatigable generator of breezy, entertaining books about flawed but fabulous women. "Killing Monica" isn't one of them. The prose is both hyperbolic and repetitive - characters never speak when they can screech, shriek or scream. Those characters are one-dimensional and tedious, despite bizarre names like SondraBeth Schnowzer and Pandemonia James Wallis. The chronology is choppy, and the plot is filled with novelistic cheats like surprise storms and a highly implausible case of mistaken identity. Most disappointingly, Monica, the literary creation around whom everything turns, never comes to life on the page, creating a gaping hole in the narrative that no amount of frantic action can conceal. The novel barrels toward its climax with increasing incoherence: By the time P.J. and SondraBeth don disguises to escape an enraged crowd of Monica fans and the Mafia dangles P.J.'s husband from a billboard, you're no longer reading a Candace Bushnell novel - you're waist-deep in a Dadaist prose poem of unsurpassed brilliance. The entire thing is capped by a cheap revelation that's supposed to make readers think, but only made this reader cringe.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [July 12, 2015]
Review by Booklist Review
Bushnell's Sex and the City (1996), a novel made globally famous via the HBO series, stars Carrie Bradshaw, her witty, smart, thirtysomething alter ego. In her entertaining, new novel, the now fiftysomething Bushnell portrays a midlife writer, Pandy Wallis, whose popular novels feature Monica, an idealized, more glamorous version of herself. More autobiographical parallels surface, including an attractive, unfaithful husband. Pandy grows tired of writing about Monica and tries to free herself from her protagonist, but that is easier said than done, since she needs money to divorce her scumbag spouse. Like Bushnell, Pandy is a feminist who never had kids. (Doesn't anyone realize that for men, marriage and children aren't considered achievements? Or even accomplishments? she tells her agent. For men, marriage and children are a lifestyle. And that isn't right.) Bushnell successfully sticks to her tried-and-true recipe: sex, humor, female friendships, subtle social commentary, smart women who make foolish choices, and thrilling plot twists. Pro that she is, she saves the best for last.--Springen, Karen Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Bestseller Bushnell's latest is a poorly executed attempt at tongue-in-cheek self-awareness that never really comes together. Novelist Pandy Wallis's alter ego, Monica-star of four wildly successful novels and celebrated movies-has amassed a global following. But the shiny, happy life Monica leads, once a reflection of Pandy's own, has become a mocking reminder of how much things have changed. Pandy's former best friend SondraBeth, the actress who portrays Monica on the big screen, years earlier slept with a man Pandy loved; Pandy's serial-cheating celeb-chef husband ran through most of her money and wants to take whatever's left in the divorce; and the non-Monica book she's written has been rejected by her publisher, a devastating blow reluctantly delivered by Pandy's agent, Henry. Add a trio of girlfriends able to while away weekday mornings drinking champagne at über-trendy NYC rooftop pools, an obsession with high-end footwear, and seemingly savvy women who make awful choices when it comes to love, and the result is a tired retread of familiar motifs paired with characters any reader would be hard-pressed to care about. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review by Library Journal Review
Pandy Wallis's hugely popular novels about a young woman-the titular Monica-in Manhattan have spawned a series of blockbuster films. Now Pandy wants to work on a different project: a historical novel based on her ancestor Lady Wallis. But Pandy's publisher and audience just want more stories about Monica, as does Pandy's husband, Jonny, who has gone into debt to finance his new restaurant in Las Vegas. Pandy soon realizes that in order to live her own life, Monica must die. Therese Plummer's vocal variety runs the gamut from dry sarcasm to bluster and vitriol; from farm girl charmer to native New Yorker; from heartfelt friends to squealing sycophants. She also employs judicious but successful sound effects add to the overall ambience of the story. Verdict Bushnell's fans will enjoy the fast pace and elaborately described visuals, while speculating about exactly how much of the book is autobiographical. ["A bit choppy but a good beach read": LJ 5/15/15 review of the Grand Central hc.]-Jodi L. Israel, Miami, FL © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Bushnell (One Fifth Avenue, 2008, etc.) is still playing her Sex and the City riffs in this self-referential sort-of satire about an author whose insanely popular fictional creation has taken over her life. PJ "Pandy" Wallis created her fictional alter ego, Monicathink Carrie Bradshaw on steroidsin four bestselling novels and the movies that followed. The problem is that her newest book is not about Monica. It's about Pandy's ancestor Lady Wallis Wallis, who arrived in America in 1775and, according to Pandy's agent and suspiciously intimate confidant, Henry, historical fiction is a hard sell, so her editor has turned it down. As Pandy ponders whether to give in and write another Monica book, she relives her career. Along the way she became best friends with the actress who played Monica on screen, SondraBeth Schnowzer. During their days of wild, often drunken gal-pal escapades, they called themselves PandaBeth. Their friendship, which has an unexplored homoerotic undertone, ended when hot actor Doug Stone slept with both of them. Despite the gaggle of indistinguishable friends surrounding her now, Pandy still misses SondraBeth. The last time they spoke, SondraBeth warned Pandy that her husband-to-be, celebrity chef/restaurateur Jonny Balaga, was not a nice man. SondraBeth was right. Jonny went through Pandy's money and cheated on her. What's worse, he couldn't swim, liked contemporary furniture, and didn't properly appreciate the pedigree of Pandy's Connecticut family estate. She's now divorcing him, but the settlement requires her to fork over the $1 million advance on her newest book. Without a book contract there won't be an advance, and Pandy worries what Jonny will go after insteadpossibly the rights to Monica herself. But how separate is Monica's identity from jet-setting Pandy's? Or Bushnell's, readers may wonder? The book's portrayal of Pandy feels both self-congratulatory and unintentionally unpleasant, the hostility toward male characters is virulentthe only good male in the book may not be oneand the sense of humor is nil. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
