This book explores the world of several elderly members of New York high society (as distinguished from the merely rich). It is a narrow world indeed consisting of lunch at "Swifty's", and marked by petty rivalries and grudges and a pathetic need for attention. However, author Dominick Dunne clearly recognizes this and his treatment is suitably satiric while remaining affectionate (after all, this is the world the author actually lives in). Some of the characters unexpectedly provoke sympathy and even admiration. Generally a fun read but not substantial enough to deserve a better rating than two stars. I have been a fan of Dominick Dunne's for years, regularly reading his Vanity Fair column and enjoying several of his earlier novels. It seemed a genuine loss when he passed away a few years ago.This book lacked the salacious sparkle his writing is known for. Despite the fun of vicariously hob-nobbing with the rich and infamous through the pages of the novel, it just didn't sizzle like his earlier novels and it lacked the gossipy punch of his magazine articles. The autobiographical element of this book was obvious and may have been the key to its weakness. His stories about other people were more cutting, more thrilling and more judgmental than his personal story.I enjoyed his thinly veiled characterization of Al Taubman and his sizzling wife. As a notable businessman in my former mid-western community, Taubman ran into legal trouble (and was emprisioned) while heading Sotheby's. The buzz was that the prisoner received regular visits from his society friends who commuted to see him on their private jets. Dunne didn't present this information (which may or may not be true) in the book, but many other tidbits rang true and were fun to read. The fictional society matron who was the toast of New York (read: Brooke Astor) was also clearly drawn from the real matron's well-chronicled life. So, despite the book's mediocre writing, almost non-existant editing, and thin plot, there were aspects of it that made it a page-turner for me. Not a notable one, but compelling in its own way.
What do You think about Too Much Money (2009)?
Hmmm ... wonder how many of Mr. Dunne's "friends" were embedded within these characters?
—bennylong
