Princess of Park Avenue
I'm Kim Alexander and this is Fiction Nation. The book is Princess of Park Avenue by Daniella Brodsky.
This is a sort of Cinderella story, but in this book, it's not magic, but our heroine's talent and determination, that get her across the river from Brooklyn to Park Avenue. Lorraine Machuchi is a nice girl, a hairdresser from the block with a no-good boyfriend. When he informs her he can't love someone with so little ambition, she gets up and does something with her life — becoming the hottest hairstylist in the city. Part of the fun in this book is watching Lorraine's transformation from a fish out of water, to a fish very comfortable with her fancy new uptown lifestyle, and it's also fun watching her figure out what a huge zero the no-good boyfriend really is. She even finds her own prince charming and does a little shopping along the way. The book, Princess of Park Avenue by Daniella Brodsky. I'm Kim Alexander and this is Fiction Nation on Take Five, XM 155.
I'm Kim Alexander and this is Fiction Nation. The book is Princess of Park Avenue by Daniella Brodksy.
The author clearly did not set out to rewrite Crime and Punishment, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with a fairy tale story about shopping and sex. Sometimes that's exactly what you want. This is sort of a Cinderella story, and finding new ways to tell this old tale can be a challenge. In Princess of Park Avenue, Brodsky has put her own spin on it, making our heroine a poor, downtrodden hairdresser in Bay Ridge, in Brooklyn. If you seen an episode of the Nanny, you kind of know what happens next. Cinderella — or in this story Lorraine Machuchi — has just started noticing that life is passing her by, and the same old friends on the block are starting to look same and old. And her Prince Charming?
Not so much. Tommy may be good looking but he's stringing her along, and everyone sees it but poor Lorraine. He's maddening, what with the ignoring, then the late night phone calls, the declarations of love, then two weeks of silence — it's enough to make a girl drink a margarita or seven and wind up dancing on a pool table. That's actually not in the book. Anyway, Lorraine's enchanted pumpkin carriage is the R Train into Soho, where chance and luck land her a job at the hottest hair salon on Park Avenue. Seems like Lorraine is some sort of hair color genius; she has a special 5-color technique which I wouldn't mind trying myself. Before you know it, she's met an actual real nice guy prince — if she could only get over Tommy back home — and she's doing color on the Princesses of the title — they aren't named Paris and Nicole, but you get the idea. They adopt her, and as the only non-blonde call her 'colorful', which of course is a code word for 'ethnic', which seems like it would get tired pretty fast, and to Lorraine's credit, she does at least try to stick up for herself. But she's in a tough spot — she has to suck up to them to keep their business, plus Lorraine gets used to the good life pretty fast, and I couldn't blame her, what with the lunching, the yoga and facials and the shopping...plus benefits for organizations like Association For Poor Girls who Want Bigger Boobs — these people are humanitarians after all! Just to make sure the author wasn't exaggerating, I did some research on Park Avenue over the weekend, and saw not only tiny dogs in tiny coats, but I saw on sale in a real store — bathrobes for dogs. For when your dog gets out of the shower, I guess. I also picked out a nice pair of $1400 boots and from Cartier, and an emerald necklace with stones as big as your face. In case you're wondering what to get me this year. For most of us, 5th Avenue is more like a museum than a place where you can actually buy things, but man, it's sure fun to pretend sometimes. That's the beauty of a book like this. Will Lorraine finally dump her old loser boyfriend who made me grind my teeth with rage — not that I could relate to what was going on at all — and get herself a real prince? Will she get used to spending $250 for a pair of jeans? And will she keep her identity and her accent? Lorraine is a smart cookie with a huge blind spot for her hateful childhood sweetheart, and its fun to watch her take on Manhattan. There's an added layer of intrigue near the end which I could have done without, but in the end love — and Lorraine and her 5-color hair technique.— conquer all.
The book is Princess of Park Avenue by Daniella Brodsky. Want to talk about books — or shopping? Email me at Kim dot Alexander at xmradio dot com. This is Fiction Nation on Take Five, on XM 155.
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