Social Creature

Book is great I overall enjoyed the storyline of it, but could have been better. I do see where the writer was coming from with how she wanted the book to go. However, the book lacked organization of characters, it went from Lavinia to Louise to some other behind the seen character that it bothered me that it jumped all over without structure of knowing who was who the book was referring to. This is a book where you have to pay closer attention to and probably have to reread certain lines just to understand. Which is frustrating for readers like me. With this being said I think the book was poorly written and thrown together and the editor/publisher could have helped the writer make some adjustments for readers to be able to fully enjoy reading this book. I believe if it was overall written and edited better the book would have been even more enjoyable and would have gotten the love the book truly deserved.

I see where she was going with this, and she had some great ideas, and there are images from the book that linger in my mind. The portrait of NYC literati social climbing and night crawling is spot on. Many of the places she describes I know, and she got it down. I love the range of characters, and the audacity of the plot. I really think a good rigorous editor might have pushed this to the next level. She set the stage beautifully, and the book's beginning is as delightful as the first glass of champagne -- it just did not quite deliver - but this happens, and like I said, there are some vivid images that I still retain, so bravo to Ms. Burton for that. I also love that the author clearly gets the financial realities of NYC living, of the low salaries paid for any career in publishing, writing, even fashion - if you want a glamorous job, you either need a trust fund or a rich S.O. or a tolerance for multiple room-mates!