A Dangerous Age by Kelly Killoren Bensimon

 

A Dangerous Age by Kelly Killoren Bensimon (and Teresa DiFalco), is an enigma wrapped in a riddle stuffed into a hot New York City summer. It follows the lives of four long-time friends (let the comparisons to Sex and the City begin), as they each struggle with different issues in their middle-aged lives. Lucy, the main character, is a former model whose marriage to a renowned artist is on the fritz, Lotte is descending into a dangerous drug and alcohol induced spiral, divorcee Billy is having trouble making ends meet while dating below her age, and Sarah is trying to land a coveted role on a reality show. You can tell right off the bat that Bensimon didn't have to dig deep or use too much imagination for her material, having been a model, married to a famous photographer, and on the infamous Real Housewives series herself, and if the book had stayed in that fluffy "beachy" read place, I could have tucked it neatly away in that category and recommended it for your next vacation.

Instead, Bensimon does actually explore some interesting themes, from the value of art and the pressure put on "famous" artists, to what constitutes a happy and fulfilling marriage. A young ingenue comes to town and upends peoples' lives with her tell-all blog, and when Lucy is tasked with writing an article about her, she's shaken to her core by someone who seems to eschew everything that Lucy has built her life around. All these combine to make for a more serious book that provokes some deep thinking. But then there's the obligatory shopping scenes, and the banal descriptions of the fabulous clothes they're all wearing, all the time. I can't say that this book won't appeal to a fabulous few whose lives really do revolve around all of the above, but for the majority of readers I fear this will straddle a middle line that appeals to none - too serious for the beach, and not serious enough for the literati. However, with her name recognition and the hope that you might decipher some juicy gossip about "real" (housewives) people, I'm sure this book will sell just fine.