Overview
Sex and the City meets Jane Austen in a wickedly funny, razor-sharp novel about the fortunes and misfortunes, expectations and regrets of seven women who shared long-ago summers at an elite Jewish girls’ camp.Anyone who’s ever wondered what happened to the girls in the exclusive cliques of adolescence will delight in The J.A.P. Chronicles. With the wry wit and keen eye and ear of a latter-day Jane Austen, Isabel Rose (herself a scion of a prominent New York family) provides the ultimate insider’s look at the glamorous upper-crust society that even Carrie Bradshaw would give her Jimmy Choos to join.
When seven former bunkmates at Willow Lake Camp reunite for the camp’s one hundredth anniversary, the event brings more than just a revival of the old camp spirit. Ali Cohen, an Oscar-nominated filmmaker and former camp outcast, plans to make a documentary about her former bunkmates. The ugly duckling turned successful self-made swan secretly hopes that that her teenage tormentors will have grown into adult losers.
As each woman steps into focus, however, it becomes clear that it is not quite that simple. Sure, Arden can’t keep a job (even as a nanny!), Jessica is stuck in regional theater, and Dafna has lost both her job and her $20,000 per month stipend from her father. But Laura is apparently flourishing as a Los Angeles superagent, and Beth has found happiness by throwing over her dull but successful fiancé for her wedding photographer. Even Wendy, golden girl turned Short Hills housewife, has managed to skirt around old regrets and long-stifled urges—until seeing an old acquaintance stirs them up again.
Funny, smart, and ultimately moving, The J.A.P. Chronicles opens a whole new perspective on the girls from the “best families” and on the money, culture, and expectations that define their lives.
Synopsis
Anyone who’s ever wondered what happened to the girls in the exclusive camp cliques of adolescence will delight in THE J.A.P. CHRONICLES. With a wry wit and keen eye and ear, Isabel Rose provides the ultimate insider’s look at the glamorous upper-crust society that Carrie Bradshaw would give her Jimmy Choos to join.
When seven former bunkmates at Willow Lake Camp reunite for the camp’s 100th anniversary, the event brings more than just a revival of the old camp spirit. Ali Cohen, an Oscar-nominated filmmaker and former camp outcast, plans to make a documentary about her former bunkmates. The ugly duckling turned successful self-made swan secretly hopes that her teenage tormentors will have grown into adult losers.
As each woman steps into focus, however, it becomes clear that it is not as simple as that. Sure, Arden can’t keep a job (even as a nanny!), Jessica is stuck in regional theater, and Dafna has lost both her job and her $40,000 per month stipend from her father. But Laura is apparently flourishing as a Los Angeles superagent, and Beth has found happiness by throwing over her successful but dull fiancé for her wedding photographer. Even Wendy, golden girl turned frumpy housewife, has managed to skirt old regrets and long-stifled urges—until seeing her old acquaintances stirs them up again.
Entertaining, funny, and smart, THE J.A.P. CHRONICLES opens a whole new perspective on the girls from the “best families” and the money, culture, and expectations that define their lives.
Publishers Weekly
Annoying JAPS get their just desserts and much more in this sour tale of seven former bunk mates from prestigious Willow Lake Camp. The ex-campers gather for a reunion 10 years later, to be chronicled by videographer Ali Cohen, renegade in a nose ring and purple hair, newly pregnant and former victim of severe hazing by the other six girls. Anxious to bury her ghosts, Ali proposes a new documentary: a project showing the crucial moments in each of their lives. As she hoped, her former tormentors are far from happy: Dafna Schapiro has lost her daddy's $20K per month allowance; Beth Rosenblatt is preparing for the wedding of a century to a nice rich Jewish man about whom she couldn't care less; Arden Finkelstein is in and out of rehab; Jessica Bloom is a failing actress trapped in summer stock; Laura Berman is a high-powered talent agent with a lump in her breast; and Wendy Levin, perfect housewife and mother, is secretly having an affair with a woman. Snide references to Daddy's money, wise marriages, greed, Valium, spas and blowouts, nose jobs and shiksas abound, and Rose has a penchant for punishing her characters in Old Testament ways: the promiscuous one gets raped; the cruel one is leading an angry, fearful life with her female lover; the powerful one gets cancer. Less funny-mean than plain old not-funny, Rose's debut falls flat. Agent, Sally Wofford-Girand. (May 17) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.