Rating: 2 stars

Written in prose reminiscent of a middle grade chapter book and containing characters stiffer and flatter than the pages they were written on, The Recessionistas takes the rich and entitled to a whole new level of shallow.

With her freshman writing debut, Lebenthal attempts to set the scene of three Hamptons-summering, New York City hedge-fund and finance power couples living their lives in various stages of excess and dysfunctional opulence, just before the devastating fall and bailouts of Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and AIG.

Despite Lebenthal’s good intentions, she managed to convey some of the most one-dimensional characters; further reduced by amateur writing. Though the dialogue was bad enough on its own, the constant explanation and quantification of every thought and action bogged things down and enhanced the juvenile tone.

Despite over-the-top lifestyles by some of the wives—demanding an assistant because there just isn't enough hours in the day to spend thousands of dollars at Barneys and Bergdorf’s, get Botox and co-chair pointless, pompous events—the overall story-line was lacking in substance.

Recessionistas also had a bit of an issue with structure and continuity. Where one character, Jessica, who could have contributed a lot to the story, is suddenly thrown in at the end of the book and is the key to solving an important issue; while another character, Renee Parker, a well-educated black woman who came from working-class, low-income parents had always prided herself on being “the bigger person” and letting negative things roll off her back. suddenly loses it and becomes a neck-wagging, expletive-screaming, ghetto-chick.

Although I applaud Ms. Lebenthal for her efforts as a writer, I’m sure the financial world is breathing a sigh of relief that they won’t be losing her any time soon.
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Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; 1 edition (August 9, 2010)
ISBN-13: 978-0446563673