The Spare Wife: A Novel

by Alex Witchel

Book Overview

The author of Me Times Three returns with a sophisticated, witty, sexy story that exposes the world of upper-class New Yorkers and the media that perpetuate their myth. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0452295300
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Plume
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.6" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

sophisticated

This is a sophisticated look at the lives of the privileged few. It is clever and ironic, while remaining a good read. I was gripped by the story, and engaged by the characters. The characters are multifaceted and have real stories. The ending is an ingenious and funny twist and can be read differently by each reader. Incidentally, it is also a pleasure to read a book about 40ish women which is not "mommy-lit".

You Will Not Be Able to Put This Book Down!

"The author of the best selling Me Times Three has delivered another winner. What do you call the woman who is every woman and man's best friend? You call her The Spare Wife. Ponce Morris is not who you think she is, she has secrets to hide and you will not be able to put this book down until you have devoured every single page."

An extraordinarily delightful read

This is a marvelous book, very entertaining and a great pleasure to read. The book, like the author's first novel, is extremely well-written; the writer's point of view has a unique and amusing satirical edge, though she clearly has deep understanding and even affection for her many interesting three-dimensional characters. The knowledgeable attention to detail creates a complex environment that is completely believable and a treat to read about. The glittering style of this world and what lies beneath is captured with amazing fidelity in remarkably skilled and attractive prose. I could have happily continued to read for another couple of hundred pages. The work of this hugely gifted writer is highly recommended.

powerful character study

After graduating high school in Harding, South Carolina Ponce Porter heeded Sinatra's advice by coming to Manhattan to make it as a model. Instead the teen married wealthy TV producer Lee Morris, who was older than her parents. Finding marriage to a man four decades older than her boring, Ponce went to NYU and law school. Over two decades later, the fortyish Ponce is a wealthy widow known by her socialite friends as "THE SPARE WIFE" as she is a companion to husbands at sports galas and to their wives at charity events. Everyone trusts the popular Ponce. However, in Chicago Boothby's Review wannabe reporter Babette Steele catches Ponce kissing happily married fertility Dr. Neil Grossman. Whereas Babette feels she has the ticket into journalism. Ponce and her friends begin a discrediting campaign to spin the story by destroying the aspirant and the other jealous media sharks trying to devour their affluent superiors. Ponce and her social set prove that President Bush is right that the economy must have a strong base affirmed by the excess hedonistic extravagance in which one would expect this crowd to answer health care issues with "Let them eat cake". Alex Witchel goes deep into the soul of the title character, ironically a shallow person socializing with her superficial friends. Readers will enjoy this powerful character study of the ultra elite whose earmarked connections would be the envy of lofty politicians. Harriet Klausner

Delight

What a fun and delightful jab at the upper-crust of NYC. I chuckled all the way through this wonderful read. Highly recommend it. Editor of Michele Cozzens' award winning women's fiction A Line Between Friends