Gilding Lily

May 12, 2008
Boncompagni (who writes for the New York Times
Sunday Styles section) wittily describes the rise and fall of “Girl of the Moment” Lily Grace. After relocating to New York from Nashville, Lily becomes a society darling and marries the “handsome, charming, well-educated” and wealthy Robert Bartholomew. But an unplanned pregnancy destroys their nuptial bliss, and Lily becomes “flabby and cellulite-laden” as soon as she's carrying. Robert quits his job at a law firm and spends more and more time with his mother, a manipulative socialite. Lily, meanwhile, begins writing lifestyle pieces, which brings her back to the social-climbing world she inhabited pre-pregnancy. Lily's successes are marred by the constant indignities she suffers at the hands of her peers, forcing Lily to decide what she's willing to pay for her social standing. Boncompagni has an eye for the comedic aspects of this privileged, insular group, and her humor tends toward the absurd rather than the malevolent. The author's familiarity with the world she describes allows her to garnish the narrative with tantalizing details, and her protagonist is likable even at her most dastardly.