The Ex-Mrs. Hedgefund

December 8, 2008
In the gilded age of a few months ago, hedge fund managers were “the kings of ka-ching.” Of course, now they're not, and there's a sparky frisson to Momzilla
author Kargman's lively chronicle of a queen of ka-ching who ditches her hedge fund manager hubby. Hedge-fund wife Holly Talbott, 34, has forgone Botox and boob jobs and considers herself “more J. Crew than J. Mendel.” She also thinks she has a happy marriage despite her ferocious mother-in-law and the cattiness of keeping up with the yummy mummies of her son's schoolmates. But once she and best friend Kiki discover her husband's cheating ways, the knives come out: among other things, the tough pre-nup makes divorcing the ultra-rich hedgie trickier than she expects. Dating isn't much easier, but readers will know to hold out for the glowing happy ever after. Effervescent Holly's romp through wealthy Manhattan is a gleeful little bonbon.

March 1, 2009
A Wall Street wife attempts to bid goodbye to all that.

Holly Talbott's husband Tim wheels and deals for powerhouse Comet Capital, and she's an acute observer of the grazing habits of"hedgies." Kargman (Momzillas, 2007, etc.) presents Holly as morally superior to her adoptedüberclass, though her mini-revolts are hardly earth-shattering. She doesn't do luncheons. Avowedly superannuated at 34, she resolves to resist the Botox- and lipo-assisted ageless look. She bucks family ire to meet on the sly with potty-mouthed BFF Kiki, an outspoken Jewish fish-out-of-water among the WASP-y Talbotts who has just divorced Tim's brother, much to the chagrin of the clan's dragon-lady matriarch. On a clandestine expedition to Brooklyn, Holly and Kiki spot Tim in midclench with a gold-digging vixen. From there we get the too-familiar social travails of the ex–Mrs. Master of the Universe. Holly is blackballed from the blue-chip fundraising circuit, politely shunned (while dropping her son Miles off at school) by her fellow yummy-mummies and forced to date off Wall Street. So is Kiki, who abandons her trash-talking-sexpot persona—and her contempt for too-handsome guys—the minute she meets gallery impresario Lyle Spence. Holly's dating woes mount: She dallies with clubsters obsessed with collectible sneakers, mistakes a cockroach for a caress and is kicked out of a Connecticut cabin by a would-be date rapist. Although distinguished by Kargman's wit, this is less social satire than standard-issue romantic comedy: Holly and Kiki prevail, not by forsaking rich men, but by attracting nicer ones. Readers hoping for a serves-them-right tell-all as the charmed lives of the Talbotts and their ilk disintegrate will have to settle for two pages of post-subprime"follow-ups"; the novel was obviously written before financial Armageddon arrived.

Funny, but in the current economic context, ill-timed.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

March 1, 2009
Kargman, the author of Momzillas (2007), returns with another skewering look at life in Manhattans elite classes, this time focusing onthe ultra-rich hedge-fund set. Holly and Kiki Talbott are the wives of brothers who founded Comet Capital. Good-girl Holly is immersed in life as a stay-at-home mom, while her husband Tim jets around the globe. Meanwhile, wild-child Kiki, sick of the luncheon circuit and her emotionally unavailable husband, leaves Tims brother. When Holly discovers Tim is having an affair, she must navigate life as an exhedge-fund wife, too. Shunned by her former social circle, she begins a new job and embarks on a new relationship. Kargman ably describes a world of unimaginable extravagances, but the novels true heart is Holly and Kikis unwavering friendship. Readers will also appreciate an epilogue that addresses the current economic woes and gives the greedy hedge funders their comeuppance.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)