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Living Section of the San Bernardino SUN July 2, 2006 
Elements of Style By Wendy Wasserstein Alfred A. Knopf, 2006 
The Stressful Lives of the Idle Rich Of all the entertaining books about America's mega rich, Wendy Wasserstein's just published posthumous novel, "Elements of Style" captures the futility of their frenzied lives. This is a book with depth of content rather than just surface observations about the quirks of the fabulously rich. A sense of sadness about wasted talents and money that could have been used for the good of humanity permeates the novel. "Elements of Style" is a metaphorical reference to the famous Strunk and White book of composition rules by the same title. The book is constructed very much like a play with many acts and even more scenes in the form of chapters named after each protagonist. The characters are all interconnected and move in and out of each other's lives. The setting is the New York of the ultra rich in competition with each other for being the most thin and the most trendy with the most designer clothes, or having the largest residences in Palm Beach and Aspen decorated with Brice Marden art and Alvar Aalto furniture. The time is right after September 11, 2001. There is Judy who through sheer determination has succeeded in leaving behind her humble origins, marrying a trust-fund and wedging herself into the upper echelons of New York society. But that's not enough. Judy is in frantic pursuit of socialite perfection: "Even with a personal assistant, a calligrapher, a dog walker, two housekeepers, a driver, and a cook, she still honestly felt she couldn't get everything done." In contrast, Judy's husband, the old money trust-fund baby who had won an award for best personal library as an undergraduate at Amherst, whiles away the time by indulging in his passion for Greek, Latin and Old Norse and reading to his children every night things like Dickens and "The Last of the Mohicans." Judy's nemesis or the person she would love to be is Samantha - another old money trust-fund baby with unmatched and effortless intelligence, beauty and style. Samantha's husband is an erstwhile wholesome doctor from Omaha who has gradually slipped into serving the beauty needs of ultra rich women. Clarice is an Italian supermarket heiress with solid middle class values about family. Her husband Barry is the son of a shoe repair storeowner. Clarice is classy and educated while Barry, a film producer, is foul mouthed and crude. Dr. Francesca Weissman - Frankie - is the number one pediatrician in Manhattan. Neither her father's hard-earned wealth, nor Spence, Princeton and Harvard Medical School had managed to take away her social consciousness or her thoughtfulness and kindness. As the doctor of the children of the super rich in Manhattan, she lives on the fringes of that society. Frankie is the character that holds the book together. But one can plan only so many benefits or Turkusion (Turkish - Asian fusion) dinners or amass so many designer outfits before one gets that indefinable sense of ennui and restlessness. As it is frequently the case with people who do not have to worry about earning a living or meeting life's daily responsibilities, Samantha and Barry plunge into an affair that destroys the carefully constructed balance between all of the book's characters. Tenderhearted Frankie and featherbrained social climber Judy become the casualties of the affair while the rest of the characters go on with their aimless and hedonistic lives. In the end, Frankie sees them for what they really are - "polished people, and ultimately destructive because they would maintain the entrenched ease of their lives at any cost." How similar this is to F. Scott Fitzgerald's unmasking of the rich: "They were careless people," broods Nick Carraway, the narrator of "The Great Gatsby. "They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together." Finishing "Elements of Style" at the very moment Warren Buffet announced that he was giving a major portion of his billions to the philanthropic efforts of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation made me reflect on our skewed ethics: We take it as a given that most of the ultra rich would squander their money selfishly and are surprised at an occasional spirit of generosity amongst them. Shouldn't it be the other way around? Ophelia Georgiev Roop Library Director San Bernardino Public Library |
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