Diana Page Jordan | Book Reviews and Inspiration

by Tatiana Boncompagni

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Published May 5, 2009 (paperback) by Avon A

More info: Hedge Fund Wives

Have you ever wondered what it is like to be insanely rich?  That curiosity drove me to read Hedge Fund Wives by Tatiana Boncompagni. My head was spinning with product mentions from the first page.  Maybe the book would be an informational launch pad for women who want to marry hedge fund guys — if the latest recession didn’t take them all out.

In the story, the sweet little Marcy Emerson moves from Chicago with her hedge fund hubby to Manhattan, and learns quickly to connect with the type of hedge fund wife known as the Accidental — the purest of the bunch.  The other six types are the Westminster, the Stephanie Seymour, the Former Secretary, the Socialite, the Workaholic, and the Breeder.  The issues they all had were magnified by the millions their hubbies brought home.

I had a dance teacher who also trained the Portland Trailblazers when they had a well-deserved bad reputation.  She used to say when these elite basketball players got wealthy, the problems they had just got bigger, for example a little pot problem became a huge coke addiction.  That reminded me of Hedge Fund Wives.  These were the mean superficial girls you met in high school just grown up with enormous rocks on their left hands.   The hedge fund wives had predictably more lavish affairs, divine decor, and expensive divorces than the rest of us.  Marcy mentions several times that a pair of shoes cost more than her first car.

I got tired of all the name-dropping, the product placement, and the thinly-drawn characters.  Boncompagni writes fun and fast, but I could tell where her story was headed.   The book is beach-blanket entertainment.  Like cotton candy instead of the kobe beel filet mignon with blanched white asparagus and chanterelle toasts Marcy enjoyed at a luncheon.

On the other hand, delicious dalliances can take your mind off your diminished 401K.