Rating: 
Summary: Don't believe the hype....
Review: Ms. Macy clearly is a talented writer. No doubt about that.Unfortunately this book reads like a Dawson's Creek episode. I see Tori Spelling in the role of Kate Goodenow.... *shudder*
Rating:
Summary: Waste of Time
Review: This book was horrible. I hated it by Chapter 2, but read on hoping it would get better-it didn't. The characters are boring and not believable. I know trust fund kids from NYC, and they are in no way like Kate and Chat. I became frustrated with Harry Lombardi, and the main character George. Maybe Macy will have a great second novel, but I certainly won't be in line to buy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Light, pleasant, and yet disturbing
Review: The "lower classes looking in on the rich" theme is a well-travelled road, producing novels as disparate as Great Expectations, Brideshead Revisited and the Great Gatsby. Macy's novel plays with the conventions of these earlier works, trying to recreate late 20th C. upscale NY, a world apparently peopled by conservative 20somethings with a late 1940s sensibility and old conflicts like old money v. social climbers. What makes the work seem fresh despite its familiar subject matter is the way in which Ms. Macy renders the key dilemma of her protagonist, George, a headmaster's son educated among the rich but never one of them. As is common in this type of novel, George has his nose pressed very hard against the shiny plate glass window of the Wealthy Life. What makes him distinctive is that his longing for a prototypical Rich Girl is impeded not only by a difference in social class, but also by any similar emotion on the part of the woman he fancies. Macy does a good job of illustrating the power of purposeless longing, the way in which longing can induce a sort of myopia. The ending is a bit disappointing, but overall the work maintains a light, even tone even when the plot is no longer light. This is a worthwhile read--no so much a new road as a nice journey down an established trail.
Rating: 
Summary: Good First Effort.
Review: Being one of this crowd, I have to say it "hit a nerve". It's a pretty accurate snapshot of a fading way of life, and will be of interest to who want a glimpse into it. She tries a little too hard, however, with descriptions of the NYYC, ect. I don't think she has hit her stride as a writer yet, and am looking forward to when she does.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Macy is clearly a talented writer, but I couldn't for the life of me understand the motivations of most of the characters. The character of Kate is completely unappealing, and I couldn't understand why men were drawn to her. I would have been much more interested if we could have gotten into her head. I grew up around people like this, and I still couldn't muster up any interest in the characters. A big disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Imperfect but engaging portrait of 90's NYC white kid gloom
Review: Macy's book is a great start for a writer with an unquestionable gift for prose. Vividly depicted -- God she's good at the pithy one-liners. But lacking depth or realism in a couple of key areas. First, character development. Macy creates caricatures of silver spoon Ivy Leaguers that seem to float disconnected to the story, time period, and each other. As amusing as it would be if 90s Dartmouth kids acted this way, it is unfortunately not the case. She owes more to Rand's Fountainhead, Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby, and Ellis' Less Than Zero for her characters than her own insight into modern youth elite. Second, money. This book is about money and people's use of it as their pole star. However, I think Macy has attitudes about wealth that were crying to be expressed through her characters but didn't. As a result, Macy adds a good deal of her own commentary around the sidelines of the story, reinforcing her own take on why people with money do what they do. I felt that she couldn't show us why George and Kate acted the way they did, so she had to provide a running commentary on the sideline that distracted from the characters themselves and distanced the reader from the story itself.
Rating: 
Summary: A lingering after thought
Review: A wonderful novel that keeps you reading and when done it keeps you haunted with a lingering after thoughts.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Novel of Manners
Review: The Fundamentals of Play is a phenomenal novel of manners in the tradition of The Great Gatsby. Now, I've never been a fan of Gatsby nor will I ever become one, however Macy has weaved a story of such depth and breadth that one cannot help becoming intimately involved in the characters and their lives - lives of money, posh private clubs, boarding schools and Ivy League colleges. I think what strikes me as unbelievable is that this story is written by a woman. Ms. Macy is so astonishing a writer that she can have readers truly believe in the male narrator. All characters are very well developed and multifaceted, retaining both enviable and less-than-admirable qualities. I had this sitting on my "to read" shelf for quite a while but now I'm pained that I waited this long to read it. Truly a triumph.
Rating:
Summary: Post-college disillusionment...
Review: Caitlin Macy has written a wonderul first novel full of love, betrayal, and suspense. George Lenhart is the narrator who tells of his bittersweet memories from high school and college and why things have turned out as they have. George narrates the lives of friends via flashbacks and episodes in his present life. George tells of Chat Wethers, a rich boy he met while at Dartmouth College. There's Chat's old college roommate, Harry Lombardi--the geek turned computer entrepreneur. There's also Kate Goodenow, a girl that haunts many men's minds. She went to boarding school with George. We can't forget Nick Beale--he's the "Heathcliff" of the novel. Although he went to boarding school with Kate and George, he skipped the college scene and is now a kind of Bohemian sailor. Nick's the guy who the other guys admire yet don't have the courage to imitate. Within this story you'll constantly ask yourself what is so special about Kate. She's an average-looking girl whose apathy sometimes gets to George. She's the kind of girl that "other girls will try to find something wrong with". Yet, the guys never slight Kate (at least not with words). Which guy wins the love of Kate? Does anyone win? Read to find out, but that's only part of the story. Macy does explore more issues such as the restlessness one sometimes feels right after college graduation. Macy takes simple thoughts many of us have contemplated and turns them into profound, beautiful sentences. Even if you're not rich, not an Ivy Leaguer, and not part of the "Maine jet set", you'll still enjoy this look at what it's like to be a young twenty-something on the verge of true adulthood. Don't wait for the paperback. Buy this today!!!
Rating:
Summary: Worth buying the hardback!!!
Review: This is an excellent novel full of love, friendship, and suspense. As you can tell by the other reviews, there is some very heavy material in this book. Yet, you don't have to search for profound meaning to enjoy this book--it can be read for the story alone if that's your main interest. This book involves a group of people in their early twenties that have recently graduated from college. There's rich-boy Chat Wethers and middle-class, highly critical George Lenhart (the narrator) who met at Dartmouth while living in the same dorm. There's also Harry Lombardi, Chat's nerdy college roommate who has reinvented himself via his new money. Then, there's Nick Beale. Most of what we learn about him is through flashbacks. He's a handsome wanderer turned "bad boy" who captured Kate Goodenow's heart back in high school. Who's Kate, you ask? Well, she's the center of these four men's lives. She's not breathtakingly beautiful and she comes from a snobby background, yet she appeals to many different men. What's so mystical about this young woman? Read to find out. You won't be disappointed! Caitlin Macy has proven her talent in this delightful debut novel!
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