Rating: 
Summary: Great Read, But Full of False Rumors
Review: This book is an excellent read. Its style is hypnotic, compelling, and lush. The story is fascinating. However, the thinly veiled account of the life of Ann & Billy Woodward, and the accidental shooting of Billy Woodward by his wife, is a work of fiction. The true story is documented in "This Crazy Thing Called Love" by Susan Braudy. Ann Woodward (called Ann Grenville in this book) actually shot her husband when she heard vagrant Paul Wirths running across her roof. He had been prowling the area for weeks and admitting he had been watching her and was thinking of raping her. I advise reading both books, they are both very, very good.
Rating:
Summary: Great Read, But Full of False Rumors
Review: This book is an excellent read. Its style is hypnotic, compelling, and lush. The story is fascinating. However, the thinly veiled account of the life of Ann & Billy Woodward, and the accidental shooting of Billy Woodward by his wife, is a work of fiction. The true story is documented in "This Crazy Thing Called Love" by Susan Braudy. Ann Woodward (called Ann Grenville in this book) actually shot her husband when she heard vagrant Paul Wirths running across her roof. He had been prowling the area for weeks and admitting he had been watching her and was thinking of raping her. I advise reading both books, they are both very, very good.
Rating:
Summary: A Must for Anyone Who Goes to Black Tie Balls in New York
Review: This book, like the author's book "People Like Us" is a fascinating fictionalized account of the Billy Woodward murder in 1955 by his social climbing wife. The book includes a magnificent account of how Ann Woodward lived with her guilt and ostracism for twenty more years until she and, separately, her offspring finally committed suicide. For New York City residents who are even mildly interested in the New York social scene and its various "levels", this book is a must. It is better than "Bonfire of the Vanities" and crosses the span of four decades, making it a sort of epic novel. Note that William Woodward the 3rd just committed suicide on May 2, 1999 bringing the real-life story to a close, except for the fact that his wife is contesting his will which said that she should get nothing of the vast unlucky fortune.
Rating:
Summary: A Must for Anyone Who Goes to Black Tie Balls in New York
Review: This book, like the author's book "People Like Us" is a fascinating fictionalized account of the Billy Woodward murder in 1955 by his social climbing wife. The book includes a magnificent account of how Ann Woodward lived with her guilt and ostracism for twenty more years until she and, separately, her offspring finally committed suicide. For New York City residents who are even mildly interested in the New York social scene and its various "levels", this book is a must. It is better than "Bonfire of the Vanities" and crosses the span of four decades, making it a sort of epic novel. Note that William Woodward the 3rd just committed suicide on May 2, 1999 bringing the real-life story to a close, except for the fact that his wife is contesting his will which said that she should get nothing of the vast unlucky fortune.
Rating: 
Summary: Behind closed doors
Review: This peek into the world of New York Society confirms for the reader that the idle rich are tremendously dull. Based upon the true story of Ann and Bobby Woodward, the novel is involving but the characters never breathe; instead they have been recruited from central casting. We have the WASPy, old money family, the showgirl, the ineffectual, weak son plus a chorus of devoted Irish maids and homosexual designers and novelists. Dunne has done the remarkable: taken a true story and whittled it down to cliches. The florid prose doesn't help either, but I am willing to give Dunne the doubt as we are reminded at times that the story is being told (or concocted) by a Capote-esque novelist with a grudge.
Time hasn't been kind to the novel. Definitely a beach read, but not much more.
Rating:
Summary: Hastily written with superficial character development
Review: Who could be bored by this potboiler? I was. I enjoyed the first hundred pages, but the thin, predictable plot dragged on and on, until on page 290 I quit reading. Ugh. The characters were idiots. The author repeated details about them halfway through the book that the reader had been told at the beginning. The descriptions of clothes, jewelry and homes were repetitious, too. Yuck. I can't believe people enjoy these kinds of books. This one was not only mindless, but a giant cliche. John O'Hara does this kind of society thing much better. Read "Ten North Frederick" instead.
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