New York books - socialite novels

Elements of Style by Wendy Wasserstein (Hardcover - April 18, 2006) huh it's been out for months, just picked up galley fr napoleon room, maybe someone read and then brought it back. nah seems unopened... surprisingly not good, at lst not in regards to what matters to me. surprise bcs I know Wasserstein's name - playwright, esteemed right? well won the Pultizer. well is that th award that I realized most of the list seems to be unimpressive? ~ middling. to include Middlesex, recent winner.
this may be entertaining enough to read, sort of in a genre of books like the genre of tv that includes greysanatomy and menintrees and maybe most shows on abc. much liked I guess.
but to me fluffy and flippant, un-deep. maybe just an extroverted sort of story.
-----------11/25 well I read through most of it, last 100 (of 300) pages backwards to speed up, and actually all of the characters were somewhat likable - Judy is silly in her aspirations and efforts, but like Samantha and Clarice, I start to find her sincerity endearing, and she tells her husband she wld stop throwing all these silly dinner parties if he wanted her to, just dont pull the rug out fr under her, this family is the most important thing to her in the world. Adrienne Strong-Rodman seems the other candidate to be simply unlikeable, but she is saved by her wryness about her daughter's extracurricular activities of sexual favors to all the 8th grade boys and then her turning lesbian with the 25yrold gym teacher at new school, who at least has gotten her to stop drinking, she's a bisexual ex-alchoholic at age 11.
so these are Upper East Side (wh Wkp tells me is the most gentrified NY) socialites, wealthy married women in their late 30s or 40s. are there really women like this whose names are known, who are featured in magazines?------------------
oh also - galley had regiment for regimen, weary for wary. that last seemed remarkable to me, though it's ungenerous to remark on it in an uncoreected proof, still: "he was weary of her at first"-------------------

reminds me of (my reaction to):
The Good Life by Jay Mcinerney (Hardcover - Jan 31, 2006) also had in galley, hardly skimmed, really did not find even lightly entertaining, and gave copy away with little ambivalence. and also knew this author's name, thought to be esteemed -wrote well know book right? Bright Lights Big City-. maybe both he and wasserstein are popular, successful, wh is not the same as esteemed? semcoop provided bks for big event for him, on a sunday, on north side? jc had asked me to go but then l went with him instead wh was fine.
was this the book with a mother who hardly cared for her kids and was doing hair and husband was a decent guy who she rebuffed? ...yes I think that's Sophie
and in which novel was the mother whose kids were biologically her sister's? that may have been likable characters, was that here? ...yes I think that's Corrine
...the story of two Manhattan couples around the days of the events of September 11th.. Luke and Sasha, wealthy Upper-East side socialites , and Russell and Corrine, a downtown literary editor and his wife a scriptwriter.

Wasserstein also mention 9/11 quickly, maybe is likewise centrally about New York after.
in contrast, I don't remember it being much part of (but maybe wrong? -must have at lst been mentioned):

Morningside Heights: A Novel by Cheryl Mendelson (Paperback - Jul 12, 2005) also got galley, and, I kept it bcs I liked this one. surprisingly a lot. well written, as I remember I enjoyed the writing. I liked the little boy who asked about 'falling in love' and when his mom explained that 'falling' was just a metaphor, he said to her "I'm falling in love with you." oh no here's how it goes, p78-9
"In fact, I wonder if anything could soften up Morris. Maybe just falling in love."
"Has he ever been in love?" Anne asked.
"I'm not sure. I've seen him when he thought he was in love, but he was always so in control, I had my doubts."
Stuart smiled at his mother. "I'm falling in love with you." Then, climbing into her lap, he confided happily (aw), "That's just an expression," and Ellen and Jane laughed, and Anne had to protect his dignity.
"Stuart is quite right that it's just an expression. You don't really fall, do you, sweetie? People say that because sometimes being in love happens very quickly and excitingly. But actually, sometimes it also happens quietly and slowly."
"Oedipus," muttered Charles, who, having raised only daughters until Stuart arrived, was surprised that he felt slightly disgruntled by Stuart's amorous declarations. He wondered whether they should ask to be told whether the amniocentesis showed a boy or a girl. With the others, they hadn't wanted to know.
was this novel about a different class of people? maybe should be obvious that they were less rich, more artsy intellectual. but I dont remember well, and I think some of the characters in The Good Life were also... and maybe Dr.Frankie in Wasserstein's book fits that description too. so it's more about the sensibility of the writing? well I wld think that. it probably is just as much a difference in the neighborhoods and the economic class of the characters. am I strangely ignorant of...