Bad Manners

When four womenKitty, Helena, Violet and Alexandraspend an entire book talking to each other on the telephone, the dialogue had better sparkle. But these conversations inspire neither tears nor laughter, solely occupied as they are with the joys of the chase and suitable wearing apparel. Although one of the women works in PR, another has a radio talk-show whose buzz word is ""darlings,'' a third, forever dieting, owns a luxury food shop and the fourth wants mainly to be a mother, only their names differentiate them: they are all amoral, backbitng and narcissistic. The device of using the telephone to advance the proceedings, not new but nonetheless refreshing, proves so demanding that from time to time the author must interject with straightforward narrative, often jarring to the reader. But most importantly, since the members of the quartet do not like each other and their creator doesn't like them either, why should we? January