Rich and Pretty

Alam’s debut is a sweet yet cutting exploration of the bonds of friendship in competitive New York City. Sarah and Lauren have been best friends since high school, through college, love, jobs, and the realities of adult life. Lauren works as an associate editor for a publisher of cookbooks, is single, and pursues a carefree, on-the-go lifestyle that offers no prospect of settling down. Sarah, the daughter of a retired singer and a former advisor to the president, leads a charmed, career-free life. Recently engaged to pedestrian Dan, Sarah hopes the wedding will be a low-key affair but is anxious her socialite parents will keep that from happening. As a way to reconnect and keep her parents at bay, Sarah asks Lauren to be her maid of honor and help plan the wedding. Alam moves the story forward with seamless transitions from Sarah to Lauren’s voice, punctuated by scenes of biting dialogue; however, the interplay of voices never serves as an integral part of the plot, and rambling takes over in sections. In the run-up to the wedding, the closeness Sarah was hoping to reignite looks forever extinguished when Lauren misbehaves on a bachelorette trip. As Sarah’s life moves forward, will she come to realize that there is nothing wrong with growing up, even if that means growing apart from Lauren? With astute descriptions of how values, tastes, desires, and ambitions change over two decades, Alam’s tale of a divergent friendship smartly reflects the trial and error nature of finding a mate and deciding how to grow up. [em](June) [/em]