Product Description
A young woman does a good deed for her nanny, only to have it go horribly wrong. A newly married woman struggles to gain the upper hand with her self-assured cleaning woman. An anxious woman desperate for an authentic experience makes a rash decision to leave the grounds of her Moroccan luxury hotel. In this sophisticated and provocative story collection, acclaimed author Caitlin Macy turns her unsparing eye on well-heeled thirtysomething women who, despite their education and affluence, struggle to keep their footing in their relationships with their friends, spouses, and children—not to mention their help. Full of surprising, sometimes shocking insights and brimming with outrage and compassion, Spoiled is a remarkable collection from a boldly talented writer. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

Love this book
I do not live in NYC, but Macy describes the experience (of the privileged set) so vividly, I felt as though I was visiting for the weekend.
The writing is exceptional, the stories poignant. I don't understand some of the negative reviews. This book is well worth the price. An enjoyable read.

Macy? or Wharton?
Perfectly evokes the tone and atmosphere of an Edith Wharton novel - that's a high compliment.

Blah
I did not see the interest in this story.The plot was weak, the storyline broken and choppy.I wish I had the few hours back that I wasted on this one.

Writer's envy, reader's delight.
This collection is, in short, flawless. Tight, beautifully constructed, poignant, witty stories. As a writer, I'm filled with admiration for how sharp and well-crafted this book is -- there's not one extraneous sentence -- and as a reader, I couldn't put it down. Spoiled: Stories

Spoiled -- rotten
A total bore, as rich people themselves.
I had high hopes for this. But... The territory is well-tread. There were no surprises for me. I found myself skimming a lot of the stories because they did not hold my interest. I was very disappointed that the stories were not more entertaining. I live in NYC. I know these tales and their characters could have been much more colorful. Spoiled is dull. ... Read more

Product Description
Caitlin Macy's remarkable first novel is an evocation of a time and a place in which those things that were always so dependable--money, class, family--are threatened on all sides.

Narrated by George Lenhart, scion of a family who lost their fortune but not their good name, The Fundamentals of Play follows five friends from prep school as they enter adult life in New York City in the aimless, early nineties, before the internet explosion. They work entry-level jobs at investment banks, spend weekends in the Hamptons. At their center is the fickle, elusive Kate Goodenow.Everyone is in love with Kate and only George understands her heart was captured long ago, and for good.

Hailed as a Great Gatsby for the end of the twentieth century--The Fundamentals of Play introduces a brilliant new Lost Generation longing to live careless lives, while the situations around them are increasingly fraught with importance--and the world threatens to leave them behind.
Amazon.com Review
"I was guilty enough already, guilty of the same old thing since gradeschool: guilty of having come from a family that had had the lack offoresight--the poor taste, really--to come down in the world. It was almostanti-American, losing money the way we had." So muses George Lenhart, theruefully ironic narrator of The Fundamentals of Play, Caitlin Macy'sdebut novel about money, class, and twentysomething relationships in the1990s. Set in New England and New York City, this tale follows its charactersfrom an old world of public schools and Maine summer houses, where themention of money is vulgar but the lack of it even more so, into the brazenworld of the new economy, where up-and-comers with no "name" are changingthe rules of the game.

Before having come to work in the city, nothing much had threatened thesheltered and well-heeled lifestyles of the pedigreed Lenhart, his wealthycollege roommate Chat Wethers, and their mutual childhood friend, theclassically aloof Kate Goodenow. Nothing, that is, except for a shared (andsilent) envy of Kate's high school boyfriend, Nick Beale, the poor"year-rounder" from the Maine coastal village turned boarding-schoolbeneficiary turned pot-smoking dropout with exceptional sailing prowessand a passion for the Caribbean. Nick represents life lived without ascript, and his story weaves in and out of the others' with a spontaneitythat they so patently lack. His is a known spontaneity, though, and whenthe less definable one of skill, ambition, and new wealth--in the form ofsocially inept computer wizard Harry Lombardi--enters their sphere, thethreads of the old world begin to fray. George looks on, bemused, as hisclass-conscious friends make careless (but transparently desperate)attempts to adjust their values, loyalties, and relationships.

Macy is adept at capturing the nuances of this last generation ofaristocrats, caught between a desire for the past's fading gentility andthe pressures of a faster game with a less rigid code of conduct. As Georgewryly admits, "It is hard to be reckless and still have one's shirtsstarched." Macy's language occasionally reflects the incongruousjuxtaposition of these two worlds, mixing words like "foppishly" and"fleece" rather clumsily together, and her narrator speaks in a vernacularthat seems far older than his mere 23 years, conjuring up visions of aWharton-era New York rather than the city of the last decade. Her eye forodd details is deliciously surreptitious, however, and always viciouslyacute: she can paint sideline characters' entire personalities with onetidy turn of phrase, such as "Her face was tan--the whole party was filledwith parents who had better tans than their children--and she wore pinklipstick that sat on her lips and beamed when they beamed." TheFundamentals of Play rides along on such observations, rewarding itsreaders with a glimpse into a (thankfully) disappearing world. --S.Ketchum ... Read more

Customer Reviews (63)

Fascinating True and thought-provoking read
I've loved the book from the first to the last page.Having said that I am not saying that all questions have been poised and/or answered here but this could hardly be a requirement.The book is true to the times it is describing - in each detail and subtle observation.The characters are very well defined and clearly project into the group-ups they would eventually develop.The humor is often biting and relentless; the pace of the book moves well between the past and the present, explaining and connecting the two thus creating a complete picture.All this is accomplished with an amazing economy of words.The reader is also free to draw own conclusions and pass judgements on main characters - that I strongly believe is the author's goal.

I've come of age at the time described in the book and though being of very modest means myself had been fortunate enough to attend an elite college in NYC.The Chets, Annes, and Georges are so well known to me it feels I've sat them all in my last English Lit class, unnoticed and not caring much either.

I would recommend the book to any serious reader.

One of the Few Contemporary Novels I've Bothered With
I read this because it sounded like a 21st century take on "The Great Gatsby" and was entertained, moved, changed even. A novel I think about still, some five years after reading it. I recommend it to anyone who, as Jane Austen says, cares about love and money.. what she actually says is, "I write about love and money, what else is there?" This is a good book about both.

Vapid, boring.
I was quite disappointed in this book. None of the characters are particularly well drawn or interesting, and their lives are similarly empty. I was looking forward to reading "Today's Gatsby", as one of the cover blurbs claims. Instead, this isn't even as good a story as an average one out of People Magazine. I'm not sure what the author was trying to do -- chronicle the lives of the well-heeled, or deride them; in the end, she did neither, nor did she succeed in capturing my interest.

I really liked this book:
I found this book to be a facinating tale of people in general. From the rich and well educated to the drop out. This book is well written and the audio tapes were great!

stick with the original
This book attempted an ambitious feat - to transport "The Great Gatsby" to the present day, but the author's reach was higher than her grasp. The characters behaved more like thirtysomethings - and yes, I do know people of the same class in real life, and they definitely do not behave like these characters. Anyway, the characters were for the most part, tissue thin, dull, and/or unlikeable, especially the woman for whom we were supposed to believe most of the males had been carrying a torch for since prep school. Yet, other reviewers have raved over this book, and its "fine writing" so maybe it's worth a shot. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a story of identity and belonging, manners and morals, set on the upper east side of Manhattan. When Harry Lombardi becomes engaged to Kate, the long-time object of George Lenhart's affections, a tragic affair forces George to discover who he really is and what really matters. ... Read more