Lucinda Rosenfeld is the author of the novels The Pretty One, What She Saw..., Why She Went Home, and I'm So Happy For You. Her fiction and essays have appeared in the New York Times, The New Yorker, Slate, the Wall Street Journal, oprah.com, and other publications. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and two daughters.
"Despite the enormous popularity of an HBO and an entire literary
genre ostensibly devoted to them, female friendships remain
strangely underexplored, unlike the search for true love (I'm
talking about you, Jane Austen), for which they are regularly
thrown aside. Lucinda Rosenfeld stays focused in her new novel, I'm
So Happy for You, and it pays off handsomely. The book explores a
particularly rich relationship vein-the love of an Everywoman for
her more beautiful, more glamorous pal.... Rosenfeld goes beyond
the obvious issues of envy and the perils of vicariousness to
examine a fascinating byproduct of female empathy.... Small
resentments collect until one day, perhaps because of a trivial
crime, they explode in a Wagnerian burst of emotion.... [A]
thoroughly enjoyable and somewhat rare specimen of chick lit that
stays focused on the chicks."--New York Times Book Review
"I'm So Happy for You is an amusing and chilling look at the less
frequently explored one-upmanship of some female friendships. And
while Wendy's psychotic behavior pushes people away, Rosenfeld will
only draw fans closer with this masterful cautionary
tale."--BookPage
"[A] darkly funny story of what happens when friends become
frenemies."--Redbook
"Capturing the surprisingly competitive world of Brooklyn
brownstones and Bugaboo strollers, Lucinda Rosenfeld'sI'm So Happy
for You takes the comic measure of the unlikely friendship between
two women."--Vogue, "Summer's Best Beach Reads"
"If you've ever gritted your teeth and offered a phony smile to
that one friend who always seems to get everything she wants,
Rosenfeld's frenemies tale will ring true...a witty, scathing novel
that's a breeze to read."--Entertainment Weekly
"It's a rare page-turner: No one is murdered and no time bombs
tick--just a friendship going to seed in the moneyed coliseum of
New York City yuppiedom... The feat of Rosenfeld's quick-footed,
juicy book is her fine shadings of two complicated but sympathetic
figures, alone and in comparison. Neither woman falls into the
stereotype of slit-eyed hellcat. Daphne might be self-involved, but
even judgmental Wendy will grant that she never says a bad word
about anyone... this novel's charms lie in its resolute kindness.
The denouement isn't fierce but funny and wistful. Rosenfeld seems
to want only the best for Daphne and Wendy: a witty, passionate
life, examined just enough to decide on the next object of
desire."--Los Angeles Times
"Rosenfeld delves into the thornier side of female friendship in
this hip take on modern womanhood. Wendy and Daphne have been best
friends forever, but their relationship...comes to a breaking point
when Daphne suddenly pulls herself together, stops fooling around
with a married man and finds a new love interest who happens to be
handsome, rich and obnoxious.... In the course of a few twists,
misunderstandings and revealed secrets, Wendy questions whether the
source of her inferiority complex is Daphne or herself. The two
friends are by turns frustrating and sympathetic, while Rosenfeld
takes a dark, hilarious and painfully accurate view of the
less-than-pure reasons why women stay friends."--Publishers
Weekly
"The book's confectionery veneer belies a heart of poison, as
Rosenfeld tartly dispels the cherished chick-lit notion that female
friendship conquers all. Equally ruthless is her sendup of
overachieving New York women in feral pursuit of have-it-all
motherhood without having first ascertained if they even like
children."--The New Yorker
"While the actions of nearly every character in the book are
morally questionable, their emotions are real and often funny....
Rosenfeld demonstrates Wendy's dysfunctional relationships with her
friends and family, and addresses the ugliness of envy with both
humor and honesty."--Booklist
[A] funny tale of girlfriends gone wrong.... Lucinda Rosenfeld's
I'm So Happy For Youis a novel about female friendship, but it's
not one of those sensitive, redeeming jobs. Rosenfeld has written a
satire about the dark side, about the envy, the backbiting, the
bitchiness. It's nasty, it's funny, and it has a certain undeniable
authenticity.... I'm So Happy For You is darkly humorous, with
excellent dialogue and sharp observations about contemporary
culture."--The Boston Globe
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