Posh: Good Trash

No, not that Posh.

Posh, the new novel by mysterious pseudonymous author, Lucy Jackson, whose high Amazon ratings I find myself, to my surprise, agreeing with.

I used to have a bad trashy novel habit, but the problem is, I also have high aesthetic standards, and eventually I just found it too frustrating to be all excited to sink into some flimsy piece of seemingly desirable chick lit, only to find myself driven mad by the terrible writing. So when I saw Posh on the library shelf, I reminded myself to read a few pages before I even considered taking it out, and they were quite readable, so into my pile it went.

Posh is about a fancy private school in New York--OK, it's obviously about Dalton. It follows the headmistress and a few seniors through the year, with various emotional and sexual dramas, and a lot of money. Short chapters, short novel, a reasonable amount of Manolo Blahnik and Prada, but nowhere near as much of the brand-names-as-an-excuse-for-style prose that generally characterizes such books (if you don't know what I mean, think Plum Sykes).

There's also some emotionally affecting narrative, an interesting side theme of motherhood and middle age, and quite capable writing. In fact, that's how I discovered the author was a literary novelist gone pseudonymous--I was surprised by how much better the book was than I expected, so I looked to see who had written it.

Anyway, I don't think this one will hit any Best Books of 2007 lists, but it was a nice diversion, and I enjoyed it, and even got a little teary at the end, which is unusual for me, so if you're looking for good trash, and the high school novel still works for you, I'd recommend it.