The book Prospect Park West won’t be released until Sept. 9, 2009, but author Amy Sohn, a former New York magazine columnist, is getting a huge publicity push from a woman who knows a thing or two about making four NYC friends popular worldwide. Sarah Jessica Parker’s Pretty Matches production company, along with HBO, has optioned the novel for a half-hour series. “It’s got sex, parenthood, and celebrity. Brooklyn is about to blow up nationally,” an insider at Simon & Schuster told the New York Post. But after reading a brief description of the characters, I doubt I’ll relate to any of them, and I’m a New Yorker. The four women are yuppies who, like other urban pioneers, are trying to stake their claim on the outer borough of Brooklyn, but only the overpriced neighborhood of Park Slope. They’re “burned out, bitchy, and beyond salvation,” yet they expect to be noticed and loved. Basically they seem like the same women I run into on a daily basis — rude mommies who think everyone’s top priority should be their kid. Reading is an escape for me, but Prospect Park West seems like it’ll be torture. No, thank you!
