When Life Gives You Lululemons

Emily Charlton, Miriam Kagan, and Karolina Hartwell’s intersecting lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, expose the inauthenticity that defines elite suburban culture in the United States. The women have distinctly different backgrounds, but they find themselves similarly disillusioned by life in Greenwich. Emily once worked for Miranda Priestley in the New York fashion industry, Miriam was a “partner at the most prestigious firm in the city” (13), and Karolina used to be a Victoria’s Secret model and was “the face of L’Oréal for ten years” (44). Despite their accomplished pasts, the women immediately lose their sense of identity, purpose, and stability once they’re submerged in the entirely new reality of Greenwich, Connecticut. There, women occupy themselves by hosting and attending elaborate themed parties, day-drinking, spending their money on plastic surgery, outsourcing their childcare, going to the gym, and attending PTA meetings. Although humble on its surface, this culture threatens to destroy Emily’s, Miriam’s, and Karolina’s dignity and self-assurance over the course of the novel as they seek purpose and belonging in their new lives.

The descriptions of the Greenwich environment, community, and culture throughout the narrative underscore how wealthy small-town America can breed discontent, artificiality, and snobbery.