Primates of Park Avenue

Adventures Inside the Secret Sisterhood of Manhattan Moms

De: Wednesday Martin Ph.D.

Narrado por: Madeleine Maby

Like an urban Dian Fossey, Wednesday Martin decodes the primate social behaviors of Upper East Side mothers in a brilliantly original and witty memoir about her adventures assimilating into that most secretive and elite tribe.

After marrying a man from the Upper East Side and moving to the neighborhood, Wednesday Martin struggled to fit in. Drawing on her background in anthropology and primatology, she tried looking at her new world through that lens, and suddenly things fell into place. She understood the other mothers' snobbiness at school drop-off when she compared them to olive baboons. Her obsessional quest for a Hermes Birkin handbag made sense when she realized other females wielded them to establish dominance in their troop. And so she analyzed tribal migration patterns; display rituals; physical adornment, mutilation, and mating practices; extra-pair copulation; and more. Her conclusions are smart, thought provoking, and hilariously unexpected.

Every city has its Upper East Side, and in Wednesday's memoir listeners everywhere will recognize the strange cultural codes of powerful social hierarchies and the compelling desire to climb them. They will also see that Upper East Side mothers want the same things for their children that all mothers want - safety, happiness, and success - and not even sky-high penthouses and chauffeured SUVs can protect this ecologically released tribe from the universal experiences of anxiety and loss. When Wednesday's life turns upside down, she learns how deep the bonds of female friendship really are.

Intelligent, funny, and heartfelt, Primates of Park Avenue lifts a veil on a secret, elite world within a world - the exotic, fascinating, and strangely familiar culture of privileged Manhattan motherhood.

©2015 Wednesday Martin. All rights reserved. (P)2015 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Interesting almost scientific read

As someone who has studied anthropology I found this book an interesting read. It is simple enough for someone with no background but I the parts I enjoyed most were her 'field notes' on the costuming of her tribe. Overall it's a more cerebral than your average chick lit but would never the less fit loosely into that category.

Tedious yet compelling

Part comedy and part social commentary, this memoir is indulgent and high brow. While its pop culture anecdotes and references are amusing, I found all the anthropologic details a bit too tedious and detailed. The author beleaguers certain points not requiring such long explanations. I would have loved to have heard more personal experience and stories versus broad conclusions but in the end it was entertaining if not predictable.

Witty.

I thought the book moved quickly, the balance of anecdotes to anthropological speak was on point and some of the stories made me laugh out loud. Would recommend. I enjoyed the narrator.

Everything

I felt like I was living her experience as she is talking. I was anxious, confident, sad and angry!! Such an eye opener to the private lives of UES.

Interesting take on the upper east side...

Although the timeline was a little bit jumpy. One minute the writer is walking to her fitness class in the Hamptons and next she is in a car fighting for a parking space to get to the same class she was just walking to.

A little stretched for dramatic moments at times but has real moments as the story moves along.

Listened to as recommended from other audible

I did purchase this audible book as it was recommended by the author of another audible book I listened to. At first I wasn't sure if it was what I was expecting and it wasn't, but I did complete it and so glad I did. you really must listen all the way to the end! No spoilers here.

Great book

This book was amazing! Great summer read I loved this book because I dream one day to live in Manhattan. But for the time being I’ll just live upstate NY where I live

Entho-tainment at its best

Although the reading was staccato at times, Martin's voice pulls through. This is an ideal introduction to anthropology and a glimpse into the ways elite Mommy's make sense of and navigate their world. It is both critical and generous at times - as good ethnography is. It is not traditional anthro-vetted by IRBs and underscored by dense theory- but it is approachable and entertaining and is quite good ethnography, earning its place alongside monographs ideal for intro to cultural or intro to anthro courses.

A reead for every mom but buy the print version!

The perfect read for every mom who feels like she doesn't fit in this book gives you all the readons why. You won't want to anymore. The reader is awful so buy the print version dont buy the audible book. Good story. Funny and perceptive.

Anthropological view on Manhattan ladies

Interesting insight on the pristine appearance of socialite life. it still felt a bit aloof but it was a quick and easy read.