What's New Wednesday: New Book of the Week (Primates of Park Avenue: A Memoir by Wednesday Martin)

Every week, new books come out and I would love to share books that are both brand new and I am excited to read myself. This weeks “What’s New Wednesday” will be focused on a new book that is coming out next week! I will be looking for this on the shelves in Barnes and Noble for sure.

Primates of Park Avenue: A Memoir

 by Wednesday Martin

(The authors name is purely coincidence)

Primates of Park Avenue is a memoir written by Wednesday Martin. After marrying a man from the Upper East Side of New York City and interacting with mothers in that area, Martin struggled to fit in and instead of secluding herself from everyone, she took her background of anthropology and primatology and suddenly understood exactly what was going on.

Martin was suddenly able to connect the segregation between men and women, the snobbiness of certain mothers, drug and alcohol abuse, but overall, the defiance of children. Martin explains “You’re supposed to be enriching your child on every measure you could think of: emotionally, socially, artistically, academically. It’s your job — and it falls on the women, because this tribe is very gender-scripted. The mommy culture there is a world within a world within a world.”

The unbelievable events that occur with the Upper East Side mothers and children are described in great detail throughout the book. Children are basically required to take classes from the age of 3 months in order to get into the top schools of the Upper East Side. Mothers on the other hand seem to have to be pampered and high maintenance in order to get a simple play date for their kids. The resemblance of the women in this area strikes an uncanny resemblance to female chimps and baboons.

After reading more and more details about this book, I have become increasingly interested. The events that Martin describe seem so unreal to me seeing as I am originally from a small town. Primates of Park Avenue will be released on June 2nd and can be purchased at Barnes and Noble for $13.00. Believe me, this will definitely be on my reading list. I can already tell that this book will be incredibly intense.

Will you be reading this book in the near future? Let me know in the comments below!