Women who write fiction about money and social status are routinely compared to Edith Wharton. This generally constitutes a grave case of mistaken identity, because the writers in question lack Wharton’s tenderness and sense of tragedy—their narratives are mere travelogues through walk-in closets, their themes no more complex than the notion that the rich are bitchier than you and me. With a title like Spoiled (Random House), you might expect Caitlin Macy’s new story collection to be stocked with similarly campy sagas of shopping and revenge (and you might suspect that her publisher hopes fans of Gossip Girl will think so, too, and snap it up).
