Best-Selling Author Susan Isaacs Puts Her Characters First

Best-selling author Susan Isaacs said she isn't necessarily a fan of the protaganist in her latest work "As Husbands Go." But that didn't stop her from putting pen to paper.

"She stirred up every idiotic insecurity I've had since fifth grade to my 50th birthday," said the former Seventeen magazine senior editor whose work has been adapted to the silver screen gems starring Susan Sarandon and Michael Douglas.

"And I thought, do I want to spend the next two to three years growing progressively weary of her fascination for appearances and her limited intellectual curiosity? Essentially, did I want to write about an empty suit ... even if it was Prada?"

Speaking at Books & Books Thursday night, Isaacs said she didn't enjoy living life through the lens of a woman obsessed with her appearance but the concept fascinated her and she felt it was one worth exploring.

"I needed to check out whether our obsession with beauty, fashion, decoration, celebrity -- just style in general -- distracts us as a culture from looking beneath the surface," she said. 

She added, "Are beautiful people no different from anyone else except they are capable of finding pleasure when shopping for bathing suits?"

In a city where practically everyone looks good in a bathing suit, we would have to say yes.

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