By Nicole Borawski

When Jasmin Rosemberg left from the security of her full-time job at Standard & Poor to pursue her dream of becoming a novelist, she had no idea how challenging that path would be. At twenty-three years old, Rosemberg had a lifestyle-supporting job and a deluxe doorman apartment in Murray Hill. She moved back home to her parent’s Park Slope brownstone to escape her robotic and unfulfilling life in finance. Intrigued by the glamour of the Hamptons, Rosemberg began writing for a column in the New York Post. At twenty-seven, Rosemberg had her first published novel. How the Other Half Hamptons is a fictional tell-all about the elite summer community that attracts young twenty-somethings to live amongst each other in houses of twenty to forty people per house.  Shareholders are given everything from alcohol (lots of it!) to food, to daytime and nighttime activities (a roundabout of parties a la Spring Break college style).  This is the story of how these Hamptonites, apart from the celebrities, socialites, and billionaires, spend their summers.

What fascinated you about the Hamptons that made you want to write about it?

Like one of my characters in my book, I’d always heard about “the Hamptons” and was intrigued by the glamour of it all.  It’s known as being this epicenter of wealth and privilege, a summer playground for the rich and famous, and I wanted to experience it for myself.  That’s what fascinated me initially – but once I got out there, I was even more fascinated by the fact that the share house experience is the complete antithesis of this.

Who is the “other half” that you refer to in your title?

The share house crowd – mainly Manhattanites in their twenties who rent shares next door to million-dollar mansions of the same size occupied by single families! The share house world is pretty separate from the other, typical Hamptons world.  A rich family out there would probably dine at different restaurants, attend different events and functions, and go to different beaches/beach clubs than the shareholder would.  For the shareholder who just lays out by the pool all day, gets food from the local diner or bagel stores, and hits the same few clubs every weekend, their Hamptons experience for the most part is the house.

I love how you made “Hampton” a verb in your title! How does a twenty-something year old “Hampton”?

Someone who “Hamptons” the right way is probably left exhausted and broke (but tan – and with tons of great stories!

What do you hope readers learn from the book? What do you want them thinking or feeling when they finish the book?

Stephen King once said how he never intended to be some great literary writer, just wrote to entertain people like himself, and I’d say the same of my own writing.

I hope I enlighten people about the share house experience, I hope they laugh/can relate to the experiences of these girls, and I hope to undo some of the disrepute that has come to be associated with “The Hamptons.”  So many people say they hate the Hamptons – and yet, they’ve never even been there!

Do you think that people who are not from New York City will be able to find it an enjoyable read?

I think everyone would be fascinated in learning what a summer community like the Hamptons is like (especially the Us Weekly crowd who can appreciate the celebrity/ nightlife references).  There are also share houses in places like Fire Island, the Jersey Shore, Cape Cod, and ski towns, so people who’ve done those could certainly relate to the camp-like nature of the experience.  And my book is also about the romantic experiences of the girls, which I think is universal!

Can you see your book being turned into a movie or reality series?

I have a film agent (Michael Prevett), who I think sees this translating well into film/television, and is going to shop rights this summer.  Stay tuned!

Will New Yorkers view you as the next Candace Bushnell (known for her sex column that transformed into the book Sex & the City)?

I think I’m similar to Candace Bushnell (or her protagonist Carrie Bradshaw) in several ways.  My friends and social set are a bit younger, but we are both participants in and commentators on New York society and nightlife (she used to hang out at clubs, and go to all the “in” places).  Also like her, I took a column and wrote a book around it (you might even say my chapters are stories unto themselves, with themes and plots that come full-circle).  The Hamptons is almost its own character in the book, the way that New York City as a backdrop was what made Sex and the City.  And finally, I think my topics are avant-garde, like hers were.  Candace wrote about women who have sex like men, which for a column in the 1990’s, was avant-garde for the time.  I’m writing about twenty-somethings who hook up in hot tubs and have sex in rooms with multiple people.  The big challenge we both faced – and hopefully overcame – was how to do that, and still come across likeable.

Is this your dream come true?

This is most definitely my dream come true.  My friends consider me a cubicle success story; I just consider myself lucky.  Lucky, not just for having the kind of parents who supported me throughout this crazy venture, but also for being that rare writer who has the opportunity to be published in such a competitive marketplace.  Therefore, I’d like my legacy to be one of not just courage or perseverance, but one of luck, and true good fortune.

What’s next for you?

Another novel! And then another, and then another…

Photo of Jasmin Rosemberg by Ben Hider.