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Title: Extravagance: A Novel by Gary Krist ISBN: 0767913302 Publisher: Broadway Books Pub. Date: 24 September, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4
Rating: 5
Summary: Terrific and Surprising
Comment: This is a great novel. It jumps back and forth between old London and new New York, and really nails the atmosphere of both. It's one story--a classic tale about a young guy coming from a small town to make his fortune--but it ends up not being what you expect. It provides no simple morals about the stock market mess that we just want to get through, but instead suggests that it wasn't all about greed, but about a dream of power and possibility, too (though also about greed). And the book is hilarious in places. There's one incredible scene that takes place in Bedlam, the lunatic asylum where Londoners of the time went for entertainment. And there are loads of other really memorable scenes. It's one of those books you just enjoy thoroughly and effortlessly. A+.
Rating: 2
Summary: I Have Read A Dozen Variations Of This Book
Comment: Few books are entirely original, there is nothing wrong with this, for a talented writer can find something new to bring to a genre or a given theme. This is decidedly not the case with, "Extravagance". To be fair, if this is the first book you have ever read about irrational human behavior of any kind, perhaps you will enjoy this read. Bad judgment by humans is not confined to financial matters, greed just happens to be easy to write about, and examples are almost constantly in the news.
There have been entertaining novels written about English financial markets of centuries ago, and bookshelves sag under the weight of fiction and non-fiction accounts of the avarice that took place in the 1980's and 1990's. This author has taken one story and stretched it by having his protagonist stumble and stagger between two time frames in history. To suggest this book involves time travel is unfounded for the protagonist is ignorant of any movement, and if there was to be some manner of travel, an explanation should have been offered however weak.
In the last year there has been a massive amount of information and breaking stories about the most recent incarnations of greed and abominable behavior in the financial markets, men and women already rich beyond any possible need continuing to cheat for meaningless amounts of money at the expense of people who have been severely damaged. People whose only fault was to believe these modern day snake oil salesmen and women. If a writer wants to lampoon stupidity he or she needs to look no farther than several billionaires who have set a course to court and probably jail over insider trading worth twenty or thirty thousand dollars. That is a good deal of money, to a billionaire willing to break laws and face jail, that amount of money is pocket change and is indicative of not only massive greed and arrogance, but by a diminutive IQ as well. Net worth and good sense seem to be inversely related.
The other part of this book that was exceptionally annoying was the paternalistic morality tale offered to the reader as though those reading this book are simpletons. Trust that is violated does not make a fool of the person who placed faith in another. Those who are the violators may have amassed wealth at the expense of others, and then made decisions worthy of greed-fogged thought processes, but kindly don't lecture readers. Why not lecture those that are in a position to place these thieves in jail for meaningful periods of time, and then see that they never again may hold a position where they have a fiduciary responsibility to the public?
This book has some memorable banter and that is why I gave it 2 stars.
Rating: 5
Summary: A great read, and more
Comment: This is a really excellent novel--a page-turner--but a lot more than that. It's an exploration of how human nature created the financial bubble that just burst. Krist sets the novel on two separate but parallel tracks--Wall Street at the end of the 20th century and London at the end of the 17th century, when stocks were fairly new and exotic things. Krist has done his homework; the historical sections are authentic, making you feel as if you've been transported to another world. But, however different the language and customs of 1690s Londoners from 1990s New Yorkers, the action in both places revolves around human universals: ambition, love, temptation, and certainly greed. That's why Krist can weave the two stories into a single narrative that gains momentum as it proceeds. This is a high-wire act, and he pulls it off.
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Title: The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason ISBN: 0375414657 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 17 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: The Coffee Trader by David Liss ISBN: 0375508546 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 04 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Moral Hazard: A Novel by Kate Jennings ISBN: 0007141084 Publisher: Fourth Estate Pub. Date: 28 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: All Is Vanity: A Novel by Christina Schwarz ISBN: 0385499728 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 15 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Paradise Alley : A Novel by Kevin Baker ISBN: 0060195827 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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