David Schwinghammer's Blog - Posts Tagged "self-destructive"
The Fall of Princes
I have read Robert Goolrick's two previous novels, HEADING OUT TO WONDERFUL and A RELIABLE WIFE. If I had still been doing a top twenty List Mania for Amazon, I would have put both of them on the list for the year they were published.
Alhough not as readable as the previous two, THE FALL OF PRINCES is more significant in that it addresses an ongoing controversy: how rich do you have to be before enough is enough? Rooney, the major character in the novel, works as a Wall Street trader. At one point he does well enough to earn a “yard and a half” bonus at the end of the year. A yard is a million dollars. But, alas, the partying got to him and he was fired, ending up working as a manager for Barnes and Noble.
Rooney never wanted to be a Wall Street wheeler dealer. He had a fellowship to work on his art in Europe for two years. He thought his work was crap and took his father's advise and went to business school. But business school didn't get him his job; the Firm he went to work for didn't take investments under ten million dollars. He got his job because he beat his boss at a poker hand. You'll have to read the book to find out how he did that.
There's also lots of sex involved in the book; Rooney wasn't very selective at the height of the AIDS epidemic; he was bi-sexual, although he does not mention any of his male partners. He was also married to one of the richest women in high society. She ditched him when he got fired, but he claims he'll always love her. We meet her again, but she doesn't seem all that lovable to me.
Rooney really isn't such a bad guy. He forms a relationship with a transexual prostitute named Holly, and they become platonic friends. She works on the street when it's kind of cold out, and he let's her warm up in his apartment once or twice a week. She even cleans his ratty apartment without being asked. Ultimately she tells him she's fallen in love. Again. She ruined her first relationship when her lover gave her money to have the operation, and she spent it on a couple of sailors she met on the way. Who has she fallen in love with? It's Rooney, and he considers it the highest compliment he's ever received. And when he gets down, he knows that somebody loves him. Inexplicably she disappears right after she tells him.
The ending is rather confusing. Rooney insists on buying good sheets, the one rich person habit he refuses to give up; at one point he says only one part of his bed gets mussed. So then he's asexual, right? But when he meets his ex-wife, Carmela, at the book store, he tells her he's a homosexual, but he's not any good at it. He was much better with women. So, is he or isn't he?
I've read an uncomplimentary review about this book, but I get the impression that the author has some experience in this milieu, if his acknowledgments mean anything. So we get to learn something about Wall Street that confirms the old saw: money won't make you happy.
Alhough not as readable as the previous two, THE FALL OF PRINCES is more significant in that it addresses an ongoing controversy: how rich do you have to be before enough is enough? Rooney, the major character in the novel, works as a Wall Street trader. At one point he does well enough to earn a “yard and a half” bonus at the end of the year. A yard is a million dollars. But, alas, the partying got to him and he was fired, ending up working as a manager for Barnes and Noble.
Rooney never wanted to be a Wall Street wheeler dealer. He had a fellowship to work on his art in Europe for two years. He thought his work was crap and took his father's advise and went to business school. But business school didn't get him his job; the Firm he went to work for didn't take investments under ten million dollars. He got his job because he beat his boss at a poker hand. You'll have to read the book to find out how he did that.
There's also lots of sex involved in the book; Rooney wasn't very selective at the height of the AIDS epidemic; he was bi-sexual, although he does not mention any of his male partners. He was also married to one of the richest women in high society. She ditched him when he got fired, but he claims he'll always love her. We meet her again, but she doesn't seem all that lovable to me.
Rooney really isn't such a bad guy. He forms a relationship with a transexual prostitute named Holly, and they become platonic friends. She works on the street when it's kind of cold out, and he let's her warm up in his apartment once or twice a week. She even cleans his ratty apartment without being asked. Ultimately she tells him she's fallen in love. Again. She ruined her first relationship when her lover gave her money to have the operation, and she spent it on a couple of sailors she met on the way. Who has she fallen in love with? It's Rooney, and he considers it the highest compliment he's ever received. And when he gets down, he knows that somebody loves him. Inexplicably she disappears right after she tells him.
The ending is rather confusing. Rooney insists on buying good sheets, the one rich person habit he refuses to give up; at one point he says only one part of his bed gets mussed. So then he's asexual, right? But when he meets his ex-wife, Carmela, at the book store, he tells her he's a homosexual, but he's not any good at it. He was much better with women. So, is he or isn't he?
I've read an uncomplimentary review about this book, but I get the impression that the author has some experience in this milieu, if his acknowledgments mean anything. So we get to learn something about Wall Street that confirms the old saw: money won't make you happy.
Let Him Go
Winner of the 2013 Montana Book Award, Larry Watson sets his novel, LET HIM GO, in 1951 North Dakota, Montana.
Margaret Blackledge has just seen her daughter-in-law's new husband smear chocolate ice cream in her grandson's face to teach him a lesson for dropping his ice cream cone. She lost her son, James, Jimmy's real father, when he was thrown from a horse. Margaret decides she's going to get her grandson back, and she packs practically everything she owns, ready to go to Montana whether her husband, George, former sheriff, likes it or not. He'll follow Margaret to the end of the Earth, so he loads his old Hudson ,and they're on their way.
When they get to Bentrock, Montana, they meet the deceptively charming Bill Weboy, who they ultimately find has some sort of romantic relationship with Blanche Weboy, authoritarian head of the Weboy clan. He invites them to dinner. While they're out there, Blanche lets Margaret know in no uncertain terms that she's not about give up her grandson.
As the Blackledges explore Bentrock, they find out more about the Weboys. They're definitely on the wrong side of the law, but they never quite go overboard. Lorna, Margaret's daugher-in-law, works at the Montgomery Ward store in Bentrock. Margaret asks if she'd like to leave the Weboys and come live with George and her in Dalton, North Dakota. She seems to agree, but that same night there's a confrontation between Bill Weboy and the rest of the Weboy clan, three grown boys, during which George is humiliated.
George spends time in the hospital and he's running a fever, but he decides to return home to Dalton, or seemingly so. They've been invited to pitch their tent at Alton Dragsdorf's cabin; they made friends with this Indian boy during their first few days in Bentrock. In the middle of the night, George leaves in the Hudson. We know where he's going, but we have no reason to suspect he'll do what he does. He's badly outnumbered, after all.
He just wants Margaret to have what she wants, which is her grandson Jimmy. There's a weird scene where Jimmy looks into a dark closet and sees something there. He's only four years old. Will what he sees in that dark closet haunt him for the rest of his life?
Margaret Blackledge has just seen her daughter-in-law's new husband smear chocolate ice cream in her grandson's face to teach him a lesson for dropping his ice cream cone. She lost her son, James, Jimmy's real father, when he was thrown from a horse. Margaret decides she's going to get her grandson back, and she packs practically everything she owns, ready to go to Montana whether her husband, George, former sheriff, likes it or not. He'll follow Margaret to the end of the Earth, so he loads his old Hudson ,and they're on their way.
When they get to Bentrock, Montana, they meet the deceptively charming Bill Weboy, who they ultimately find has some sort of romantic relationship with Blanche Weboy, authoritarian head of the Weboy clan. He invites them to dinner. While they're out there, Blanche lets Margaret know in no uncertain terms that she's not about give up her grandson.
As the Blackledges explore Bentrock, they find out more about the Weboys. They're definitely on the wrong side of the law, but they never quite go overboard. Lorna, Margaret's daugher-in-law, works at the Montgomery Ward store in Bentrock. Margaret asks if she'd like to leave the Weboys and come live with George and her in Dalton, North Dakota. She seems to agree, but that same night there's a confrontation between Bill Weboy and the rest of the Weboy clan, three grown boys, during which George is humiliated.
George spends time in the hospital and he's running a fever, but he decides to return home to Dalton, or seemingly so. They've been invited to pitch their tent at Alton Dragsdorf's cabin; they made friends with this Indian boy during their first few days in Bentrock. In the middle of the night, George leaves in the Hudson. We know where he's going, but we have no reason to suspect he'll do what he does. He's badly outnumbered, after all.
He just wants Margaret to have what she wants, which is her grandson Jimmy. There's a weird scene where Jimmy looks into a dark closet and sees something there. He's only four years old. Will what he sees in that dark closet haunt him for the rest of his life?
