The New Yorker: "Expectations" by John Lanchester

January 9, 2012: "Expectations"by John Lanchester
This appears to be an excerpt from Lanchester's forthcomingnovel called Capital, which the excerpt is all about. It's an amusing readbecause the main characters are comically obnoxious, but that's about all ithas going for it. 
Roger is an investment banker in London, and he'santicipating a year-end bonus of a million pounds. Maybe more! After all, thedepartment he manages, foreign exchange, made a bundle for the bank during theyear. And although other parts of the bank didn't do so well, Roger has earnedhis bonus! And he needs that bonus, too, because he and his wife are a bit overextended on the posh house that they did an extensive remodel on and thecountry place (and the cars and servants, etc., etc.). And then there's thewife, who, despite the cars and the servants, thinks Roger doesn't understandhow hard she works to raise their boys (there are nannies), and so she plots tosend him a very strong message.
John is surprised by his bonus, but not terribly surprisedby the message his wife sends . . .

It'spretty hard to care about these people in the context of this excerpt, butmaybe they'd be more likeable in the novel.