Long Island Compromise

Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Long Island Compromise
By Taffy Brodesser-Akner

440 pages. 2024

In 1980, wealthy styrofoam manufacturer Carl Fetcher is kidnapped right from his driveway, taken to an undisclosed location, threatened and mistreated but not permanently hurt. His ordeal lasts 5 days until a ransom is paid and he is released.
These 5 days become the before and after of his entire life.
Because while he is unharmed and physically fine, he is the shell of the man he once was…

Cut to 40 years later…
This is just the beginning of a saga in which this is merely a speedbumb in the lives of rich people.

What follows is an absolute vivisection of what is wrong with generational wealth and capitalism America.

We follow Beamer, Carl’s son. A screenwriter who has been in the room for a series of Lethal Weapon type mindless action movies called Santiago, who has more kinks than a garden hose. (I happen to think he’s the best character in the book). We follow his brother, Nathan, who is afraid of his own shadow. We follow their sister, Jenny, who is rebelling against the family but can find nothing worthwhile to do...

Spoiler alert, but this is an awful family. A hilariously awful one. And the third generation pf the Fletchers is just a copy of a copy of a copy. The matriarch of the family is Phyllis, whose husband brought over the formula from polystyrene after escaping from the Nazis. And even that contribution is tainted by an untruth.

It's both a guilty pleasure and a damning condemnation. You aren’t so much rooting for anyone as you are just morbidly curious how bad it can get. And experiencing the nihilistic pleasure of knowing that the rich will never learn, and never truly suffer.
Watching it all unfold is a pleasure. I burned through this and immediately picked up the author’s previous effort. I found this book in the airport and on people’s reading lists and it took me a little while to get to the top of the waitlist at the library. This is a hot new book that will most surely be made into a movie at some point.

5 stars, excellent.




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