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.
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