What do you think?
Rate this book
Too Much Money
My name is Gus Bailey…It should be pointed out that it is a regular feature of my life that people whisper things in my ear, very private things, about themselves or others. I have always understood the art of listening.
The last two years have been monstrously unpleasant for high-society journalist Gus Bailey. His propensity for gossip has finally gotten him into trouble—$11 million worth. His problems begin when he falls hook, line, and sinker for a fake story from an unreliable source and repeats it on a radio program. As a result of his flip comments, Gus becomes embroiled in a nasty slander suit brought by Kyle Cramden, the powerful congressman he accuses of being involved in the mysterious disappearance of a young woman, and he fears it could mean the end of him.
The stress of the lawsuit makes it difficult for Gus to focus on the novel he has been contracted to write, which is based on the suspicious death of billionaire Konstantin Zacharias. It is a story that has dominated the party conversations of Manhattan's chattering classes for more than two years. The convicted murderer is behind bars, but Gus is not convinced that justice was served. There are too many unanswered questions, such as why a paranoid man who was usually accompanied by bodyguards was without protection the very night he perished in a tragic fire.
Konstantin's hot-tempered widow, Perla, is obsessed with climbing the social ladder and, as a result, she will do anything to suppress this potentially damaging story. Gus is convinced she is the only thing standing between him and the truth.
Dominick Dunne revives the world he first introduced in his mega-bestselling novel People Like Us , and he brings readers up to date on favorite characters such as Ruby and Elias Renthal, Lil Altemus, and, of course, the beloved Gus Bailey. Once again, he invites us to pull up a seat at the most important tables at Swifty's, get past the doormen at esteemed social clubs like The Butterfield, and venture into the innermost chambers of the Upper East Side's most sumptuous mansions.
Too Much Money is a satisfying, mischievous, and compulsively readable tale by the most brilliant society chronicler of our time—the man who knew all the secrets and wasn't afraid to share them.
The last two years have been monstrously unpleasant for high-society journalist Gus Bailey. His propensity for gossip has finally gotten him into trouble—$11 million worth. His problems begin when he falls hook, line, and sinker for a fake story from an unreliable source and repeats it on a radio program. As a result of his flip comments, Gus becomes embroiled in a nasty slander suit brought by Kyle Cramden, the powerful congressman he accuses of being involved in the mysterious disappearance of a young woman, and he fears it could mean the end of him.
The stress of the lawsuit makes it difficult for Gus to focus on the novel he has been contracted to write, which is based on the suspicious death of billionaire Konstantin Zacharias. It is a story that has dominated the party conversations of Manhattan's chattering classes for more than two years. The convicted murderer is behind bars, but Gus is not convinced that justice was served. There are too many unanswered questions, such as why a paranoid man who was usually accompanied by bodyguards was without protection the very night he perished in a tragic fire.
Konstantin's hot-tempered widow, Perla, is obsessed with climbing the social ladder and, as a result, she will do anything to suppress this potentially damaging story. Gus is convinced she is the only thing standing between him and the truth.
Dominick Dunne revives the world he first introduced in his mega-bestselling novel People Like Us , and he brings readers up to date on favorite characters such as Ruby and Elias Renthal, Lil Altemus, and, of course, the beloved Gus Bailey. Once again, he invites us to pull up a seat at the most important tables at Swifty's, get past the doormen at esteemed social clubs like The Butterfield, and venture into the innermost chambers of the Upper East Side's most sumptuous mansions.
Too Much Money is a satisfying, mischievous, and compulsively readable tale by the most brilliant society chronicler of our time—the man who knew all the secrets and wasn't afraid to share them.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1999
276 people are currently reading
711 people want to read
About the author
Dominick Dunne
48 books344 followersDominick Dunne was an American writer and investigative journalist whose subjects frequently hinged on the ways high society interacts with the judiciary system. He was a producer in Hollywood and is also known from his frequent appearances on television.
After his studies at Williams College and service in World War II, Dunne moved to New York, then to Hollywood, where he directed Playhouse 90 and became vice president of Four Star Pictures. He hobnobbed with the rich and the famous of those days. In 1979, he left Hollywood, moved to Oregon, and wrote his first book, The Winners. In November 1982, his actress daughter, Dominique Dunne, was murdered. Dunne attended the trial of her murderer (John Thomas Sweeney) and subsequently wrote Justice: A Father's Account of the Trial of his Daughter's Killer.
After his studies at Williams College and service in World War II, Dunne moved to New York, then to Hollywood, where he directed Playhouse 90 and became vice president of Four Star Pictures. He hobnobbed with the rich and the famous of those days. In 1979, he left Hollywood, moved to Oregon, and wrote his first book, The Winners. In November 1982, his actress daughter, Dominique Dunne, was murdered. Dunne attended the trial of her murderer (John Thomas Sweeney) and subsequently wrote Justice: A Father's Account of the Trial of his Daughter's Killer.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 229 reviews
December 14, 2009
Reviewed for the Los Angeles Times, 12/14/09
If Dominick Dunne's posthumous novel, "Too Much Money," will get people talking about him, that's probably exactly what he would have wanted.
Dunne was something of an outsider who became a trusted chronicler of the lifestyles and trials of the privileged. He became a brand of his own -- white-haired, owl-eyed, patrician -- on cable television. Connecticut-born, Dunne was an early TV producer in New York who moved to L.A. to produce films. He had a few successes and enjoyed moving among elites, until he partied his way out of Hollywood and his marriage. He wound up mired in alcohol and more, divorced, broke and struggling in New York in 1982 when his daughter Dominique, a promising actress, was slain by her ex-boyfriend. In an almost unbelievable twist, after talk about his decision to attend the trial, a new career began: He became a professional court-watcher at the behest of Tina Brown, the new editor of Vanity Fair.
In a handful of novels, Augustus "Gus" Bailey appears as Dunne's alter ego, and his life had the kind of drama you might find in fiction. Like Dunne, Bailey writes for a glossy magazine. As Dunne's friendship with the children of heiress Sunny von Bülow gave him intimate access to her home, so did Bailey's with the children of the fictional Antonia von Rautbord. When Dunne was sued by Gary Condit for saying that the congressman knew more about the Chandra Levy case than he was letting on, Bailey was sued by the fictional Kyle Cramden over insinuations about the disappearance and death of Diandra Lomax -- and so on.
Exactly where the two diverge will be the focus of the buzz around this book. Whispers about Dunne's sexuality dogged him: The Advocate's obituary noted Dunne was "long rumored to be gay." Maybe people talked because he'd never remarried, he'd produced the gay-focused 1970 film "The Boys in the Band," told the stories of the gay men who circulated through New York society and was himself a "walker," accompanying wealthy divorcées and widows to public events.
In this book, Dunne's alter ego Bailey confronts the gossip.
"'Probably true, whatever you've heard,' Gus added as casually as he could.
"'Heard?' Peter inquired.
"'Oh you know, that I'm deep within the closet.... Well, maybe I am...in the closet. So what.... I feel quite relieved having said it. I'm beyond 80, you know. Mustn't have any more secrets. Can't die with a secret, you know.'"
Is Bailey's coming out solely fiction, or is he meant to speak for the writer himself? Dunne's fiction is filled with real-life dopplegängers: In this book, Kit Jones is clearly Liz Smith, Christine Saunders is Barbara Walters, and Adele Harcourt, the Manhattan doyenne who lives past 100, is Brooke Astor. He drops pseudonyms like bread crumbs. With all the nods to real people, it will be tempting to conclude that Dunne is revealing a secret about himself, that Gus' eleventh-hour confession is Dunne's own.
At its most interesting, "Too Much Money" deals with final legacies and death. Dunne has always trafficked in the comings and goings of New York society; in this book, that society dwells in the shadows of the grim reaper, from octogenarian parties to A-list funerals.
The plot moves forward, slowly, as arrivistes Ruby and Elias Renthal strategize a return to society pages after Elias' prison stint for fraud. Meanwhile, a few elderly society ladies move to maintain their beachheads of real estate and prestige, while gay companions smile handsomely and gossip. Along the way, Gus Bailey tries to ignore a cancer diagnosis while working on a book about the third-richest woman in the world, Perla Zacharias, who may or may not be sending Mossad agents to track him.
The writing lacks the wit that Dunne was known for. Instead, it reads like an episode of "Knot's Landing," repeating information for readers who might have not been paying enough attention between paragraphs, as if they were separated by commercial breaks. Characters get the same description each time they come up, no matter the context. Over and over, we read that Ruby has a suit with sable cuffs, that Perla's husband died in a fire -- not just any fire, but a fire at his villa in Biarritz. The repetition, like Homeric epithets, creates an array of uninvestigated, one-dimensional characters. Inevitably, the good people look fabulous, while the evil are plastic surgery disasters. The sentences can be excruciating, particularly Dunne's five-name, two-location specialty: " 'The Lelands have had to put the Southampton house up for sale,' said Dinkie Winthrop to Addison Kent at Matilda Clark's dinner for Odmolu Webb's birthday in the back room of Swifty's."
What's most puzzling is that this used to mean something. Dunne has lost none of his adoration of the wealthy social elite of New York, but the rest of us have. Inherited names may still be boldface, but now they run beside the latest Disney teen sensations. A society pedigree means little when a geek in Seattle can become a billionaire philanthropist. Power no longer is as simple as a once-vaunted family line.
This sense of shift is absent from "Too Much Money," despite the fact that so many of its characters are at the end of their lives. Their world remains intact, and it's the worse for it. At best, the book reads like an anachronism; at worst, it's insular and boring.
When "Too Much Money" gets cooking in its final pages, it shows what Dunne could do when he heated up. It's juicy high-society soap opera, complete with conflict, redemption and a post-funeral bathroom showdown. It seems that Dunne, who succumbed to cancer during the final editing of the novel, saves his intensity -- and, perhaps his secrets -- for the end.
If Dominick Dunne's posthumous novel, "Too Much Money," will get people talking about him, that's probably exactly what he would have wanted.
Dunne was something of an outsider who became a trusted chronicler of the lifestyles and trials of the privileged. He became a brand of his own -- white-haired, owl-eyed, patrician -- on cable television. Connecticut-born, Dunne was an early TV producer in New York who moved to L.A. to produce films. He had a few successes and enjoyed moving among elites, until he partied his way out of Hollywood and his marriage. He wound up mired in alcohol and more, divorced, broke and struggling in New York in 1982 when his daughter Dominique, a promising actress, was slain by her ex-boyfriend. In an almost unbelievable twist, after talk about his decision to attend the trial, a new career began: He became a professional court-watcher at the behest of Tina Brown, the new editor of Vanity Fair.
In a handful of novels, Augustus "Gus" Bailey appears as Dunne's alter ego, and his life had the kind of drama you might find in fiction. Like Dunne, Bailey writes for a glossy magazine. As Dunne's friendship with the children of heiress Sunny von Bülow gave him intimate access to her home, so did Bailey's with the children of the fictional Antonia von Rautbord. When Dunne was sued by Gary Condit for saying that the congressman knew more about the Chandra Levy case than he was letting on, Bailey was sued by the fictional Kyle Cramden over insinuations about the disappearance and death of Diandra Lomax -- and so on.
Exactly where the two diverge will be the focus of the buzz around this book. Whispers about Dunne's sexuality dogged him: The Advocate's obituary noted Dunne was "long rumored to be gay." Maybe people talked because he'd never remarried, he'd produced the gay-focused 1970 film "The Boys in the Band," told the stories of the gay men who circulated through New York society and was himself a "walker," accompanying wealthy divorcées and widows to public events.
In this book, Dunne's alter ego Bailey confronts the gossip.
"'Probably true, whatever you've heard,' Gus added as casually as he could.
"'Heard?' Peter inquired.
"'Oh you know, that I'm deep within the closet.... Well, maybe I am...in the closet. So what.... I feel quite relieved having said it. I'm beyond 80, you know. Mustn't have any more secrets. Can't die with a secret, you know.'"
Is Bailey's coming out solely fiction, or is he meant to speak for the writer himself? Dunne's fiction is filled with real-life dopplegängers: In this book, Kit Jones is clearly Liz Smith, Christine Saunders is Barbara Walters, and Adele Harcourt, the Manhattan doyenne who lives past 100, is Brooke Astor. He drops pseudonyms like bread crumbs. With all the nods to real people, it will be tempting to conclude that Dunne is revealing a secret about himself, that Gus' eleventh-hour confession is Dunne's own.
At its most interesting, "Too Much Money" deals with final legacies and death. Dunne has always trafficked in the comings and goings of New York society; in this book, that society dwells in the shadows of the grim reaper, from octogenarian parties to A-list funerals.
The plot moves forward, slowly, as arrivistes Ruby and Elias Renthal strategize a return to society pages after Elias' prison stint for fraud. Meanwhile, a few elderly society ladies move to maintain their beachheads of real estate and prestige, while gay companions smile handsomely and gossip. Along the way, Gus Bailey tries to ignore a cancer diagnosis while working on a book about the third-richest woman in the world, Perla Zacharias, who may or may not be sending Mossad agents to track him.
The writing lacks the wit that Dunne was known for. Instead, it reads like an episode of "Knot's Landing," repeating information for readers who might have not been paying enough attention between paragraphs, as if they were separated by commercial breaks. Characters get the same description each time they come up, no matter the context. Over and over, we read that Ruby has a suit with sable cuffs, that Perla's husband died in a fire -- not just any fire, but a fire at his villa in Biarritz. The repetition, like Homeric epithets, creates an array of uninvestigated, one-dimensional characters. Inevitably, the good people look fabulous, while the evil are plastic surgery disasters. The sentences can be excruciating, particularly Dunne's five-name, two-location specialty: " 'The Lelands have had to put the Southampton house up for sale,' said Dinkie Winthrop to Addison Kent at Matilda Clark's dinner for Odmolu Webb's birthday in the back room of Swifty's."
What's most puzzling is that this used to mean something. Dunne has lost none of his adoration of the wealthy social elite of New York, but the rest of us have. Inherited names may still be boldface, but now they run beside the latest Disney teen sensations. A society pedigree means little when a geek in Seattle can become a billionaire philanthropist. Power no longer is as simple as a once-vaunted family line.
This sense of shift is absent from "Too Much Money," despite the fact that so many of its characters are at the end of their lives. Their world remains intact, and it's the worse for it. At best, the book reads like an anachronism; at worst, it's insular and boring.
When "Too Much Money" gets cooking in its final pages, it shows what Dunne could do when he heated up. It's juicy high-society soap opera, complete with conflict, redemption and a post-funeral bathroom showdown. It seems that Dunne, who succumbed to cancer during the final editing of the novel, saves his intensity -- and, perhaps his secrets -- for the end.
January 8, 2010
I love revenge. Before you read the book set the scene by reading Dunne's autobiography on Wikipedia. Then you will understand that the book is non-fiction and all of the characters are real like the Von Bulows and Gary Condit. Dunne knew he was dying so he wrote a final tell-all. He exacted his revenge and entertained me, just as he did when he wrote the fictional non-fiction about OJ, which I also loved. I can't wait to write my fictional autobiography, lol.
July 26, 2025
Just ok.
March 8, 2016
Goodness, where do I begin with this novel? I guess I should start by saying, if you're a fan of Dominick Dunne and his past novels, feel safe in skipping Too Much Money. The plot went nowhere, there are inconsistencies with characters from past works, way too much repetition, and it's chock-full of just plain bad writing.
I'd venture a guess that Mr. Dunne did not actually write this book; perhaps he had an outline or the very beginnings of the book, then became too ill or even died before completion, and a ghostwriter was brought in to overhaul and complete the novel. If that's the case (or even if Mr. Dunne actually DID write Too Much Money) why oh why did his editor and publisher let this garbage through? Why did they allow this drivel to pass as Mr. Dunne's last work? (My personal theory is that his publisher counted on the name of Dominick Dunne to sell books, no matter what the content)
So, on to some of the glaring inconsistencies: Justine Altemus's personality was completely changed from the sweet, naive young woman who finally finds a purpose in single-motherhood to son Hubie (named for her brother who died of AIDS and conceived during Justine's short-lived marriage to Bernie Slatkin) and director of the Hospice for AIDS patients which bears her late brother's name in People Like Us, to a somewhat remote and bitter woman, mother of daughter Cordelia-fathered by Bernie Slatkin. Makes no sense whatsoever.
Also, Pauline Mendelson pops up: last in An Inconvenient Woman, we read that, after the death of her husband Jules, Pauline married an English Lord and moved out of the country; she makes an appearance in Too Much Money as visiting from California, and still using the Mendelson name.
Elias Renthal goes from having paid 150 million in fines and a sentence of 5 years in prison in People Like Us, to having paid HUNDREDS of millions in fines and spending 7 years in prison in Too Much Money.
I've seen Mr. Dunne's characters overlap before, but never in such a haphazard way. And that leads credence to my theory that not only is Mr. Dunne NOT the author of Too Much Money, but that the author him-or herself has never read any of Mr. Dunne's previous books.
These are just a few of my problems with Too Much Money. If you are a longtime fan of Dominick Dunne, and feel you simply MUST read this and decide for yourself, of course feel free to do so.
But don't say you weren't warned
I'd venture a guess that Mr. Dunne did not actually write this book; perhaps he had an outline or the very beginnings of the book, then became too ill or even died before completion, and a ghostwriter was brought in to overhaul and complete the novel. If that's the case (or even if Mr. Dunne actually DID write Too Much Money) why oh why did his editor and publisher let this garbage through? Why did they allow this drivel to pass as Mr. Dunne's last work? (My personal theory is that his publisher counted on the name of Dominick Dunne to sell books, no matter what the content)
So, on to some of the glaring inconsistencies: Justine Altemus's personality was completely changed from the sweet, naive young woman who finally finds a purpose in single-motherhood to son Hubie (named for her brother who died of AIDS and conceived during Justine's short-lived marriage to Bernie Slatkin) and director of the Hospice for AIDS patients which bears her late brother's name in People Like Us, to a somewhat remote and bitter woman, mother of daughter Cordelia-fathered by Bernie Slatkin. Makes no sense whatsoever.
Also, Pauline Mendelson pops up: last in An Inconvenient Woman, we read that, after the death of her husband Jules, Pauline married an English Lord and moved out of the country; she makes an appearance in Too Much Money as visiting from California, and still using the Mendelson name.
Elias Renthal goes from having paid 150 million in fines and a sentence of 5 years in prison in People Like Us, to having paid HUNDREDS of millions in fines and spending 7 years in prison in Too Much Money.
I've seen Mr. Dunne's characters overlap before, but never in such a haphazard way. And that leads credence to my theory that not only is Mr. Dunne NOT the author of Too Much Money, but that the author him-or herself has never read any of Mr. Dunne's previous books.
These are just a few of my problems with Too Much Money. If you are a longtime fan of Dominick Dunne, and feel you simply MUST read this and decide for yourself, of course feel free to do so.
But don't say you weren't warned
December 24, 2009
This was Dominick Dunne's last novel before he died and I'm sorry to say it was rather a weak effort. I greatly enjoyed his other novels so was excited to pick this one up but alas, I finished it with a deep feeling of ennui and, almost, distaste. The name-dropping was rampant and rather vulgar and the story went nowhere. I have previously liked reading about New York society as Mr. Dunne viewed it, from "inside the aquarium" as it were, but Too Much Money bordered on cariacture and the "rich people", both old-money and new, came across as even more shallow and money-and-status-obssessed than they probably are. Overall, a frivolous book.
September 12, 2011
Mr. Dunne was a star-f***ing snob to the end.
April 20, 2021
Like the first two reviewers of Dominick Dunne's newest/last book, I was going to give it four stars. I've loved Dunne's writing all these years, from his columns in Vanity Fair to his many novels along the way. "People Like Us" was always a particular favorite of mine. I always thought it was better than Tom Wolfe's "Bonfire of the Vanities", which was released at about the same time and was about the same strata of NYC society - the "titans of Wall Street" and their "Social X-ray" wives.
"Too Much Money" is about the same characters, updated a few years or so, and beginning with Elias Renthal's release from prison, i.e. "the facility" and Adele Harcourt's death, at the age of 105. A famous slander case that the real Dominick Dunne was involved in is a large part of the novel, as well as his on-going battle with one of the wealthiest widows in the world over her husband's suspicious death in Monte Carlo. Like Dominick Dunne, Gus Bailey was diagnosed with cancer and his treatment is also part of the story. As are the incidental characters, maids, chauffeurs, press people, society "walkers"; auxiliary people who Dunne draws with a wicked, but, at times, sympathetic pen.
And the most interesting part of the book is that I think Dominick Dunne "outs" himself. I won't give the part away but it seemed almost as if Dunne confesses something he has long wanted to say, but maybe couldn't until he faced death.
Was the writing great? No, it wasn't "five star" great - it was "four star" - but, in honor of the man's last work, and the honesty in writing it, I'm giving it "five stars". Enjoy.
"Too Much Money" is about the same characters, updated a few years or so, and beginning with Elias Renthal's release from prison, i.e. "the facility" and Adele Harcourt's death, at the age of 105. A famous slander case that the real Dominick Dunne was involved in is a large part of the novel, as well as his on-going battle with one of the wealthiest widows in the world over her husband's suspicious death in Monte Carlo. Like Dominick Dunne, Gus Bailey was diagnosed with cancer and his treatment is also part of the story. As are the incidental characters, maids, chauffeurs, press people, society "walkers"; auxiliary people who Dunne draws with a wicked, but, at times, sympathetic pen.
And the most interesting part of the book is that I think Dominick Dunne "outs" himself. I won't give the part away but it seemed almost as if Dunne confesses something he has long wanted to say, but maybe couldn't until he faced death.
Was the writing great? No, it wasn't "five star" great - it was "four star" - but, in honor of the man's last work, and the honesty in writing it, I'm giving it "five stars". Enjoy.
June 11, 2018
The last book Dominick Dunne wrote before his death which is presaged by his alter ego narrator, Gus Bailey. Dunne assembles all his favorite New York society characters together for one more story about new money eclipsing old money and how people either adapt to changing times or get run over.
Dunne's diary columns for Vanity Fair were the first thing I read in the magazine every month, and I loved his roman a clefs on New York life. A great read for a plane trip or a beach vacation
Dunne's diary columns for Vanity Fair were the first thing I read in the magazine every month, and I loved his roman a clefs on New York life. A great read for a plane trip or a beach vacation
March 27, 2020
Wonderful, as Dunne always is.
September 14, 2011
I'm a Dominick Dunne fan. I started reading him in the 80's w/ THE TWO MRS. GRENVILLES and have read just about all the fiction he's written since. As usual, the line b/w fiction and non is blurred noticably blurred. It's all the more noticable since one of the characters is a fictional Dominick Dunne. Which begs the question (as usual) "how much of this really happened"? That can either add to the fun or get in the way depending on your point of view. Dunne's use of repetition is particularly effective at creating a world of rumor and partial truths. It's gets kind of irritating about two thirds of the way through and by the end you just want to yell SHUT UP, but i think you're supposed to. You're left having to fill in many visual blanks when it comes to the characters -- as he tends to talk about the clothes more than the people wearing them. But his tales are told in his typically tantalizing manner. You feel like you're getting to know things about unknowable people which tends to make unlikable people appealing. Personally I wanted to plot to go farther faster and the big showdown near the end seemed a little anticlimactic but it's still an enjoyable read and I remain a Dominick Dunne fan. After this though I definitely need to check out his non fiction.
January 29, 2010
Thus ends Gus Bailey. Written during the last months of author Dominick Dunne's life, TOO MUCH MONEY closes the life and times of his alter ego,Gus Bailey. The sense of gloom, melancholy, and sad realizations permeate this book. Though Wallis Simpson famously declared that one cannot be too rich or too thin, the inhabitants of Gus Bailey's New York high society found that too much money can lead to unimaginable challenges and sorrows reflected in the economic crisis of our world. Yet, the indicators in the story lead toward the continuation of shallow "friendships", emphasis on materialistic sensibilities, and the absence of reliable human connections when social and financial status is the primary focus of life.
I read this book because I am a fan of the author. This book is weak compared to his body of work and not one that I recommend to anyone except Dominick Dunne fans like me, who feel compelled to read his final work.
I read this book because I am a fan of the author. This book is weak compared to his body of work and not one that I recommend to anyone except Dominick Dunne fans like me, who feel compelled to read his final work.
March 22, 2017
I started watching Dominick Dunne when he did commentary on the O.J. trial. I liked him. I read some of his articles in Vanity Fair. I found out that he was a tremendous snob and a bit of name dropping hanger-on. This was disappointing.
This book, the last written before his death is a thinly veiled account of the final years of his life. As I would expect it featured much talk about money and status. The plot wasn't interesting to me and the characters were universally unappealing.
Pondering point: The people in this book have the most boring and insipid conversations. Are mine and my friends this boring? I don't think so. Well, after thinking about it, maybe we do sometimes talk about hair, clothes and affairs. The difference is that there is no fawning observer to record it. No one cares about my conversations or pretends they are interesting. Maybe the rich aren't so different after all.
This book, the last written before his death is a thinly veiled account of the final years of his life. As I would expect it featured much talk about money and status. The plot wasn't interesting to me and the characters were universally unappealing.
Pondering point: The people in this book have the most boring and insipid conversations. Are mine and my friends this boring? I don't think so. Well, after thinking about it, maybe we do sometimes talk about hair, clothes and affairs. The difference is that there is no fawning observer to record it. No one cares about my conversations or pretends they are interesting. Maybe the rich aren't so different after all.
September 17, 2019
I found it interesting how Dominick Dunne managed to incorporate the reality of his terminal illness within the story of this novel. The novel was published posthumously and it was obvious that he was well aware of his upcoming exit from life in the way he wrote the ending. Prior to reading "Too Much Money" I have also read his novel "People Like Us". I enjoyed reading both novels and back in the 90s enjoyed dining at the restaurant mentioned in both novels, Swifty's, which is actually Mortimer's on Upper Lexington Avenue, which has since closed. In a documentary made about Dominick Dunne, made while he was covering the Phil Spector trial for Vanity Fair magazine, he mentions that he is aware that he is most known for being a popularist writer and not a writer of literary esteem. Well, I say that's good enough for me. I think the man was truly a class act, despite what his detractors might have to say for him. It's hard to believe it's now been ten years since his passing. RIP, Gus!
March 21, 2010
I liked Dominick Dunne, but then again, I'm biased. Quite literally, a small man, from an affluent family, beaten in secret by his well-respected surgeon father, upon love-at-first-sight, marries his brother's girlfriend, somehow becomes a part of the Golden Age of Hollywood, gets divorced, fall from grace from saying shit about a fellow producer, becomes poor as shit, daughter gets murdered, becomes the mainstay of Vanity Fair. What the fuck.
Too Much Money was definitely Dunne's last hurrah before he died in 2009. Thinly veiled pseudonyms gave a reader carte blanche into Dunne's (Bailey's) every day. I think I loved reading this book because it's like a episode of 1970's Columbo: it's all about being a part of the rich bastard NOT getting away with it.
Too Much Money was definitely Dunne's last hurrah before he died in 2009. Thinly veiled pseudonyms gave a reader carte blanche into Dunne's (Bailey's) every day. I think I loved reading this book because it's like a episode of 1970's Columbo: it's all about being a part of the rich bastard NOT getting away with it.
July 8, 2010
It is difficult to like this roman a clef of spiteful, shallow characters. Dunne specializes in pillaring the rich as did Truman Capote ( a much better writer). “Too Much Money” contains too many repetitions that should have been edited. To be fair, as this book was published posthumously, Dunne would have not had the opportunity perhaps to make a final check. For a more interesting and balanced look at the world of the very rich, read Louis Auchincloss or Edith Wharton, both insiders, compared to observers such as Dunne, Capote or Scott Fitzgerald all of which had a love/hate relationship to their subjects that resulted in their biting the hands that fed them.
Read
September 26, 2020I think this book hit the spot this week. Think National Enquirer reporting secretly on NYC’s very rich. It has me thinking : what are the members of High Society doing during the Corona lockdown?
No theater, no concerts, no restaurants, no shopping, no entertaining ( or people would tattle) and NO work for those who do. It probably was a lot like everyone else’s life?
I couldn’t figure out who the characters were based on, though I know they are not totally fictional, so it was a little bit too much from an “ insiders” view and a little too esoteric for me at times, but still, I enjoyed it. The story had me coming back...
No theater, no concerts, no restaurants, no shopping, no entertaining ( or people would tattle) and NO work for those who do. It probably was a lot like everyone else’s life?
I couldn’t figure out who the characters were based on, though I know they are not totally fictional, so it was a little bit too much from an “ insiders” view and a little too esoteric for me at times, but still, I enjoyed it. The story had me coming back...
October 2, 2012
It was a great read made me laugh out loud and the climbers and the society golden spooners and i especially liked the ex-convict humor. Dominick Dunne is a great writer as he moves you through the characters who are all woven together in the webs of life.
I recommend this wonderful read!
I recommend this wonderful read!
January 23, 2020
At first hated this book, because of the despicable main characters. Finally I realized that this "novel", published posthumously, is Mr. Dunne's final word on the amoral / immoral rich and famous among whom he made his living as an observant author. DUH!! His "autobiographical" protagonist Gus Bailey comments upon everyone from the Menendez brothers to Sunny von Bülow - from women who still determine their behavior based on the style of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to one who manages to get rid of an unwanted husbands via fire - from the latest financial giant who is released from prison to Charles and Camilla. He even takes a jab at Mayor Bloomberg and thinly veils the slander suit brought against the author in the Sandra Levy case. This is Dunne at his cattiest best giving the finger to the world he wrote about, the star chasers who even wondered about the embalming of "that actor in ?Batman? who overdosed on prescription drugs". Have fun figuring out the objects of scorn. Both Gus Bailey and Mr. Dunne are saying goodbye. The book is full of heartbreaking evidence of this. Early in the book an elderly gay man with terminal cancer arranges his elegant departure. Later Gus / Dunne also learns of his own cancer, but makes a dignified, quiet departure. Mr Dunne had far more class than his subjects, and as he states concerning the world in which he circulated: at least I don't have to buy my way in. Kristi
June 3, 2017
Throughout his life Dunne wrote, in both his novels & his non-fiction, about the upper stratas of American society. Not just the rich but the stratospherically wealthy - people who seat 60 people in their homes @ an intimate dinner party or hire the Four Seasons Hotel to throw a shindig for 300 of their closest friends. For those of us of more modest means these stories can almost be regarded as fantasy. While Dunne obviously admires many of the inhabitants of this world he clearly doesn't like them very much & he mixes this admiration with disdain in his very entertaining books. And there isn't much difference between the real & the imagined as, even in his novels, the characters are so thinly-veiled that those on whom they are based are in no doubt about the source of his inspiration. While the level of affluence enjoyed by these proponents of the Trickle-down Theory is obscene Dunne brings them to life as 3 dimensional characters & I have enjoyed every 1 of his works that I have read. Perhaps not for all tastes but highly recommended nonetheless.
February 27, 2018
This was a somewhat entertaining book. Gus, a gossip columnist follows the comings and goings of the New York elite. There wasn't too much of a plot. Gus is fighting a lawsuit over something
he said publicly that turned out to be false and he's trying to uncover the truth behind
the death of one of the multimillionaire crowd. I don't know the New York social crowd
so I didn't know if the characters in the book were based on real people. There is the
old money widow downsizing due to diminished wealth, and the newcomers who
have scads of money but not the required pedigree. There are the gay men who are "walkers" or
escorts for the wealthy dowagers. Their lives are filled with elaborate parties, social luncheons,
and charity galas. It all got repetitious and a little boring.
he said publicly that turned out to be false and he's trying to uncover the truth behind
the death of one of the multimillionaire crowd. I don't know the New York social crowd
so I didn't know if the characters in the book were based on real people. There is the
old money widow downsizing due to diminished wealth, and the newcomers who
have scads of money but not the required pedigree. There are the gay men who are "walkers" or
escorts for the wealthy dowagers. Their lives are filled with elaborate parties, social luncheons,
and charity galas. It all got repetitious and a little boring.
July 18, 2018
I did not like ANY of the characters in this book. I read some of the other reviews before I started reading. One of the reviewers commented on the repetition. One instance of this occurred very early in the book. The author repeats himself, almost verbatim, when describing in detail how the main character was duped into a situation that resulted in a scary slander / libel lawsuit. The first explanation was directed at the reader. The second, identical to the first, was the main character explaining the situation to another character. That was the only part of the book that I think could have been done better. The characters probably weren’t meant to be likable. Mr. Dunne wrote well. All in all, it was OK.
September 5, 2019
Dominick Dunne’s last book and a bittersweet farewell. Published posthumously, it seems he wrote it as a farewell to the high society that loved him and hated him, sometimes at the same time. It follows Dunne ‘s alter ego, Gus Bailey, A’s he faces a slander lawsuit, faces the wrath of the “third richest woman in the world “, and sees the passing of old moneyed friends. There have been critics of the “price dropping” and repetition in this book, but I liked it. The former because I think he was showing just how money conscious people with money are and the latter because I just think it felt like the way these people spoke; it was amusing. Still have a few of his books to read but I’ll be sad when I’m finished them all.
September 3, 2024
This book made me really sad, for a couple of reasons. One, it was Dominick Dunne's final book and two, because it was just plain awful. (I had to give it two stars, because it's Dominick Dunne!) This book was written when the author was terminally ill and it just made no sense. Story lines jumped around and at times were so disjointed I felt like I was supposed to solve my own puzzle. I personally think that the author wanted to throw as many characters into his last novel for the sheer fun of gossip. I have to give him credit for writing; knowing it would be the the last words we would read from him. That being said, still one of the best authors I have had the pleasure to read.
September 30, 2019
It seemed to me like the story wound round and round then it abruptly ended. He had his hero Gus Bailey die of cancer as did Mr. Dunne around the same time. I am a serious fan of this author based on other novels he has written and am in the process of reading every novel of his I can get my hands on. I am ashamed to rate this book only 3 stars but if I'd never read any other of his books that is what I would have rated this. I never could have done that if he was sitting here in the room with me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 11, 2021
(Actual Rating = 2.75 stars)
Too Much Money is the tale of Gus Bailey, an elderly gossip columnist, the Renthals, who are coping with the husband's release from prison and their return to New York society, and Perla Zacharias, whose wealthy husband died in suspicious circumstances.
I first came across this book when I joined Goodreads and was browsing lists. It sounded interesting. I decided now was the time to read it. As it turns out, I didn't love it. The characters aren't likeable, and I didn't much care what happened to them.
Too Much Money is the tale of Gus Bailey, an elderly gossip columnist, the Renthals, who are coping with the husband's release from prison and their return to New York society, and Perla Zacharias, whose wealthy husband died in suspicious circumstances.
I first came across this book when I joined Goodreads and was browsing lists. It sounded interesting. I decided now was the time to read it. As it turns out, I didn't love it. The characters aren't likeable, and I didn't much care what happened to them.
July 3, 2017
A satirical look at the upper echelon of wealthy life in New York City. Snarky and amusing. Apparently, this is #2 in a “series” which followed People Like Us, by the same author. No more books to follow, however, as the author died shortly after this one was published. Author was a society writer/tattler himself. Amusing, interesting read. A few off-color references, however (just a heads’ up!)
August 22, 2018
I give a generous two stars to this crashing bore of a book, that could as easily be entitled "Too Much Name Dropping." I understand this, the author's last work, is meant as a roman a clef of contemporary New York high society, with his alter ego Gus Bailey the central character, but it is little different than "Fatal Charms," his earlier book of mostly real interviews with the conspicuously monied. Also, unfortunately, the barely adequate narrators don't help matters.
February 11, 2025
His last book published posthumously was another great read from Dominick Dunne. The character Gus is based on himself and his story is how he’s dealt with his success and shows the negatives that come with making it big. All of his characters are truly interesting and it’s fun tuning into Dunnes world to see how all of the characters are progressing and interacting with each other in each new book.
March 8, 2025
This is my first time reading this author. I read a little about his background and love affair with the “high born” and old money of New York. The novel is interesting, but the summary of this novel is extremely misleading (it is not a murder mystery at all) and because it lacks a clear plot,every story, conversation and character is irrelevant, and meaningless. Also there is no character in the novel worth the reader investing in or caring about and the ending was flat.
November 9, 2017
2.8 stars
Some parts are amusing, but it all seems a bit repetitive, especially when he tells you something in detail that he just told you in detail two pages ago.
Maybe he was rushing to finish and didn't have time to read for continuity.
Wasn't there an editor for that?
I've liked his other work and there's nothing wrong with chick lit for older rich women.
Some parts are amusing, but it all seems a bit repetitive, especially when he tells you something in detail that he just told you in detail two pages ago.
Maybe he was rushing to finish and didn't have time to read for continuity.
Wasn't there an editor for that?
I've liked his other work and there's nothing wrong with chick lit for older rich women.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 229 reviews