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Condominium
Welcome to Golden Sands, the dream condominium built on a weak foundation and a thousand dirty secrets.
Here is a panoramic look at the shocking facts of life in a Sun Belt community -- the real estate swindles and political payoffs, the maintenance charges that run up and the health benefits that run cut...the crackups and marital breakdowns...the disaster that awaits those who play in the path of the hurricane...
Here is a panoramic look at the shocking facts of life in a Sun Belt community -- the real estate swindles and political payoffs, the maintenance charges that run up and the health benefits that run cut...the crackups and marital breakdowns...the disaster that awaits those who play in the path of the hurricane...
480 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published March 1, 1977
321 people are currently reading
868 people want to read
About the author
John D. MacDonald
564 books1,368 followersJohn D. MacDonald was born in Sharon, Pennsylvania, and educated at the Universities of Pennsylvania, Syracuse and Harvard, where he took an MBA in 1939. During WW2, he rose to the rank of Colonel, and while serving in the Army and in the Far East, sent a short story to his wife for sale, successfully. He served in the Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.) in the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations. After the war, he decided to try writing for a year, to see if he could make a living. Over 500 short stories and 70 novels resulted, including 21 Travis McGee novels.
Following complications of an earlier heart bypass operation, MacDonald slipped into a coma on December 10 and died at age 70, on December 28, 1986, in St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was survived by his wife Dorothy (1911-1989) and a son, Maynard.
In the years since his death MacDonald has been praised by authors as diverse as Stephen King, Spider Robinson, Jimmy Buffett, Kingsley Amis and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.. Thirty-three years after his passing the Travis McGee novels are still in print.
Following complications of an earlier heart bypass operation, MacDonald slipped into a coma on December 10 and died at age 70, on December 28, 1986, in St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was survived by his wife Dorothy (1911-1989) and a son, Maynard.
In the years since his death MacDonald has been praised by authors as diverse as Stephen King, Spider Robinson, Jimmy Buffett, Kingsley Amis and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.. Thirty-three years after his passing the Travis McGee novels are still in print.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 150 reviews
June 18, 2018
★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2
Sometimes plans go awry for the better. In a quick one-line comment on John D. MacDonald’s Murder in the Wind, I compared it to this novel. The conversation that followed led me to write a more detailed summary of Condominium, and upon reflection I felt it summed up my opinion well enough that I could re-purpose it as review. The plan? Dig out the book the first chance I got and fact check my memory. Where the plan went wrong? I ended up reading the whole damn thing. 478 pages, the second half narrative-heavy with a minimal amount of dialogue, and I got sucked right in. How did that happen? Well, I know how it happened. But first, my original thoughts:
Condominium was not a completely successful novel but at the same time it was a Master Class in the craft of writing. If I had to guess, the reason it is generally remembered fondly is that its faults were erased by the end of the book. Initially there were too many characters, some of whom were not doing much of interest (or were not particularly interesting themselves.) But a little past the halfway point MacDonald ends each chapter following the gradual formation of a hurricane, starting as a mere pressure system an ocean away and continuing until it batters the Florida coast in all its fury. This was not self-indulgence of the kind that anyone who reads regularly has been subjected to many times over, where a writer spends pages describing an oilfield in Oklahoma or a Colorado mountain range or a winding coastal highway in the Pacific Northwest; images readers already know too well from exposure to other media. All that is needed to put us in the scene is a couple of intimate details that makes this particular version unique. In Condominium the storm is the point. That MacDonald can follow its progression without the presence of flesh-and-blood characters and not bore the reader is a major accomplishment in itself. But it also serves to magnify the impact once we do get to experience the devastation through the eyes of various characters. It is amazing work.My last line above. Well, that’s how I ended up rereading the book in whole. It is amazing work. And for the most part my comments proved correct. My memory only failed me in two respects. The first was, yes, there were too many nonessential characters--and yet they had not extended as deeply into the novel as I’d remembered. Their effect was negligible. My other mistake was in forgetting the scope of MacDonald’s prowess. It was not just the sheer power of his narrative that made Condominium work. It was his ability to show facets and effects of the storm by dropping in on previously unmet characters and giving us quick, vivid snapshots of their lives. In experiencing their reactions and responses, their fears and regrets, one after the other after the next, MacDonald built a picture of a community under siege. He had turned unbridled destruction into a majestic tapestry.
It was an amazing piece of work. And I will not forget it again.
March 30, 2018
John D. MacDonald is one of my favorite authors, but this 1977 novel is an info dump of real estate development, structural engineering and homeowner's associations, perhaps piled high for his Travis McGee series. I had hoped to continue that series with Nightmare In Pink, but my library didn't have it, so I settled on this. I abandoned it after 120 pages. I will note my reasons:
1. MacDonald keeps introducing characters and characters and more characters. So many characters, there would be no way to remember who's who when they come together without a tree chart.
2. None of the characters stand out. I know this is Florida, but everyone resembles a professional wrestling personality, if not "Hacksaw" Jim Dugan then a manager like Jimmy Hart or Miss Elizabeth.
3. MacDonald claimed Florida as his home turf long before Carl Hiaasen or Rick Barry, but this sort of sleazy comic thriller with sixty characters is done much better by those authors.
4. Also no fault of the author, but I need to get away from sleazy comics who can't keep their flies zipped up. There's been little else in the news since the acting president was sworn in. The news out of Washington these days is more tabloid than anything in this novel.
5. When I've read 100 pages and there is barely any prose I want to scribble down, I can tell I'm not really digging what the author is doing.
1. MacDonald keeps introducing characters and characters and more characters. So many characters, there would be no way to remember who's who when they come together without a tree chart.
2. None of the characters stand out. I know this is Florida, but everyone resembles a professional wrestling personality, if not "Hacksaw" Jim Dugan then a manager like Jimmy Hart or Miss Elizabeth.
3. MacDonald claimed Florida as his home turf long before Carl Hiaasen or Rick Barry, but this sort of sleazy comic thriller with sixty characters is done much better by those authors.
4. Also no fault of the author, but I need to get away from sleazy comics who can't keep their flies zipped up. There's been little else in the news since the acting president was sworn in. The news out of Washington these days is more tabloid than anything in this novel.
5. When I've read 100 pages and there is barely any prose I want to scribble down, I can tell I'm not really digging what the author is doing.
January 7, 2022
'Condominium', written by the legendary John D. MacDonald provides an eyeopening, informative, and all too realistic look into some of the most horrific, unscrupulous, and mind-bending scandals which took place at the at the height of the Florida real estate boom. There was zero concern for the consequences of continually building housing on swampland while knowing these structures were destined to collapse in a very short period of time, and paying only enough for the bare minimum in building materials and workmanship for the (7 digit price tag) high rises being built stories into the sky. There was no limit to the malfeasance taking place by public leaders, landowners, builders, shareholders, etcetera., as they pursued their singleminded quest to get a piece of the real estate goldmine... before their gig was up.
'Condominium' is fascinating, riveting, devastating, educational, etcetera.... And.... one of my absolute favorite John D. MacDonald novels of all time. I cannot recall another instance in which I tore a through book with the same amount of passion and anticipation.
'Condominium' is fascinating, riveting, devastating, educational, etcetera.... And.... one of my absolute favorite John D. MacDonald novels of all time. I cannot recall another instance in which I tore a through book with the same amount of passion and anticipation.
July 18, 2007
I can remember the opening shot of Barbara Eden (playing Barbara Messenger) floating in the middle of the vast ocean (in a row boat?) of the made for TV movie Condominium (1980). So when I saw a copy of John D. MacDonald's novel of the same name, I had to read it.
Condominium was a departure for MacDonald, who is best known for his Travis McGee series. The book opens with a dedication:
"This book is dedicated to these people who were part of the good years in Sarasota and were washed away:"
and continues on with a long list of names. From the timeline of the book, I'm guessing these people were victims of hurricane Donna (1960).
Condominium is not a novelization of actual events. It does however paint a realistic enough picture of the sorts of things that can go wrong to contribute to as massive a disaster as described in the final pages of this novel. MacDonald doesn't point the finger at just one person making mistakes or cutting corners as the cause. Instead he builds suspense on the knowledge that little mistakes and efforts to cut corners in the interest of saving money add up.
In the middle of all of this are the families, mostly retirees on fixed incomes, who have maxed out their budgets to buy a retire home. With Ian on the board of our local HOA, I sympathized with the HOAs in this novel who struggled to undo the mess the developers left them with on their limited budgets.
Condominium the novel predates the TV movie by three years and is as exciting to read as the film was to watch. I ended up staying up an hour and a half beyond my normal bedtime to finish it. Then I was afraid I'd have nightmares!
Condominium was a departure for MacDonald, who is best known for his Travis McGee series. The book opens with a dedication:
"This book is dedicated to these people who were part of the good years in Sarasota and were washed away:"
and continues on with a long list of names. From the timeline of the book, I'm guessing these people were victims of hurricane Donna (1960).
Condominium is not a novelization of actual events. It does however paint a realistic enough picture of the sorts of things that can go wrong to contribute to as massive a disaster as described in the final pages of this novel. MacDonald doesn't point the finger at just one person making mistakes or cutting corners as the cause. Instead he builds suspense on the knowledge that little mistakes and efforts to cut corners in the interest of saving money add up.
In the middle of all of this are the families, mostly retirees on fixed incomes, who have maxed out their budgets to buy a retire home. With Ian on the board of our local HOA, I sympathized with the HOAs in this novel who struggled to undo the mess the developers left them with on their limited budgets.
Condominium the novel predates the TV movie by three years and is as exciting to read as the film was to watch. I ended up staying up an hour and a half beyond my normal bedtime to finish it. Then I was afraid I'd have nightmares!
January 15, 2023
Condominium, published in 1977, is a massive novel approaching 500 pages in the original edition, and uses the Florida Gulf Coast retirement condominium Golden Sands as its glorious symbol. The condominium is facing destruction by a massive hurricane both physically and spiritually and financially. Marketed as the place to spend the golden years, it may be a bit tarnished in practice. The construction is shoddy. A retired engineer notes how cheaply the foundations are built on landfill on what is basically a giant sandbar that will not withstand a major hurricane. The economy is in a tailspin and the ever-popular retirement condominiums are not so popular. The HOA fees are way under what they need to be to pay all the ongoing expenses, particularly when the whole building has not sold. Of course, it doesn’t help that the HOA has been set up with twenty five year contracts with corrupt management companies that are designed to service the development on the cheap. In back of the building, the shoreline and its delicate ecosystem are being bulldozed for yet another development and the promised views are going to disappear.
The on-site manager couple includes a rude obnoxious custodian who doesn’t give a crap about the residents other than to try to bed any lady he can. The real estate agent and the developer are slipping into bed together as are the developer’s lawyer and the wife of the city council member who the developer is bribing with envelopes of cash. Then, we get to the residents and MacDonald introduces us to dozens, some who bought in on their last dimes, some who can afford to walk away, others who are worried about the loss of views, and suddenly it’s ripe for a residential revolt.
MacDonald gives us in-depth and humorous over the top descriptions of dozens of residents. He gives us a pending disaster on so many levels as it all progresses toward the end and the development on so many levels is rotten to its foundations.
The on-site manager couple includes a rude obnoxious custodian who doesn’t give a crap about the residents other than to try to bed any lady he can. The real estate agent and the developer are slipping into bed together as are the developer’s lawyer and the wife of the city council member who the developer is bribing with envelopes of cash. Then, we get to the residents and MacDonald introduces us to dozens, some who bought in on their last dimes, some who can afford to walk away, others who are worried about the loss of views, and suddenly it’s ripe for a residential revolt.
MacDonald gives us in-depth and humorous over the top descriptions of dozens of residents. He gives us a pending disaster on so many levels as it all progresses toward the end and the development on so many levels is rotten to its foundations.
September 3, 2021
John D. MacDonald's CONDOMINIUM was published in 1977 and marketed as a sexy-soapy commercial colossus in the vein of Sidney Sheldon, Arthur Hailey, Leon Uris and James Michener, and as such it was a huge success that was forgotten as soon as the inevitable forgetting network miniseries was made. But it's actually a Great American Novel that is far more relevant today than it was then, and it was plenty relevant then, as witnessed by everything we're still learning about the Surfside condo collapse in Florida in early 2021. It is practically a blueprint to financial graft, political corruption, local hardball, oily sales wheedlings and an elephantine dose of poolside sex and self-deception, all painted in garish designer shades of sunscreen and arrogance.
John D. MacDonald's "cause" novels, exercises in moral outrage over the changes for the worse to his adopted Florida, exacerbated by his deep howling painful love of it, make for his best work: his views are clear but he never lets his polemical instincts override his instincts for great characters and great story. He never lets his compass for strong pacing get spun around by the magnetic forces or moral agonizing.
The only real criticism I have for CONDOMINIUM, and it's a small one, is that he stretches the canvas of his cast too wide, that in his effort to create a character for every point he wants to make about the handbasket we're all going to h*ll in, he doesn't let us get too close to anyone, and there are at least a dozen characters you'll wish you'll have gotten to know better but can't even in this paving brick of a novel. That said, the pages fly, like the clothes of many spouses who can't wait to cheat on one another because, darling, that's the kind of fun one has in the sun when one lives in the greatest place in the world, even if it's the greatest natural terror on earth at the same time. What better way to fiddle while Fiddler Key burns?
John D. MacDonald's "cause" novels, exercises in moral outrage over the changes for the worse to his adopted Florida, exacerbated by his deep howling painful love of it, make for his best work: his views are clear but he never lets his polemical instincts override his instincts for great characters and great story. He never lets his compass for strong pacing get spun around by the magnetic forces or moral agonizing.
The only real criticism I have for CONDOMINIUM, and it's a small one, is that he stretches the canvas of his cast too wide, that in his effort to create a character for every point he wants to make about the handbasket we're all going to h*ll in, he doesn't let us get too close to anyone, and there are at least a dozen characters you'll wish you'll have gotten to know better but can't even in this paving brick of a novel. That said, the pages fly, like the clothes of many spouses who can't wait to cheat on one another because, darling, that's the kind of fun one has in the sun when one lives in the greatest place in the world, even if it's the greatest natural terror on earth at the same time. What better way to fiddle while Fiddler Key burns?
May 23, 2012
WOW. I've read a lot of John D. MacDonald's thrillers over the years, including all of his Travis McGee series, but this one is his masterpiece. Everyone in Florida should read this at least once. The book -- about the lives and loves of the denizens of one condominium on a Southwest Florida island -- takes a long time to build a picture of how corrupt politicians, shady bankers, corner-cutting construction crews, greedy real estate salespeople and crooked developers set the stage for disaster, but you don't mind because MacDonald's research shows in every line. Then, once he's shown you how vulnerable the place is, and how foolish the people are, he shows you the worst-case scenario for disaster: a Category 5 hurricane that barrels in. He does a great job of foreshadowing how awful it will be, and a masterful job of explaining just exactly how awesomely deadly it could be given the right circumstances. MacDonald builds the suspense perfectly, cutting back and forth between scenes of the storm building its strength and scenes showing why some people would choose to ride out such a storm instead of evacuating to higher ground. By the time the hurricane hits the key, you won't want to put the book down because the horror of it is so compelling. Not everything goes the way you expect, either -- a villain gets a bit of grace at the end, and someone you think is a hero turns out to be more of a bystander. All in all, it was a terrific read -- albeit not a great one to gulp down right before the start of hurricane season on June 1.
June 26, 2021
Update June 25, 2021
A multistory Florida condominium collapsed on the beach side of building, killing estimated 100 people. See page 19 comment by structural engineer on building a better building with toad shit and wax paper.
Update: September 9, 2017 Wonder what John D MacDonald would say about hurricane Irma in Florida at the end of the week?
Michael Lewis organizational dynamics in fiction form written in 1977. Impressive. John D MacDonald's books are a zoology manual for different types and varieties of American men.
pg 73 He vowed to take it very slowly with Henry, to bring him along step by step until at last he was clear-eyed:conscious of the reasons for the porn manuals in the best bookstores, for the weakening of all religions, for the collapse of marriage , for the corruption of children through the hidden messages in the textbooks provided by corrupt and venal state governments.
pg 124 Sherman Grome was tall. He was very tan. He had a hard protruding shelf of brow above deep-set eyes. His hairdo was spray-shaped to cover his ears and most of his forehead. His nose was imperial. He wore a brushed denim leisure suit and a blue work shirt open at the throat. His manner was one of total indolent assurance and half-concealed amusement. He wore oval sunglasses with blue lenses. The rental girls glanced at him, came to attention and stared. Sherm had the celebrity look.
pg 19 After long deliberation Gus had told her one evening that if he couldn't put up a better building using only toad shit and wax paper, he'd resign from the profession. But this upset her so badly and obviously, he convinced her he was only kidding and vowed to himself not to mention his doubts to her again.
pg 129 I'd say that what he is doing is like a fellow taking timbers off his foundations to patch his leaky roof. After he takes away enough support, the whole thing comes down. If he is going to make himself look like a dummy, there has to be compensations. If he can give away a million dollars to you, Marty, then he has to have a way of giving a lot more than that to himself.
The thing about condominium living, was the difference between the brochures and the reality. In the brochures there were smiling friendly people in groupts, having swimming parties and steak roasts and making shell ashtrays together , happy as clams, always smiling and hugging. And they all looked about forty. Move in and you were in the middle of a batch of suspicious, testy, cantankerous old folks, their faces pursed into permanent expressions of distaste, anxiety and hidden alarm.
pg 26. Three types of builders. The first type can't hack it, for all the reasons known to man, and so you ease them out before they kill themselves or, worse, kill somebody else who is worth their wages. The second type you look for, because you can keep them a long time. The are competent, loyal, diligent and quite happy to have somebody else take the career risks and the money risks. Sam Harrison was the third variety. At first you think they belong in the number two class. But then you slowly learn they re doing just a little bit more than you asked for, and doing it a little better than you thought possible. Then, feet on solid ground, they start coming to you with innovative ways of doing things more easily and quickly, and some you approve and some you don't. Then you know what you have on your hands. So you make an extra effort to keep them on the team as long as you can, knowing you are going to lose them. The Sam Harrisons always get restive. They have to run their own store. It is the only way for them. Jay Forrester 1918-2016 is a non-fiction version of the Sam Harrison character. Jay Forrester, an MIT professor switched careers to study corporate management and systems was unimpressed. See Obit WSJ Dec 3-4, 2016 A5.
A multistory Florida condominium collapsed on the beach side of building, killing estimated 100 people. See page 19 comment by structural engineer on building a better building with toad shit and wax paper.
Update: September 9, 2017 Wonder what John D MacDonald would say about hurricane Irma in Florida at the end of the week?
Michael Lewis organizational dynamics in fiction form written in 1977. Impressive. John D MacDonald's books are a zoology manual for different types and varieties of American men.
pg 73 He vowed to take it very slowly with Henry, to bring him along step by step until at last he was clear-eyed:conscious of the reasons for the porn manuals in the best bookstores, for the weakening of all religions, for the collapse of marriage , for the corruption of children through the hidden messages in the textbooks provided by corrupt and venal state governments.
pg 124 Sherman Grome was tall. He was very tan. He had a hard protruding shelf of brow above deep-set eyes. His hairdo was spray-shaped to cover his ears and most of his forehead. His nose was imperial. He wore a brushed denim leisure suit and a blue work shirt open at the throat. His manner was one of total indolent assurance and half-concealed amusement. He wore oval sunglasses with blue lenses. The rental girls glanced at him, came to attention and stared. Sherm had the celebrity look.
pg 19 After long deliberation Gus had told her one evening that if he couldn't put up a better building using only toad shit and wax paper, he'd resign from the profession. But this upset her so badly and obviously, he convinced her he was only kidding and vowed to himself not to mention his doubts to her again.
pg 129 I'd say that what he is doing is like a fellow taking timbers off his foundations to patch his leaky roof. After he takes away enough support, the whole thing comes down. If he is going to make himself look like a dummy, there has to be compensations. If he can give away a million dollars to you, Marty, then he has to have a way of giving a lot more than that to himself.
The thing about condominium living, was the difference between the brochures and the reality. In the brochures there were smiling friendly people in groupts, having swimming parties and steak roasts and making shell ashtrays together , happy as clams, always smiling and hugging. And they all looked about forty. Move in and you were in the middle of a batch of suspicious, testy, cantankerous old folks, their faces pursed into permanent expressions of distaste, anxiety and hidden alarm.
pg 26. Three types of builders. The first type can't hack it, for all the reasons known to man, and so you ease them out before they kill themselves or, worse, kill somebody else who is worth their wages. The second type you look for, because you can keep them a long time. The are competent, loyal, diligent and quite happy to have somebody else take the career risks and the money risks. Sam Harrison was the third variety. At first you think they belong in the number two class. But then you slowly learn they re doing just a little bit more than you asked for, and doing it a little better than you thought possible. Then, feet on solid ground, they start coming to you with innovative ways of doing things more easily and quickly, and some you approve and some you don't. Then you know what you have on your hands. So you make an extra effort to keep them on the team as long as you can, knowing you are going to lose them. The Sam Harrisons always get restive. They have to run their own store. It is the only way for them. Jay Forrester 1918-2016 is a non-fiction version of the Sam Harrison character. Jay Forrester, an MIT professor switched careers to study corporate management and systems was unimpressed. See Obit WSJ Dec 3-4, 2016 A5.
January 29, 2015
Could have used a lot of trimming, despite that it's still damn brilliant.
July 11, 2016
McDonald's novel Condominium was written in the late 70's so most of the residents are from the World War II generation, and have had some success in life, but are still filled with angst about the threat of losing all their investments: Most of their wealth is in their condominium. Condominium life in Florida in the 70s, was a bizarre scene, where the newly minted geezers were stored in giant concrete chests of drawers, with little balconies, that (in the good one's) overlooked the water. The novel is set on the West Coast, near a city like Tampa, called Fiddler Key. It could be St. Pete Beach, a place I know because my parents spent their 'mid-retirement' years there.
The story is set around the shoddy construction and shady business practices of the phony corporations that 'owned” the Condos, (the real owner was a shaky bank). The tragedies of falling condo resale prices are juxtaposed against a coming Hurricane. The people are so familiar and yet so different than their children, (me), who are retiring today that it struck me as worth examining. McDonald catches people in the act of getting old. Some are getting sick, and some are finally beginning to live when it is almost too late. Sex is tacky, usually in the afternoon when the spouse is taking a nap, and dark conspiracies are hatched over poolside card games, plotting the overthrow of condo board members who proposed new rules that are denounced as stupid if not communistic. Antisemitism is rampant, and blacks are nearly non-existent except as cleaning crews. The maintenance superintendent is feared by all, as he has to power to decide when and how much repair to the units gets done. When I would make my Christmas pilgrimages to visit my retired condominium dwelling parents, it was always a trip down the rabbit hole. The rules of the nuclear family were out the window because Mom and Dad were now part of a community where the greatest sin imaginable was to leave your wet bathing suit hanging over the balcony. Many had grown up in tenements during the 30s and the sight of clothes drying on the fire escape was a terrible memory, one that brought back the poverty of their Depression Era upbringing. You don't fuck with the Condo Board.
No flip-flops in the clubhouse. Nixon got a raw deal. Six-month CDs (certificates of deposit) paid a 12-15%. You could set your watch to the 4 PM afternoon thunderstorm. Somebody's been drinking my scotch! I secretly prayed for a hurricane during my summer visits.
McDonald's Condominium was made into a TV movie with lots of B-actors. McDonald was a brilliant man, who analysis the financial structure of condominium construction and the engineering of building them was worth the read for me. But like the Condos themselves, he had too many characters in this novel. The part that detracted the read for me was the lives he illustrated were too close to real life, an affluent version of Hobbes' dictum that life is nasty, brutish and short. Unless you are looking for some old-people-in-the-seventies nostalgia, I would not recommend this novel as a fun read – any of McDonald's Travis McGee books are better, even if the fiction is more fictitious.
July 5, 2016
If you look just past your peripheral vision while you’re reading this, you can almost see someone changing the television dial (by hand) from a Dan Rather report on Jimmy Carter to a new episode of The Rockford Files. That’s largely a compliment; this is one of those books that seems really to capture its moment. It virtually smells of the mid-1970s.
In other words, this is analogue fiction. You can hear the pops on the LP as the needle works the grooves, and you can see the deep professionalism of the writer. If there’s a clear descendent of this work (not necessarily of MacDonald’s better-known work) it isn’t fiction so much as the consistently excellent Law and Order or CSI episodes, the ones where you see competent writers creating scenes efficiently as part of stories that, however near the formula they are, still bring surprises.
The trouble with this, though, is that it really comes across as a series of impressive scenes rather than a compelling story. To its credit, it takes as old news that the world is corrupt, and it avoids the easy move of casting someone in the role of villain-in-chief. Everyone is at least a little guilty, and even the most reprehensible are multi-dimensional characters with decent motives and a measure of concern for others.
The price of that virtue, though, is that there isn’t much to get invested in. Will the tenants be on the hook for the doubled monthly assessments? Will the shady developer wind up having to confront the people he’s wronged? Will the middle-aged realtor regret getting involved with the hunky guys she’s attracted? Those separate concerns are what’s at stake for the whole, and they aren’t especially compelling as a collection. The dozen or more micro-dramas are – will this character come to terms with what retirement has cost him in terms of self-identification, will that one find a way to reconcile his work for the communal good with his personal happiness – but they flash by too quickly through the method of the novel.
I’ll come clean: I stopped reading around a quarter of the way through. It isn’t quite that I got bored by it. Any scene I chose to slow down and focus on brought fresh evidence of MacDonald’s skill; there are always a handful of key details that establish character and context, and the language never gets cold. It’s just that there are a lot of other things I want to read (including some of MacDonald’s Travis McGee novels) and there’s only so much time I can indulge in my 1970s nostalgia.
So, I am lifting up the tone arm in the middle of the song, and I am sliding the album back into its paper sleeve. Now if only I could find where I put that Yes record…
In other words, this is analogue fiction. You can hear the pops on the LP as the needle works the grooves, and you can see the deep professionalism of the writer. If there’s a clear descendent of this work (not necessarily of MacDonald’s better-known work) it isn’t fiction so much as the consistently excellent Law and Order or CSI episodes, the ones where you see competent writers creating scenes efficiently as part of stories that, however near the formula they are, still bring surprises.
The trouble with this, though, is that it really comes across as a series of impressive scenes rather than a compelling story. To its credit, it takes as old news that the world is corrupt, and it avoids the easy move of casting someone in the role of villain-in-chief. Everyone is at least a little guilty, and even the most reprehensible are multi-dimensional characters with decent motives and a measure of concern for others.
The price of that virtue, though, is that there isn’t much to get invested in. Will the tenants be on the hook for the doubled monthly assessments? Will the shady developer wind up having to confront the people he’s wronged? Will the middle-aged realtor regret getting involved with the hunky guys she’s attracted? Those separate concerns are what’s at stake for the whole, and they aren’t especially compelling as a collection. The dozen or more micro-dramas are – will this character come to terms with what retirement has cost him in terms of self-identification, will that one find a way to reconcile his work for the communal good with his personal happiness – but they flash by too quickly through the method of the novel.
I’ll come clean: I stopped reading around a quarter of the way through. It isn’t quite that I got bored by it. Any scene I chose to slow down and focus on brought fresh evidence of MacDonald’s skill; there are always a handful of key details that establish character and context, and the language never gets cold. It’s just that there are a lot of other things I want to read (including some of MacDonald’s Travis McGee novels) and there’s only so much time I can indulge in my 1970s nostalgia.
So, I am lifting up the tone arm in the middle of the song, and I am sliding the album back into its paper sleeve. Now if only I could find where I put that Yes record…
October 7, 2016
I began reading this, coincidentally, at about the same time as hurricane Matthew was beginning to strengthen. Condominium is about shady political deals, substandard building and shaky finances that go into the growth of the Florida keys. It also is about the people who decide to make Florida their retirement home and the effect a huge hurricane has on all their lives. Although it was written in 1977 it is surprisingly up to date. This is a re-read for me. I read it when it first came out almost 40 years ago, never forgot it and enjoyed it just as much the second time around.
November 22, 2012
MacDonald cashed in bigtime on the 70s disaster craze with this 1977 novel about a big condominium project, shoddily built by corrupt developers, that falls apart during a hurricane. Think The Towering Inferno, The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake, etc. In those days of the Watergate scandal, there was a widespread feeling that everything was falling apart. This is a big novel with a large cast of characters, and it's an above-average example of the genre, from a master.
February 20, 2013
I had to slog through some of the schemey real estate intrigue bits, but the characterization is decent (despite not always having the most likable of characters) and the book became hard to put down around the point you realize the hurricane is going to be a big one. Not exactly the most uplifting read, and it will give you second thoughts about buying property on the coast.
September 10, 2019
There can be hubris and corruption, there can be the chasing of dreams, both real and imagined, there can be escape and folly, there can be what we think is safety and security but is in actuality nothing more than promises and assurances built on nothing but flimsy sand in ways to save money.
And then this is disaster that shows how powerless we as humans really are, and that our mistakes can be compounded exponentially by natural forces beyond our control but not past our comprehension.
John D. MacDonald's Condominium is a book that captures the superficiality of the American dream to retire on the Florida coast. Within this story are the shady real estate deals and backroom negotiations, the payoffs and looking away from elected officials, the permits granted for a fee and without much attention. There is the collapse of the real estate market, there is the infidelity among the residents of the beachside communities, there is the disappointment in the reality of retirement for those who have moved away from the community, friends and lives they'd spent decades fostering and cultivating.
Eventually an engineer with a wealthy friend is able to bring in an expert to confirm what he'd been thinking: that their dream property was built on promises and lies and the only thing standing between destruction and catastrophe is time. As the second half of the novel begins, each chapter ends with an update on the development and movement of a tropical storm soon turned hurricane. And by the time it reaches the shore of the coast, and the reader (and the residents) are made aware of just how much danger they could be in, we see some choose to stay, some choose to leave, some unable to decide.
The conclusion of this novel reads like a Shakespearian tragedy. One could call this a beach read, but the puns about what happens on the beach in question are too dramatic and serious. Is McDonald trying to make a point here about our folly in pushing our limits in living in proximity to forces of nature? If so, his warning has not been heeded. Real estate along the coast, especially in Florida, continues to thrive, year after year, hurricane after hurricane. Concerns about rising sea levels amid climate change? Just bring in more sand rebuild the beach. Concerns about the next flood? Not when the forecast is 85 degrees and sunny.
I was surprised at how tragic this novel was, and also how graphic and disturbing. The final chapters, as the fictional town of Athens is destroyed, is both captivating and horrific. Window crashing, whole building becoming unmoored, roofs lifted off houses, floods one very building, bar, nursing home, house, office building and hotel -- as horrifying as it to read and experience, it certainly feels real. As is the sense of wanting to be anywhere but there.
I also found the concluding chapters, the aftermath, to be just as fascinating as the storm. The legal morass, the reality of what will be rebuilt and won't, the urge to put back together what was destroyed but the reality of that not being possible...it felt very true to life.
There were a lot of characters in this book, at times too many to keep track of. And the illegal maneuverings around real estate financing and permitting was also sometimes difficult to follow. Yet somehow that also felt true to life...making this story a sort of convoluted nightmare all the way through. The only thing you don't get to experience is the balmy air at sunrise with the ocean in front of you, the sound of waves in the background.
There is human nature and then there is actual nature. While they operate on different modes of time, both can be inherently dangerous, and when they are conjoined, the results are disastrous.
Anyone want to move to Iowa?
And then this is disaster that shows how powerless we as humans really are, and that our mistakes can be compounded exponentially by natural forces beyond our control but not past our comprehension.
John D. MacDonald's Condominium is a book that captures the superficiality of the American dream to retire on the Florida coast. Within this story are the shady real estate deals and backroom negotiations, the payoffs and looking away from elected officials, the permits granted for a fee and without much attention. There is the collapse of the real estate market, there is the infidelity among the residents of the beachside communities, there is the disappointment in the reality of retirement for those who have moved away from the community, friends and lives they'd spent decades fostering and cultivating.
Eventually an engineer with a wealthy friend is able to bring in an expert to confirm what he'd been thinking: that their dream property was built on promises and lies and the only thing standing between destruction and catastrophe is time. As the second half of the novel begins, each chapter ends with an update on the development and movement of a tropical storm soon turned hurricane. And by the time it reaches the shore of the coast, and the reader (and the residents) are made aware of just how much danger they could be in, we see some choose to stay, some choose to leave, some unable to decide.
The conclusion of this novel reads like a Shakespearian tragedy. One could call this a beach read, but the puns about what happens on the beach in question are too dramatic and serious. Is McDonald trying to make a point here about our folly in pushing our limits in living in proximity to forces of nature? If so, his warning has not been heeded. Real estate along the coast, especially in Florida, continues to thrive, year after year, hurricane after hurricane. Concerns about rising sea levels amid climate change? Just bring in more sand rebuild the beach. Concerns about the next flood? Not when the forecast is 85 degrees and sunny.
I was surprised at how tragic this novel was, and also how graphic and disturbing. The final chapters, as the fictional town of Athens is destroyed, is both captivating and horrific. Window crashing, whole building becoming unmoored, roofs lifted off houses, floods one very building, bar, nursing home, house, office building and hotel -- as horrifying as it to read and experience, it certainly feels real. As is the sense of wanting to be anywhere but there.
I also found the concluding chapters, the aftermath, to be just as fascinating as the storm. The legal morass, the reality of what will be rebuilt and won't, the urge to put back together what was destroyed but the reality of that not being possible...it felt very true to life.
There were a lot of characters in this book, at times too many to keep track of. And the illegal maneuverings around real estate financing and permitting was also sometimes difficult to follow. Yet somehow that also felt true to life...making this story a sort of convoluted nightmare all the way through. The only thing you don't get to experience is the balmy air at sunrise with the ocean in front of you, the sound of waves in the background.
There is human nature and then there is actual nature. While they operate on different modes of time, both can be inherently dangerous, and when they are conjoined, the results are disastrous.
Anyone want to move to Iowa?
May 25, 2020
John D MacDonald apparently wrote Condominium in part out of annoyance about the development he saw on the Sarasota keys. I read this book when it first came out in 1977 at the time I was moving to Fort Myers. I had no real knowledge of hurricanes but knew they could be dangerous. Reading condominium only added to my naivety about hurricanes. I have continued to maintain my residence in Fort Myers, but now live 15-20 miles from the coast. Not hurricane proof but won’t get the storm surge described in condominium.
One of the strengths of the book is the variety of characters he develops to populate the condominium. They represent a cross section of the elderly - although perhaps a different cross section than would have been present in 1977. Fort Myers was then a smallish town with Lee County having a winter population of perhaps 180,000. Now the population in winter exceeds one million.
We have had a couple of hurricanes in the last decade - but not one like the hurricane MacDonald imagined. Most. Recently the eve of Irma passed within 5 miles of our home with winds of 115 mph. We were comfortably out of state at the time.
Rereading Condominium I found myself getting uptight worrying about the upcoming hurricane season and how much climate change is modifying hurricane season.
Human fallibility and human resilience are both clearly demonstrated by MacDonald.
One of the strengths of the book is the variety of characters he develops to populate the condominium. They represent a cross section of the elderly - although perhaps a different cross section than would have been present in 1977. Fort Myers was then a smallish town with Lee County having a winter population of perhaps 180,000. Now the population in winter exceeds one million.
We have had a couple of hurricanes in the last decade - but not one like the hurricane MacDonald imagined. Most. Recently the eve of Irma passed within 5 miles of our home with winds of 115 mph. We were comfortably out of state at the time.
Rereading Condominium I found myself getting uptight worrying about the upcoming hurricane season and how much climate change is modifying hurricane season.
Human fallibility and human resilience are both clearly demonstrated by MacDonald.
August 27, 2014
The beginning was a slog, but as the storm was born and strengthened, so did the pace of the book until I was lifted almost out of my chair by waves of description.
It's probably not the best book to read when you already live within 10 miles of the Atlantic and are attempting to move closer still the the southeastern Florida coast. I'm happy that i read it outside fo hurricane season, but I know for certain that certain images will stay with me come August.
It's probably not the best book to read when you already live within 10 miles of the Atlantic and are attempting to move closer still the the southeastern Florida coast. I'm happy that i read it outside fo hurricane season, but I know for certain that certain images will stay with me come August.
May 1, 2016
Still as good as the first time
I read this novel many years ago. This was probably my fourth time through and I enjoyed it at least as much as the first time. John D. MacDonald was always an excellent writer of memorable characters and suspenseful stories. Condominium has all that plus a strong message about natural Florida and it's loss to greed and short-sightedness. It is still a timely message embedded in a great read.
I read this novel many years ago. This was probably my fourth time through and I enjoyed it at least as much as the first time. John D. MacDonald was always an excellent writer of memorable characters and suspenseful stories. Condominium has all that plus a strong message about natural Florida and it's loss to greed and short-sightedness. It is still a timely message embedded in a great read.
August 3, 2016
Good read, a bit confusing and with the massive number of characters in the book. By the time you hit the middle of the book, your sure that Marty Liss is the bad guy, but pretty much the only one I found myself rooting for. Thank goodness for Gus and Sam, all the sudden the story picks up it's foreshadowing and boom.
On a side note, reading this fictional tale reminded me of seeing and reading "The Big Short". WOuld love to see this as a movie, but someone would f it up.
On a side note, reading this fictional tale reminded me of seeing and reading "The Big Short". WOuld love to see this as a movie, but someone would f it up.
November 24, 2018
What a fantastic book!
Sleazy: bankers, developers, contractors, real estate agents, and lawyers screwing over retirees who move to Florida.
Illegal payments, cost cutting, building code violations, exorbitant HOA fees changed after they move in.
Oh and the mother of all hurricanes.
Takes place in Florida in the mid 70’s but is just as relevant today, think back to 2005-2008.
Or today for that matter.
Great story expertly told.
It’s fiction but it will happen.
Sleazy: bankers, developers, contractors, real estate agents, and lawyers screwing over retirees who move to Florida.
Illegal payments, cost cutting, building code violations, exorbitant HOA fees changed after they move in.
Oh and the mother of all hurricanes.
Takes place in Florida in the mid 70’s but is just as relevant today, think back to 2005-2008.
Or today for that matter.
Great story expertly told.
It’s fiction but it will happen.
July 20, 2013
This is the third time I have read this book. It is one of the best on Florida ever. It should be read by every Floridian...especially those who were born and lived elsewhere before they came to Florida to live.
June 12, 2012
Florida, distilled in 478 pages.
Third time reading this; it never gets old. MacDonald nails the state's populations, shifting/shiftless as its sandy islands.
Third time reading this; it never gets old. MacDonald nails the state's populations, shifting/shiftless as its sandy islands.
October 14, 2021
John D. MacDonald books are the gifts that keep giving. The guy wrote so much, and so much of what he wrote is just unbelievably good. The End of the Night was my favorite for many years...but I think it's now a tie, with Condominium.
I just keep reading certain passages in the last fifty pages, over and over. (It will be some time before I can look at a single olive, and not think of it rolling off a mantle, portending doom...)
I'm not a fan of horror stories per se, but that's what this book becomes, by the end. A hurricane named Ella is the homicidal maniac, personified, a real life boogeyman. And her victims are everyone who don't think she's for real.
This is one of MacDonald's longer stories, and there's a lot going on before the climax. There may be a few too many characters for some readers' tastes. And some of the plot threads revolve around the detailed machinations of an unscrupulous land developer, which some may find uninteresting. But if "write what you know" is a thing, then my goodness, does John D. MacDonald know a LOT. The engineering and architecture of buildings. The gears of local government, and how it, along with private money, controls local journalism. Condo association politics. And last but not least, the formation, characteristics, and destructive capabilities of a Category 5 hurricane.
I just keep reading certain passages in the last fifty pages, over and over. (It will be some time before I can look at a single olive, and not think of it rolling off a mantle, portending doom...)
I'm not a fan of horror stories per se, but that's what this book becomes, by the end. A hurricane named Ella is the homicidal maniac, personified, a real life boogeyman. And her victims are everyone who don't think she's for real.
This is one of MacDonald's longer stories, and there's a lot going on before the climax. There may be a few too many characters for some readers' tastes. And some of the plot threads revolve around the detailed machinations of an unscrupulous land developer, which some may find uninteresting. But if "write what you know" is a thing, then my goodness, does John D. MacDonald know a LOT. The engineering and architecture of buildings. The gears of local government, and how it, along with private money, controls local journalism. Condo association politics. And last but not least, the formation, characteristics, and destructive capabilities of a Category 5 hurricane.
April 11, 2022
I've finished reading all the Travis McGee novels in order, and picked this up because it was lying on the shelf. For a novel that's almost 50 years old, this one, and some of the Travis McGee novels, are strangely prescient. McDonalds characters are often somewhat cartoonish, but he writes with what seems to be compassion for the wide variety of humanity. His ecological warnings, in this novel and others, reflect all of our current concerns. But what got me in this novel was his demonstration that our consumer based economy does not provide a reason or meaning to one's life, and that our culture does the best it can to provide substitutes, but those substitutes don't work too well. He could be writing about 'deaths of despair' or the opioid epidemic as easily as this novel about senior citizens on Florida's West Coast.
May 21, 2018
Perhaps as applicable now as then... a classic of greed, corruption, sex in the building industry in Florida. MacDonald does 1950’s characters wonderfully!
July 4, 2021
I loved this book so much I endorsed it in my property class at law school!
July 2, 2024
This book didn’t come through for me. It could be its age, it was written in 1977. It could be the format, lots of switching between players. I picked it up with summer expectations looking for something light and engrossing and in theory it fits, with short chapters, a soap opera-like atmosphere, and a crashing finish, literally. Unfortunately the ultimate roadblock was the massive number of characters. My Kindle X-ray listed 100 by the letter M and I couldn’t find a solid attachment to any of them. This book probably needs another 578 pages to really make it work.
September 7, 2020
The big metephor: castles in the sand. Some nasty borderline nihilism going on...beware! A bard's long list of characters great and small....man what a read!!
July 14, 2021
Update: see Champlain Towers, Surfside FL, June 2021
There are at least a dozen new books waiting for me, so I did the sensible thing and reread Condominium for the third or fourth time.
I am not one of the maniacal MacDonald fans who rank him at the very top of the last century’s mystery writers; in fact I find the McGee books formulaic and unengaging. But included in his ouevre are a couple of the most affecting novels I’ve read, and Condominium is one of them. It’s "about" a bunch of people who buy condos in an expensive new development on a Florida key (off a thinly-disguised Sarasota) ... but the real topics are rapaciousness and selfishness and willful ignorance and the limits of human power; their long-term effects on irreplaceable invaluable resources; and short-term effect on people.
In passing, I learned a lot about the nature of hurricanes, about the "barrier islands" along Florida’s west coast, and about their profoundly unnerving interaction. More important, I learned enough about the difference between what a potential buyer sees at a complex maintained by the people trying to sell units and that same property when fully sold to people who find themselves locked into a maintenance contract that becomes another income stream to a arm of the now legally disengaged builders, to avoid joining the ranks of time share owners who are now paying someone to attempt to get them out of exactly that type of purchase. MacDonald’s Condominium is an oldie but a goody.
There are at least a dozen new books waiting for me, so I did the sensible thing and reread Condominium for the third or fourth time.
I am not one of the maniacal MacDonald fans who rank him at the very top of the last century’s mystery writers; in fact I find the McGee books formulaic and unengaging. But included in his ouevre are a couple of the most affecting novels I’ve read, and Condominium is one of them. It’s "about" a bunch of people who buy condos in an expensive new development on a Florida key (off a thinly-disguised Sarasota) ... but the real topics are rapaciousness and selfishness and willful ignorance and the limits of human power; their long-term effects on irreplaceable invaluable resources; and short-term effect on people.
In passing, I learned a lot about the nature of hurricanes, about the "barrier islands" along Florida’s west coast, and about their profoundly unnerving interaction. More important, I learned enough about the difference between what a potential buyer sees at a complex maintained by the people trying to sell units and that same property when fully sold to people who find themselves locked into a maintenance contract that becomes another income stream to a arm of the now legally disengaged builders, to avoid joining the ranks of time share owners who are now paying someone to attempt to get them out of exactly that type of purchase. MacDonald’s Condominium is an oldie but a goody.
July 8, 2017
I picked this book up about 6 years ago when someone recommended it having liked a few of Arthur Hailey's works. Recently I've read all the Travis McGee series by McDonald and when I noticed Condominium was also by him I figured now would be a good time to actually read it.
I'm glad I did, whilst the vast array of characters initially seems a bit overwhelming once you're into the story things fall into place and I found it wasn't difficult to picture each of the characters in their settings.
It's hard to say what this book really is about as there's a lot about the people so it's not really just a business (or shady business) book, and the huge disaster that occurs comes much too late in the narrative to call it a disaster book. I guess you could say its a book about ageing and life in the 1970s Condominium boom, how business cut corners, how that affected people and in the end how badly they were placed at risk by those decisions.
Overall it's quite an epic tale although those wanting to diving into an action packed adventure should be warned it's more of a relaxing afternoon chat than rip roaring page turner.
I'm glad I did, whilst the vast array of characters initially seems a bit overwhelming once you're into the story things fall into place and I found it wasn't difficult to picture each of the characters in their settings.
It's hard to say what this book really is about as there's a lot about the people so it's not really just a business (or shady business) book, and the huge disaster that occurs comes much too late in the narrative to call it a disaster book. I guess you could say its a book about ageing and life in the 1970s Condominium boom, how business cut corners, how that affected people and in the end how badly they were placed at risk by those decisions.
Overall it's quite an epic tale although those wanting to diving into an action packed adventure should be warned it's more of a relaxing afternoon chat than rip roaring page turner.
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