From Publishers Weekly
A bond trader's ardent pursuit of the American dream turns sour in this smartly written second novel by Lasser (Battle Creek). Fed up with his ski-bum existence in the mountains of Colorado, Dartmouth graduate Barry Schwartz decides to uproot his wife and children and head for Manhattan to strike it rich. Armed with an MBA, he quickly settles into a frenzied trading job on Wall Street, with the squalid conditions of his former life in Colorado all but a memory. His hotheaded, miserably unmarried boss, Court Harvey, grew up with Barry and promotes him to a prestigious upper management position, then talks him into arranging a date with co-worker Gretchen, a pal from Barry's Dartmouth days. As tumultuous market activity rocks Wall Street, Barry's workdays grow longer, stress levels rise and avarice mounts. Feeling neglected, Barry's wife, Rachel, tires of the constant shuffle and begins yearning for Colorado, and Barry's wayward brother, Ben, calls from Canada begging for money to treat his newly diagnosed lung cancer. Court's forceful courting of Gretchen turns into stalking, and frazzled Barry ends up in an affair with her. By the time Barry's castle crumbles and the "money can't buy happiness" revelation dawns on him, Rachel and the children have moved out and his brother has died. Thankfully, Lasser doesn't diminish his characters' credibility with a cloying, pat conclusion, staying true to the painful consequences of Barry's greed. Himself a family man and former government bond trader, Lasser continues to write with a confident air of experience (though following the financial industry lingo will be a challenge for the inexperienced). This compelling merger of seductive Wall Street wealth and domestic turbulence is a great investment. (Mar. 26)Forecast: A blurb from Richard Russo, a five-city author tour and an eye-catching jacket should help this strong sophomore effort sell out its 50,000-copy first printing.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
“Fast and furious. . . . The macho beat of Wall Street pumps through this novel.” –
Boston Globe
“Engaging. . . . Nail[s] down the wry, wisecracking tone of the business world . . . in lively, almost reportorially vivid detail.” –
The New York Times
“[An] acutely observed modern morality tale . . . [that] gradually draws us deeper into the whirlpool of hubris, flailing temperaments, humiliations, high stakes, inflated egos, betrayals and high pressures of the financial world.”
—The Miami Herald
“Lasser . . . has an insider’s grasp of life on the trading desk. If you have ever wondered whether you could hack it on Wall Street, you should read this book.” –
Philadelphia Inquirer
“Intriguing. . . . Moves at the brisk pace of life on the trading floor, evoking the banter, stress and even the smells of an intensely masculine milieu.” —
Newsday
"Utterly engrossing, harrowing, and, yes, fun. Scott Lasser's
All I Could Get is all you could want." –Richard Russo, author of
Empire Falls
"Smartly written. . . . This compelling merger of seductive Wall Street wealth and domestic turbulence is a great investment." –
Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Takes you onto the floor and into the cubicles of the large trading houses and puts you behind the screen. . . . Along the way, [Lasser] shows us the high price of envy and ambition and the cost of one man’s dream to get to the top.” –
Roanoke Times“Lasser does a great job of showing his readers the fast paced world of high finance” –
Rocky Mountain News
