All That Counts [Paperback]

Georg M. Oswald (Author), Shaun Whiteside (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 9, 2002

Winner of the prestigious International Prize and praised for its "gleefully bitter prose" (Los Angeles Times), All That Counts is a sardonic, fast-paced urban thriller whose hardcover publication marked the American debut of a scintillating young German writer. From the bland boardrooms of the bourgeoisie to the dark alleys of the criminal underworld, this searing contemporary satire brilliantly exposes the dangerous attraction of opportunism, loss of control, and the seedy side of life. Thirty-something and married to a public relations executive named Marianne, Thomas Schwarz is certain that he is soon to become department head of Liquidations and Foreclosures at the bank where he works. But after fumbling a particularly byzantine property case, his life begins to unravel: his female boss glibly fires him and his wife walks out. Suddenly acquainted with the giddy thrill of a life unmoored, he falls in with a cocaine-fueled crowd of money-launderers who set out to exploit him. But when the gang is busted, Thomas seizes his chance to escape with the profits and, in a final breathless move, exposes once and for all just how precarious the trappings of society really are. "Clever, informed, sarcastic, and streetwise" (Suddeutsche Zeitung), All That Counts is a provocative, glittering debut. "Savage and funny ... a very supple and clever satire ... full of small, cumulative pleasures." -- Geoff Nicholson, The New York Times Book Review "Reads like the gleeful evil twin of the self-help book." -- Richard Wallace, The Seattle Times

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

German novelist Oswald proves that it's a small world, after all, by writing a bitter sendup of consumerism and corporate culture that's every bit as shallow, ham-fisted and self-congratulatory as anything penned by his wannabe-hip American or British counterparts over the past decade. This tale of avarice, societal malaise and anomie is narrated by Thomas Schwarz, an upwardly mobile young bank executive. Deputy manager of the department of foreclosure and liquidation, Schwarz is leery of his co-workers, bored with his wife, Marianne, and hostile toward most of humanity. In Oswald's eyes, this makes him the prototypical yuppie for the new millennium. Schwarz is a jaded, cold-blooded creature who relishes the ersatz power that his job affords him: while dealing with a couple who run a comic book/music store, he sneers, "I'm going to have to teach them a bit of reality, with a good hard dose of compulsory repossession." The novel chronicles Schwartz's ultimate ruination, precipitated by a jealous superior, Frau Rumenich. She assigns him to the massive, insoluble Kosiek case, a twisted morass of financial wrangling and ancient paperwork reminiscent of Dickens's classic Jarndyce v. Jarndyce lawsuit. Of course, Schwartz fails to instantly untangle it and is fired. For the rest of the novel, he spins out of control bickering with his wife, sleeping with a materialistic call girl and getting involved with Uwe and Anatol, a pair of bottom-feeding drug dealers. Oswald's all-out assault on the soullessness of big business and the pervasive numbness and lack of direction of today's young professionals is largely unsuccessful, full of uninspired sociological observations and peopled exclusively by militantly unpleasant characters, making for a short but onerous read. (Sept.)Forecast: Don't count on sales.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Oswald's story about a bank official dismissed from his job who finds salvation working for criminals in the urban underworld of an unnamed city in Germany will surely strike a chord with the newly downsized white-collar workers here in the U.S. Thomas Schwarz, an official in the foreclosures department of a major bank, finds himself and his career drowning in an interminable investigation of a delinquent client. Ultimately, the situation costs Thomas his job, his wife, and his self-respect. In his own mind, little separates himself from the decay and destitution that litter his urban landscape: the homeless in subway stations and the drug addicts who congregate on street corners. Desperate and disillusioned, he begins a business relationship with two underworld figures who reside in his neighborhood, a relationship that may lead to his salvation or self-destruction. No cloud has a silver lining in Oswald's portrait of work and waste, which becomes a personal indictment of modern life. Ted Leventhal
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press; 1st Grove Pr Ppbk Ed/ 1st Printing edition (October 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802139310
• ISBN-13: 978-0802139313
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,472,452 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What counts over there, October 10, 2001

By 

Bryan Sentes (Montreal, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: All That Counts (Hardcover)

Where Ellis and Palahniuk anatomize Greed in America, Oswald (and his continental contemporaries Houellebecq and Brusselmans) register the character and effect of the New Global Order in the Old World. All that counts for the narrator-protagonist Thomas Schwarz is money, but the consequences of his shallow worldview (and personality) ironically lead him to an increasingly desperate reassessment of what really matters. Though written with the fast pace and deft eye of the best of popular fiction, Oswald's novel offers no happy endings or easy solutions (just like life in the new economy in Europe or North America). Though the characters (like real folks) are often unlikeable, the pathos of their situation and their motivations and their consequences result in scenes that are authentically moving, laying bare the humanity that has been ignored by our new social order in general and glossed over by the very people that literally and figuratively buy into it. For the reader curious about the world outside of North America, especially for anyone interested in an intelligent, darkly and subtley funny, and humane--but no less critical--take on contemporary life in Europe, All That Counts is a book well worth the investment. Oswald's sly but penetrating insight into the contemporary state of Western society makes him an author that counts.

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun read, good characters, interesting tale, different, April 18, 2005

By 

Fortizymo (Salinas, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All That Counts (Paperback)

All That Counts is an enjoyable and easy to read yarn that is sardonic in nature. The way that the main character Thomas Schwarz sees and expresses his thoughts is refreshingly candid and realistic. The book begins with Thomas' job as a banking manager to his slow but steady decline to the seedy underground world of illegal activities. I didn't expect much from this book but was pleasantly surprised. Recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Terrific Read, February 17, 2004

By 

Erik S. Barmack (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All That Counts (Paperback)

After I finished reading Houllebecq, I was in desperate need of other well-written, sardonic novels about men who are alienated from their surroundings. ALL THAT COUNTS does not disappoint, and in many ways, it feels like a more complete story than Houllebecq's first two novels. I can't wait to read more of Georg's work as it gets translated.