Customer Reviews

The Altar Boy

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of those books that you enjoy not only once, but again and again, savoring each phrase. The dialog is hilarious, the author's description of people and places make you feel as if you were really there. I'm hoping for a sequel.

Finally, a book with heart, set on Wall Street. Crisply written, laugh-out-loud funny, and, in the end, deeply moving. A fine, lovely read.

For a first novel, Mr. McDonald did a very nice job. Good characterizations and very believable dialogue. The story line was good. He writes about what he knows, that being the world of finance. I read his bio....what is a mud engineer?

The author's style and language make this book "unputdownable." I wound up reading the entire book in one timeless sitting. If you enjoyed 'Liar's Poker,' 'Bonfire of the Vanities', and a 'Snow Falling on Cedars', this book wraps up all their strengths in one. Plus, the author isn't shy about adding deliciously dry humour and a hint of naughtiness. A hilarious, heart-warming and fast moving must read.

I purchased and read this book because I was curious about the author's fiction writing skills, who I had met over thirty years ago when he worked as a "mud" engineer on an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. If it weren't for that curiosity, I wouldn't have read the book because I was not attracted by the title "Altar Boy" (I'm not a Christian) and wasn't moved by the cover graphics...a cross and lipstick lips. Was I going to read a novel about religion and romance?

I was surprised to learn I was reading a story about Wall Street bankers..fourteen years before the financial meltdown caused by such bankers. I feel this novel is dated. Too bad this book wasn't written right before the meltdown...to warn us about the personalities, and their psychologies, who were on the verge of bringing the economy to near collapse. Or maybe Mr. McDonald can write a 'sequel', fast forwarding his characters to 2008 and beyond. I believe there is a market for a true to life novel about what was, and is still going on, with investment bankers on Wall Street. That would, however, take alot of courage, because it would piss off his Wall Street friends. Such a book would be both entertaining and educational!

Mr. McDonald offers a grounded, intelligent snapshot of life on Wall Street and beyond, peopled by a variety of memorable characters. Perhaps surprisingly, given the Wall Street setting, the older personalities are drawn with particular flair and heart. The protagonist, too, emerges as vivid and real: more someone you know than just a character in a book. A fine first novel.

The Altar Boy is a quick, fun read. McDonald's tour through the twisted world of investment banking and the frenzied world of big city romance, left me laughing. It was a treat.

Unlike my fellow reviewer in London, it was not in one timeless sitting that I read The Altar Boy -- only because I didn't want it to end! The story is about a couple of Wall Streeters "chasing the rainbow of riches," interlaced with some amusing male chest-thumping concerning the nature of romantic love. Nothing particularly new there. What sounds new is the author's light narrative voice, which is beguiling: for the story sneaks up on you, suddenly, steering you from one emotion to another. By the end you realize you've come full circle -- only to wish it had taken longer to make the trip!!!