Dizzying Heights: The Aspen Novel [Paperback]

Bruce Ducker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 2008

A satirical look at Aspen and the colorful characters who call it home.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...cover shows a lovely chocolate cake--an apt illustration, because this book is completely delicious...readers will devour it." -- Westword, May 29, 2008

"...works well...in all of the satire and comedy...staying lighthearted, with just enough plot twists to keep things interesting." -- PopMatters, May 15, 2008

About the Author

Bruce Ducker was raised in New York City and has spent most of his working life practicing corporate law. He has been writing novels since 1975, and his eighth and ninth books will be published in 2008. He won the Colorado Book Award for Lead Us Not into Penn Station.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Fulcrum Publishing (March 25, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555916589
• ISBN-13: 978-1555916589
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,007,013 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bruce Ducker was raised in New York City and has spent most of his working life practicing corporate law. He has been writing novels since 1975. His eighth novel, Dizzying Heights (shortlisted for the James Thurber Award), was published in the spring of 2008, and his ninth book, Home Pool, a collection of short stories, that fall. He has won the Colorado Book Award (for Lead Us Not into Penn Station), was shortlisted for the American Library Best Book Prize, and his novel Marital Assets was nominated for a Pulitzer. His poems and stories appear in leading periodicals including The New Republic, the Yale, Southern, Hudson and Sewanee Reviews, and Poetry Magazine. He and his wife Jaren live in Colorado.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fun satirical romp, May 31, 2008

By 

Carrie-Anne (Klamath Falls, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dizzying Heights: The Aspen Novel (Hardcover)

Award-winning author Bruce Ducker reveals his comedic talent in this delightful send-up of Aspen and its quirky residents--the billionaires continually seeking to expand their fortunes, the opportunists scheming to pocket a share of the excess and the service staff who can scarcely afford to live down valley.

Naive Waddy Brush makes a wrong turn into the celebrated resort community and takes a job at Pantagruel's, the most elite restaurant in town, where he falls in with scam artist Mortimer Dooberry and his latest scheme--selling investors on a sophisticated computer program that delivers customized virtual reality to consumers and an expansive information database to marketeers.

Waddy's computer programming skills land him a job creating the beta version of the program Mortimer dubs "Wise Mother" and an introduction to Aspen's larger-than-life rich and famous which includes a pink-Hummer-driving oil queen, an heir to a toilet maker's fortune and a ruthless financier and private equity manager.

As the complex program takes shape, Mortimer artfully raises financing from the wealthy residents, quietly skimming a comfortable profit for himself.

Meanwhile, Justin Kaye is hatching a scheme to develop a prime tract of Aspen wilderness, but he needs a clever plan to outsmart the Friends of the Friendless Earth, Planning and Zoning and dubious townsfolk. Marketing himself as a conservationist, he convinces affluent shooters to invest in an exclusive hunting club, and, in a flash of brilliance, produces a counterfeit site map revealing an ancient Indian burial ground on the property, the perfect smokescreen to distract the opposition!

Luring investors into either venture in a town where IPO's and exclusivity are as much a birthright as air and water isn't the hard part. The challenge is handling the well-heeled participants once they're on board.

As both schemes intersect in this adventure, the author doesn't skip a beat, fusing business and technology concepts, ethical issues and lightheartedness.

Dizzying Heights is an entertaining read. You'll cheer for the good guys, like Waddy and a three-legged dog named Hero, laugh at the outlandish and often ditsy rich and famous and hope that picturesque Aspen can survive them all!
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dizzying Heights, May 13, 2008

By 

R. Johnson (Paris, France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dizzying Heights: The Aspen Novel (Paperback)

Bruce Ducker's delightful book is a mixture of Spike Milligan and Oscar Wilde, interspersed with bits of wisdom. Anyone familiar with the Aspen (or similar) scene will smile knowingly when meeting the characters -- hyperbole and all. A truly fun read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Delight, July 1, 2009

By 

zg (Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dizzying Heights: The Aspen Novel (Hardcover)

Written with verve and confidence, Dizzying Heights lampoons Aspen and its poseurs in a style that runs from delightfully entertaining to downright hilarious. (Consider a choice line or two: "One wanted the best, even if charity was paying." Or, "Eccentric and rich was one thing, hell, that was Aspen. But eccentric and poor was scary.") Like the best satire and comedy, this wonderful novel not only makes you laugh, it gets to the truth of the human condition better than a thousand other `more serious' books.