Customer Reviews

Extravagance: A Novel

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

 

 

This is a really excellent novel--a page-turner--but a lot more than that. It's an exploration of how human nature created the financial bubble that just burst. Krist sets the novel on two separate but parallel tracks--Wall Street at the end of the 20th century and London at the end of the 17th century, when stocks were fairly new and exotic things. Krist has done his homework; the historical sections are authentic, making you feel as if you've been transported to another world. But, however different the language and customs of 1690s Londoners from 1990s New Yorkers, the action in both places revolves around human universals: ambition, love, temptation, and certainly greed. That's why Krist can weave the two stories into a single narrative that gains momentum as it proceeds. This is a high-wire act, and he pulls it off.

Quoting from the blurb on its back cover, Extravagance is a novel of "financial mania" and is set in two time periods - London in the 1690's and New York in the 1990's. It is a single story, that of William Merrick, an ambitious young man. who comes to stay with his uncle in the big city, but moves from one time period to another, for example he could be having lunch with his uncle in 17th century England, leave and step into a cab in New York 20th century. The same characters are having parallel lives and interactions with each other in both time periods. This simply happens and is never explained to the reader, are they time travelers, a group reincarnation, a dream?????? It seems the only reason we are constantly shifted back and forth is to demonstrate the similarities in the two periods with regard to stock trading and sudden wealth. Though the book's concept is intriguing and includes some clever and witty writing the actual plot simply did not hold my attention. The cliche characters are totally one dimensional, shallow, greedy and predictable in every way.

Perhaps OK for someone who enjoys historical fiction about money, particularly stock market money.

I enjoyed this daring comparison between two economic booms and the moral struggles straddling them both. An enoyable undertaking from first to last.

William Merrick is a bright and driven young man who leaves his large family in the country to make his fortune in the big city. He is fortunate that his uncle has agreed to take Will under his wing, although Will has his own ideas about his career path, and they don't include being stuck in his uncle's business.

Because of Will's likable personality and aggressive way of taking chances and going after what he wants, he is able to achieve some measure of success, while finding himself further and further entrenched in ethical quandaries that sometimes force him to blur his morals in order to get ahead.

This story is as true for a young man in London in the 1690s as it is for a young man in New York in the 1990s. This novel skillfully tells both stories. In alternating sections, William is that young Londoner interested in getting in on the rights to an acquaintence's new winch, and also the New Yorker dabbling in the stock market and on the cutting edge of a new internet technology. The frenzied pace of both time periods is the same, as is Will's drive to impress his bosses, prove his worth, and win the hand of the beautiful and wealthy Eliza.

I loved the parallel stories, and the shift in language and situation from one section to the next. I thought the romance portion of the book was weak, though, with no explanation as to Will and Eliza's relationship. She was unkind to him and unpleasant, and I saw no reason why he continued to pursue her throughout the book.

This is a great novel. It jumps back and forth between old London and new New York, and really nails the atmosphere of both. It's one story--a classic tale about a young guy coming from a small town to make his fortune--but it ends up not being what you expect. It provides no simple morals about the stock market mess that we just want to get through, but instead suggests that it wasn't all about greed, but about a dream of power and possibility, too (though also about greed). And the book is hilarious in places. There's one incredible scene that takes place in Bedlam, the lunatic asylum where Londoners of the time went for entertainment. And there are loads of other really memorable scenes. It's one of those books you just enjoy thoroughly and effortlessly. A+.

Extravagance is a nice quick read with a formal talent of a literary experiment, written alternately in the style of The Sot Weed Factor and Bright Lights, Big City, but is ultimately as empty as the platitude that there's nothing new under the sun. One problem is that ordinary investors/readers who lost money and, as a result, were left with a sour taste in their mouths from the internet bubble of the 1990's won't like the light way the book reminds us of that era.