Customer Reviews

Mergers & Acquisitions

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I'm an investment banker at a regional firm so I always enjoy business biographies based around the biz. Unfortunately, half these books spend more time on New York society and the personal lives and desires of people more interested in the new hot restaurant than a good character based novel. In other words, Bonfire on the Vanities it's not.

The book synopsis on Amazon supplies the telling clue: a book along the lines of Bright Lights, Big City and Less Than Zero. If you like those two books, this is for you. For me, the significant time spent developing plot lines around the truly wealthy with whom he works and his privileged background which can only be described as upper middle class wears very thin. Another mother with a drinking problem. Another description of the girlfriend with a super wealthy but very dysfunctional family. It becomes very tedious.

However, there are passages of total irreverence that are quite entertaining. His closest friend of wealth who "brown noses" his way through the job but whose true goal is to bed beautiful women. His own miserable failings in his job at which he quickly recognizes he is terrible and attempts to search for a company angel to protect him from the inevitable firing is also interesting. And I must admit that the closing Latin American party on the yacht provides great comic relief.

Overall, mildly entertaining with no great attachment to the characters. An OK read that I would not recommend.

I thought this would be a fictional insight into the world of bankers. Its more an insight into the world of high society New York. A good airplane read but dont expect too much depth

I did enjoy this book, but I wish the author had written a few more chapters on actually working in the office of J.S.Spenser. The author does have a comic way of writing, I liked the part where the main chararter converted the US dollar into itself! I also liked how the book was written, it started in the present at his friend's engagment, then the next chapters where in the past and the last chapter was at the engagment party. Though I did find the main character's girlfriend a bit disturbing.

Given the strong media reviews, I was expecting something funny, engaging and smart. This is none of the above. While I'll give anyone credit for actually writing a book, not to mention getting it published, this was a real disappointment. The novel comprises a series of vignettes that are meant, I guess, to be amusing in their ridiculousness. I found them to be just inane, unoriginal, and, more importantly, totally unsuccessful in creating an actual network of characters and an engaging plot. I would strongly encourage others not to waste time giving this a read.

This book was not what I was expecting. Very hum-drum, most of the text is spent reading the main character's boring perspective on work, life and his sometimes offensive sach-religious side notes. This book was offensive in other areas as well - all minorities in the novel are addicts of some sort, thieves, drug sellers or some sort of depressing character. There was no comedic outlet, no emotions get drawn, this book was simply two thumbs down.

For anyone expecting this to be another "Liar's Poker" wannabe - a book about Wall Street - it may take a couple of chapters to adjust to the reality. Or the unreality. This is really a satirical romp, more of the Tim Dorsey / Carl Hiaasen Florida-genre, except it's not set in Florida. But it's not really set on Wall Street either. Some of the early scenes unwind there, but Wall Street has essentially a cameo role in this book. (And it's not about investment banking, let alone Mergers & Acquisitions.)

So that's what it's not. What is it?

What it is, is a cynical, funny, frothy, sex-soaked, highly readable bash at the feckless rich. Inhabited by completely unrealistic, cartoonish characters (one of them has his initials monogrammed on his shirt - M.O.R.O.N. Another one is ... well, read the book.)

The plot is manic. (Though one hesitates to use the term 'plot' to refer to the episodic collection of events these characters are run through.) Mostly manic in a good way, though it does run off the deep end every now and then. Well, actually, it runs off the deep end every time it goes anywhere near it. Makes Carl Hiaasen look like Charles Dickens.

Another degree of separation from Dickensian satire - Mergers & Acquisitions doesn't deal with people who have a bent moral compass, they have no moral compass at all. They are randy and rich, most of them are mean-spirited, narrow and faithless, and a few of them are downright unhinged. The one or two acts of fidelity go, to say the least, unrewarded.

So, does it have any redeeming merit?

Yes: It's funny. It is very funny. Dana Vachon can find an occasion for humour in almost anything. A fatal heart attack? LMAO. This isn't just the deep end, it's the noir deep end. But if you like a laugh you could do worse than Mergers & Acquisitions.

(I actually listened to the audio rather than reading it. Excellent narration too.)

I have read countless books from this genre, both fiction and non-fiction, and without question this is one of my favorite books of all time. If you have any experience in investment banking, contractual law or just business in general, you will find this satire to be in a league of its own. Bravo monsieur Vachon!

The dude should have stuck with his kickin' banking job on the Street, for such wording is how this book reads. Somewhere on the jacket it claims that we're going to see the inside world of New York's elite and wealthy. What a joke. This is nothing like real life. And Vachon writes like a 6th grade boy. Supposedly, banking analysts and associates at top firms (Goldman) come from top schools (Harvard), but the language the characters use make them sound like high school dropouts from So Cal.

I read this novel right after I finished Tom Wolfe's "I am Charlotte Simmons." I preferred Vachon's novel over Wolfe's by a huge margin. The writing was biting and funny, and I didn't find it patronizing. All in all, I very much enjoyed the book.

I can't believe the dichotomy in the reviews of this book! It's either the best book ever written, or the worst. For my part, I'll give it 3 stars...an enjoyable read that was light-hearted and fun...an entertaining mind-candy romp, but certainly not a 5-star classic. It was exactly what I expected going in to it, and it delivered.

I really wasn't keen on Roger Thorpe's character, though. He was the most colorful character in the book; and as much of a slime he was, I think he could have been more realistic, and yet taken the character further into slimedom with his unique ability to slide through life despite his incompetence. But the "dudes" and "babes" made him more of a sixteen-year-old punk skater rather than the uppercrust moneyed college grad he was. I may be missing the point, but I would have enjoyed an underlying "knowing" of "not knowing" in his attitude...and accidental tourist, per se.

I will say this, however...I relish the thought of the book being re-written: but instead of Tommy Quinn narrating, Hunter S Thompson steps into the role. As I read the book, I kept wondering just how far out-of-hand Tommy's situations could truly have gotten with Gonzo at the wheel. I kept waiting for Fear and Loathing on Wall Street, but all I got was Mergers and Acquisitions. Perhaps Vachon's next book...?

Still, I highly recommend it. Pour yourself a Sapphire and Xanax (or three) and finish the book in one sitting. Enjoy!