The Financial Lives of the Poets
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Average rating4.1
Meet Matt Prior. He's about to lose his job, his wife, his house, maybe his mind. Unless . . . In the winning and utterly original novels Citizen Vince and The Zero, Jess Walter ("a ridiculously talented writer"-New York Times) painted an America all his own: a land of real, flawed, and deeply human characters coping with the anxieties of their times. Now, in his warmest, funniest, and best novel yet, Walter offers a story as real as our own lives: a tale of overstretched accounts, misbegotten schemes, and domestic dreams deferred. A few years ago, small-time finance journalist Matthew Prior quit his day job to gamble everything on a quixotic notion: a Web site devoted to financial journalism in the form of blank verse. When his big idea-and his wife's eBay resale business- ends with a whimper (and a garage full of unwanted figurines), they borrow and borrow, whistling past the graveyard of their uncertain dreams. One morning Matt wakes up to find himself jobless, hobbled with debt, spying on his wife's online flirtation, and six days away from losing his home. Is this really how things were supposed to end up for me, he wonders: staying up all night worried, driving to 7-Eleven in the middle of the night to get milk for his boys, and falling in with two local degenerates after they offer him a hit of high-grade marijuana? Or, he thinks, could this be the solution to all my problems? Following Matt in his weeklong quest to save his marriage, his sanity, and his dreams, The Financial Lives of the Poets is a hysterical, heartfelt novel about how we can reach the edge of ruin-and how we can begin to make our way back.
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I chose this book b/c I liked a short story by this author which I listened to on Audible. The audiobook version of this short novel was first person and read by the author. When the author has the ability to read/perform well, I think it adds a depth to the overall experience. I related to the middle-aged dad who finds himself financially and relationally over his head during the 2008 "Great Recession." His solution to what ails him is over the top, yet mostly believable. And it's darkly humorous as he gets exponentially further over his head. I like how endearing the characters were - even the antagonists in the story. And I'm a sucker for a redemption story where the protagonist learns and grows to be a better person.
A really enjoyable book. The title doesn't give much of a sense of what the book is, but it's basically about a man on the verge of ruin – financial doom is imminent, his wife may be cheating – who turns to small-scale drug dealing. Like most of Walter's work, it has a lot of humor combined with drama. This book is hard to put down.
