The Financial Lives of the Poets
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Product Description
Product Description
Small-time finance journalist Matthew Prior gave up his day-job and gambled everything on setting up a website offering financial advice ... in witty blank verse. Then he woke up one day in the middle of the worst crisis since the 30s with no business, a shedload of debt, a lot of guilt and a great deal of suspicion about his wife who spends her time flirting online with her childhood sweetheart - a real guy with a real, man's job. So when Matt's offered some high-grade dope, and finds he can sell a little bit of it on, he thinks that maybe this is where the future lies...
As Matt battles to save his marriage, his children's future and his sanity too, The Financial Lives of the Poets becomes a hugely funny but heartfelt novel about how we can reach the edge of ruin - and pull back.
About the Author
Jess Walter has written four novels, most recently The Zero which was shortlisted for the National Book Award. He lives in Spokane, Washington with his family.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A former financial journalist decides to branch out into a new, innovative field - financial news presented in poetic form! Unfortunately poetfolio.com doesn't take off and leaves him with a mountain of debt. Couple that with his wife's eBay addiction, his weeks of unemployment, and the financial crash of 2008 and he soon finds himself 1 week away from eviction from his dream house. At a loose end one night, he encounters some stoners and begins to think about dealing weed to get out of his immediate cash troubles. Add to this his wife pursuing an old high school crush via Facebook, his dementia-ridden father who was bilked out of his savings and house by a stripper and her boyfriend, and the perils of the drug dealing world, and you have "The Financial Lives of the Poets".
I loved Jess Walter's book "Citizen Vince" and followed it immediately with "The Zero", a more experimental difficult read that I failed to finish and which put me off Walter for a bit. I'm glad I came back to check out his latest though as it was a fantastic novel with some excellent characters and a brilliant storyline. I particularly enjoyed/cringed at Matt (the main character) and his wife Lisa's strained marriage as the tension between them builds and the distance between them grows. It felt very real and was the first time I'd seen some of the less positive effects of Facebook reflected in a novel. Matt's encounters with the drug dealers was also interesting with a paranoid lawyer thrown into the mix making for lively conversations.
I would ignore the Nick Hornby blurb which claims that it's an hilarious book as it really isn't. Some of the scenes are light hearted and a bit silly but overall it's a serious novel. This isn't a bad thing though as the writing is top notch, the story doesn't need gags to keep the reader interested, and the characters are wonderfully realised to keep you invested in what happens to them. Matt's relationship with his dementia addled father is particularly touching. Also the ending is remarkably good, Walter showing he is a writer who can write all aspects of a novel brilliantly, beginnings, middles and ends, a rare thing in writers.
One of the best novels I've read all year, original, well written, imaginative, with great characters, a fast moving and interesting story. I can't recommend this higher to anyone looking for a good book to read.
I loved Jess Walter's book "Citizen Vince" and followed it immediately with "The Zero", a more experimental difficult read that I failed to finish and which put me off Walter for a bit. I'm glad I came back to check out his latest though as it was a fantastic novel with some excellent characters and a brilliant storyline. I particularly enjoyed/cringed at Matt (the main character) and his wife Lisa's strained marriage as the tension between them builds and the distance between them grows. It felt very real and was the first time I'd seen some of the less positive effects of Facebook reflected in a novel. Matt's encounters with the drug dealers was also interesting with a paranoid lawyer thrown into the mix making for lively conversations.
I would ignore the Nick Hornby blurb which claims that it's an hilarious book as it really isn't. Some of the scenes are light hearted and a bit silly but overall it's a serious novel. This isn't a bad thing though as the writing is top notch, the story doesn't need gags to keep the reader interested, and the characters are wonderfully realised to keep you invested in what happens to them. Matt's relationship with his dementia addled father is particularly touching. Also the ending is remarkably good, Walter showing he is a writer who can write all aspects of a novel brilliantly, beginnings, middles and ends, a rare thing in writers.
One of the best novels I've read all year, original, well written, imaginative, with great characters, a fast moving and interesting story. I can't recommend this higher to anyone looking for a good book to read.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a really good book by Jess Walter - no wonder Nick Hornby recommended him to Penguin (see above review)... You have to love a book where within two pages the about-to-go-bankrupt hero is not returning home with the milk for tomorrow's breakfast, but rather leaving his local 7-11 in the company of some stoned strangers whose acquaintance he has made on the basis of them, er, liking his slippers.
The writing is fantastically stylish: arch and clever with tons of little jokes woven in. It's satisfying even if you have the most refined taste in literature, and entertaining enough to whizz by as you are reading. The book is narrated by the main character, and he too is terribly appealing. You find yourself rooting for Matt Prior's marijuana-soaked plans for financial solvency to work. (And a subplot about Prior's wife, who is spending far too much time on Facebook, makes this the first really good novel to deal with the grey area of Friends Reunited semi-infidelity.)
This is the perfect intelligent holiday novel and I found myself trying very hard not to read it too fast, and desperately looking forward to having twenty minutes at night to dip into it a little more.
The writing is fantastically stylish: arch and clever with tons of little jokes woven in. It's satisfying even if you have the most refined taste in literature, and entertaining enough to whizz by as you are reading. The book is narrated by the main character, and he too is terribly appealing. You find yourself rooting for Matt Prior's marijuana-soaked plans for financial solvency to work. (And a subplot about Prior's wife, who is spending far too much time on Facebook, makes this the first really good novel to deal with the grey area of Friends Reunited semi-infidelity.)
This is the perfect intelligent holiday novel and I found myself trying very hard not to read it too fast, and desperately looking forward to having twenty minutes at night to dip into it a little more.
Format:Paperback
This is a brilliantly written insight into the life and mind of an ordinary, likeable, middle class guy who's been the victim of both his own wishful thinking and the financial crash. The other reviews give you an excellent idea of the plot and the many merits of this book. I would simply add that I recommend it very highly to men or women who want an intelligent, funny holiday read that will also make you sit back and examine yourself a bit. Matt, the anti-hero, will be especially recognisable to many 40-something men, as he tries to be a good dad, a caring son, a worthy husband, and yet makes some comically ridiculous decisions along the way.
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