Union Atlantic
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Union Atlantic for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Review
`Beautifully drawn and entirely believable... This is an extraordinary, thrilling book about the nature of power and capitalism... the book [has] staggering ambition' --The Times
'Beautifully written and artfully plotted'
--Guardian
'Beautifully written and artfully plotted'
--Guardian
Product Description
Doug Fanning lives an apparently gilded existence. A Gulf war veteran turned banker at the vast investment bank Union Atlantic, he is wealthy, handsome and powerful - the epitome of Wall Street success. Charlotte Graves lives in self-imposed exile deep in the forests of rural Massachusetts, stubbornly refusing to engage with a country she feels to be in morally bankrupt. When Fanning decides to build himself a sprawling mansion adjacent to her home, her isolation is threatened and she determines to evict him from his land and, if she can, his kind from her country. Union Atlantic is a deeply involving novel of the modern world - a world in crisis, where individual humanity is pitted against the global marketplace, and we must decide what, in the end, we value most highly.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Union Atlantic is a rare treat; gorgeously written, with a deft line in characters, a novel that through sheer skill alone builds in such potency as to affect the reader's moments and experiences away from its sparkling prose. With a plot that is secondary, but nevertheless expertly threaded through events, Haslett's brilliance - in this his first proper novel - sparkles via his jewel-like observations and poetic takes on eternal truths, somehow fashioning them as brand new and marking himself out as a truly talented author to follow.
As you've probably already heard, Union Atlantic is essentially about economics, more specifically financial meltdown, set as it is against the contemporary American stock exchange. However, despite some engaging insider views on the rabid passions and bizarre, otherworldly, foreign language of financial chicanery, this novel is more about the singular, yet powerful, place finance has in the world at large, and beyond that how actions in life's maze can ripple out, bringing down a whole heap of events to impact on seemingly unconnected individuals far beyond a person's intentions.
With characters connected either through family or fate are steadily introduced in a fashion that in other hands may have proved tedious and distracting - but guided by Haslett unravel into a mesmerizing treat of observation - Union Atlantic spreads out into a fascinating snapshot of everyday American life during this first decade of the twenty-first century. Inevitably, upon starting Union Atlantic, F.Scott Fitzgerald very quickly comes to mind, as well as the notion of the Great American Novel; and whilst much is made of the latter, in conjuring such a beautiful, evocative novel of manners to equal the former's Great Gatsby, Haslett has subtly delivered a work which will surely resonate for many years to come.
Whatever you do, don't for one moment be put off by the subject matter referenced in discussions about this novel. For Union Atlantic is arguably one of the most compelling, beautiful and urgent novels to emerge in a very long time.
Hugely recommended.
As you've probably already heard, Union Atlantic is essentially about economics, more specifically financial meltdown, set as it is against the contemporary American stock exchange. However, despite some engaging insider views on the rabid passions and bizarre, otherworldly, foreign language of financial chicanery, this novel is more about the singular, yet powerful, place finance has in the world at large, and beyond that how actions in life's maze can ripple out, bringing down a whole heap of events to impact on seemingly unconnected individuals far beyond a person's intentions.
With characters connected either through family or fate are steadily introduced in a fashion that in other hands may have proved tedious and distracting - but guided by Haslett unravel into a mesmerizing treat of observation - Union Atlantic spreads out into a fascinating snapshot of everyday American life during this first decade of the twenty-first century. Inevitably, upon starting Union Atlantic, F.Scott Fitzgerald very quickly comes to mind, as well as the notion of the Great American Novel; and whilst much is made of the latter, in conjuring such a beautiful, evocative novel of manners to equal the former's Great Gatsby, Haslett has subtly delivered a work which will surely resonate for many years to come.
Whatever you do, don't for one moment be put off by the subject matter referenced in discussions about this novel. For Union Atlantic is arguably one of the most compelling, beautiful and urgent novels to emerge in a very long time.
Hugely recommended.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is an odd book to try to place exactly. On the one hand it sets off with the feel of a thriller, with a US army veteran now a banking executive sailing close to the wind. On the other hand it has a rather literary style, which comes to the fore when describing the past life of his neighbour, a batty but likeable elderly lady who stands against the ostentation he has brought to the neighbourhood specifically and indeed against the pre-eminence of money that this represents.
The observations of modern society's obsession with money and power are well made and thought provoking (though the detail of the financial machinations were to me at times rather obscure) and there was a certain impetus to the story that gave it interest. However, the tension between the literary explorations of character and background, and the needs for plot to drive onwards with pace were never fully resolved. The book chops between a section of languid and thoughtful description and frantic action in an unsatisfactory way that gives a disjointed whole.
It's a shame really because clearly there is good quality prose here, and a good idea, but the two don't quite meet in the middle. Nevertheless, I'd be interested in reading another novel by the same author in the future, and would certainly be willing to give it a try with an optimistic approach.
The observations of modern society's obsession with money and power are well made and thought provoking (though the detail of the financial machinations were to me at times rather obscure) and there was a certain impetus to the story that gave it interest. However, the tension between the literary explorations of character and background, and the needs for plot to drive onwards with pace were never fully resolved. The book chops between a section of languid and thoughtful description and frantic action in an unsatisfactory way that gives a disjointed whole.
It's a shame really because clearly there is good quality prose here, and a good idea, but the two don't quite meet in the middle. Nevertheless, I'd be interested in reading another novel by the same author in the future, and would certainly be willing to give it a try with an optimistic approach.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Having just finished reading the book I'm actually finding it hard to describe, but I can assure you it's not a title to overlook.
This short novel, which can be read within a week at a relaxed place, could be seen as a sort of fusion of the movies Syriana and Wall Street...Those two analogies are probably enough to avoid spoiling the book; but there's also some comedy in there, albeit not of the laugh-out-loud sort.
The first striking thing about Haslett's style is how perfectly poetic his words are - they're not overly decorative but vivid and dynamic in a fat-free way, from little details like how traffic lights look on a rainy windscreen to describing drug trips. There are times though when the financial-speak washed over my head and the italicised "preacher" speak was a bit heavy going, but that's more my failing - that said grasping the stories of the protagonists isn't hard. I also must add that as a straight man, there was something quite involving about the gay sex scenes.
Multiple themes seem to be touched here, the ones that stand out are the nature of a dog eat dog world and the value of principles. The characters are well rounded and seem believable as they're planted very well into a non-fictional backdrop. I agree with the professional critics that this is a timely release given that we're in a "new-cession" (a term I heard by a delivery man), but it's also timeless as the moods it brings up in the emotional side of things will always resonate.
All in all, a great book by Haslett, perhaps only losing full marks because it had some predictable turns.
This short novel, which can be read within a week at a relaxed place, could be seen as a sort of fusion of the movies Syriana and Wall Street...Those two analogies are probably enough to avoid spoiling the book; but there's also some comedy in there, albeit not of the laugh-out-loud sort.
The first striking thing about Haslett's style is how perfectly poetic his words are - they're not overly decorative but vivid and dynamic in a fat-free way, from little details like how traffic lights look on a rainy windscreen to describing drug trips. There are times though when the financial-speak washed over my head and the italicised "preacher" speak was a bit heavy going, but that's more my failing - that said grasping the stories of the protagonists isn't hard. I also must add that as a straight man, there was something quite involving about the gay sex scenes.
Multiple themes seem to be touched here, the ones that stand out are the nature of a dog eat dog world and the value of principles. The characters are well rounded and seem believable as they're planted very well into a non-fictional backdrop. I agree with the professional critics that this is a timely release given that we're in a "new-cession" (a term I heard by a delivery man), but it's also timeless as the moods it brings up in the emotional side of things will always resonate.
All in all, a great book by Haslett, perhaps only losing full marks because it had some predictable turns.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Cliched, and entirely predictable
It is sad to write that this was an incredibly boring book.
I had high hopes: the idea of a clash of ideas within a small area is a very fertile ground. Read more
I had high hopes: the idea of a clash of ideas within a small area is a very fertile ground. Read more
Published 7 days ago by Mr. K. P. Rogers
Misstate of the Union
As an opener for the state of society in the early 21st century the book is entertaining and illuminating but not likely to achieve classic status. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Dudley Serious
This year's Dan Brown -- and not in a good way
This is easily the worst novel I've read since The Da Vinci Code. The first chapter -- set on the USS Vincennes when it shot down an Iranian passenger plane (a real incident) is... Read more
Published 10 months ago by jimweibo
union city blues
If ever we needed a story about rogue bankers destroying lives and each other in the pursuit of wealth and glory, then the first years of the 21st century is a good a time to place... Read more
Published 13 months ago by mfl
power play
This book is very revealing of the operations of high finance and how easily the young and innocent can be seduced. Read more
Published 13 months ago by lizi
Haslett is trying to be a Tom Wolfe for the 21st century
About three chapters into this book I thought - "good god, this is the book that Tom Wolfe would have written about the financial crisis" The nature of the stories, the characters... Read more
Published 14 months ago by Mr. Rob Bassett
Excellent first novel by a young American writer
'Union Atlantic' is the first novel by a forty-year-old American writer previously known for his short stories. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Paul Bowes
waste of a good idea
Haslett had the kernel of a novel, and a good one at that, but then he chose to completely waste it by hurling in several half-formed thoughts in lieu of creating any real... Read more
Published 16 months ago by D L
Waste of good subject matter
I was astonished to see Adam Haslett had written a long article for the weekend FT on writing style because really his is pretty painful. Read more
Published 16 months ago by AlbertNW
An excellent read, well written with a good plot.
Union Atlantic surprised me, because I liked it when I expected not to - it is not my usual choice of reading. Read more
Published 18 months ago by R. F. Stevens
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
