Human Capital
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- £9.99
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- £9.99
Publisher Description
It's the spring of 2001. Drew Hagel has spent the last decade watching things slip away - his marriage, his real estate brokerage, and his beloved daughter, Shannon, now a distant and mysterious high school senior. But, as summer approaches, Drew forms an unexpected friendship with Quint Manning, the manager of a secretive hedge fund. Drew sees the friendship leading to vast, frictionless wealth, but Drew doesn't know that Manning has problems of his own: his Midas touch is abandoning him, his restless wife has grown disillusioned, and his hard-drinking son is careening out of control. As the fortunes of three families collide, a terrible accident gives Drew the leverage he needs to stay in the game.
But what are the consequences of speculating with human lives rather than money?
Chosen by The Washington Post as one of the five best works of fiction of 2004, Human Capital is a touching, suspenseful novel about three families that chronicles the American suburban dream with devastating accuracy, by acclaimed author Stephen Amidon.
'Amidon's absorbing novel is distinguished above all by its taut, compelling plot, one hinged by intriguing moral ambiguities' The Sunday Times
'A brilliant examination of the undertow of sadness and desperation that tugs at the American dream' New Statesman
'An unflinching social commentary that has the potential to endure as a clear and literate portrait of its time' Observer
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A starred review indicates a book of outstanding quality. A review with a blue-tinted title indicates a book of unusual commercial interest that hasn't received a starred review.HUMAN CAPITALStephen Amidon. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $25 (384p) Tensions, lies and hypocrisy lurk beneath the cool exteriors of Totten Crossing, Conn., in this fine new novel of suburbia from Amidon (The New City; Subdivision). In an effort to keep up with the Joneses, fading real estate broker Drew Hagel sinks all his money into a hedge fund that goes bust. Meanwhile, his second wife, psychologist Ronnie, is pregnant with twins, and his teenage daughter, Shannon, is experiencing first love with Ian, one of Ronnie's young patients, whose mother died of cancer when he was 14, leaving him a large sum of insurance money that he will inherit when he turns 18. Ian's uncle, David, a decent man with few prospects, plans on using the inheritance to fulfill his dream of owning a bar in North Carolina. Finally, Carrie Manning has grown restless and uncomfortable with her broker husband's wealth and embarks on a brief affair. All these lives collide on one fateful night when Ian accidentally strikes and kills a bicyclist while driving home from an end-of-year high school party; the vehicle belongs to Jamie, Carrie's hard-drinking teenage son. It all sounds a bit like Peyton Place, but Amidon's intentions are far more serious. Writing with a sociologist's insight, he crafts a sharp page-turner mined with moments of dark satire. Amidon's previous novels had moments of profundity, but this exceptional novel delves deeper and more passionately into the fractured lives of people whose lives revolve around money. Its impact lingers long after the final credits roll. should attract the right readers and help raise Amidon's profile. Booksellers can recommend the novel to fans of Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections, too.
