The Financial Lives of the Poets
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3.8 • 6 Ratings
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- £8.99
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- £8.99
Publisher Description
From the author of the bestselling Beautiful Ruins comes The Financial Lives of Poets - a brilliantly funny novel about a man who, in an attempt to save himself, may destroy everything he loves.
Meet Matt Prior. He's about to lose his job, his house, his wife, and maybe his sanity too.
Financial journalist Matt quit his job to set up a website which couldn't fail. Only now he's woken up to the biggest crisis since the Great Crash, and it has. He's got six days to save his house. It's hard to focus when your wife's having an online affair with her childhood sweetheart, but there are children to think about . . . So when he gets hold of some high-grade dope and finds he can sell a piece on at a profit, he begins to think this might be his salvation.
A fabulously funny, heartfelt novel about how we can skate close to the edge of ruin - and pull back.
'A beautifully laid-back exultation of the human connections that make life worth living' Metro
'Ecstatically funny and unusually big-hearted' Financial Times
'It made me laugh more than any other book I've read this year' Nick Hornby
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
National Book Award finalist Walter does for the nation's bleak financial landscape what he did for 9/11 in The Zero: whip-smart satire with heart. Matt Prior quits his job as a business reporter to start Poetfolio.com, a Web site featuring poetry about finance, or "money-lit." Unsurprisingly, it tanks, and Matt returns to the newspaper, only to be laid off with a meager severance package. Now not only are the Priors in danger of losing their house, but Matt is convinced that his wife, Lisa, is having an affair with an old boyfriend she rediscovered during her lengthy nightly Facebook sessions. With two sons in overpriced Catholic school and his increasingly senile father to support, Matt's bank accounts dwindle amid his financial planner's dire predictions (diagnosis: "fiscal Ebola"). When an appealing but illegal moneymaking opportunity presents itself, Matt jumps at the chance. The decision to include snippets of Matt's poetry in the novel was a risky one, but Walter pulls it off, never resorting to pretension or overused metaphors for life's meltdowns.
Customer Reviews
A delight written in paperback
A fantastic read, full of fun, a tinge of sadness and a delightful take on the unseen effect of the recession on the American dream