Extravagance: A Novel

great novel

I enjoyed this daring comparison between two economic booms and the moral struggles straddling them both. An enoyable undertaking from first to last.

This is a great novel. It jumps back and forth between old London and new New York, and really nails the atmosphere of both. It's one story--a classic tale about a young guy coming from a small town to make his fortune--but it ends up not being what you expect. It provides no simple morals about the stock market mess that we just want to get through, but instead suggests that it wasn't all about greed, but about a dream of power and possibility, too (though also about greed). And the book is hilarious in places. There's one incredible scene that takes place in Bedlam, the lunatic asylum where Londoners of the time went for entertainment. And there are loads of other really memorable scenes. It's one of those books you just enjoy thoroughly and effortlessly. A+.

This is a really excellent novel--a page-turner--but a lot more than that. It's an exploration of how human nature created the financial bubble that just burst. Krist sets the novel on two separate but parallel tracks--Wall Street at the end of the 20th century and London at the end of the 17th century, when stocks were fairly new and exotic things. Krist has done his homework; the historical sections are authentic, making you feel as if you've been transported to another world. But, however different the language and customs of 1690s Londoners from 1990s New Yorkers, the action in both places revolves around human universals: ambition, love, temptation, and certainly greed. That's why Krist can weave the two stories into a single narrative that gains momentum as it proceeds. This is a high-wire act, and he pulls it off.