8 August 2015

Review #294: The Fall of Princes by Robert Goolrick



My rating: 5 of 5 stars


"Let me tell you something. There's no nobility in poverty. I've been a poor man, and I've been a rich man. And I choose rich every fucking time. "


----Jordan Belfort, The Wolf of Wall Street



Robert Goolrick, #1 New York Times bestselling author, pens his new novel, The Fall of Princes that screams being rich and leading a fast life with all the millions that allows one to lead such a lifestyle, and also the 80s when the golden dreams of Wall Street ruled everyone in America, along with it's sprawling downfalls that was so hard to avoid while living on the edge.




Synopsis:

In the spellbinding new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Robert Goolrick, 1980s Manhattan shimmers like the mirage it was, as money, power, and invincibility seduce a group of young Wall Street turks. Together they reach the pinnacle, achieving the kind of wealth that grants them access to anything--and anyone--they want. Until, one by one, they fall.

With the literary chops of Bonfire of the Vanities and the dizzying decadence of The Wolf of Wall Street, The Fall of Princes takes readers into a world of hedonistic highs and devastating lows, weaving a visceral tale about the lives of these young men, winners all . . . until someone changes the rules of the game. Goolrick paints an authentic portrait of an era, tense and stylish, perfectly mixing adrenaline and melancholy.

Stunning in its acute observations about great wealth and its absence, and deeply moving in its depiction of the ways in which these men learn to cope with both extremes, the novel travels from New York to Paris to Los Angeles to Italy to Las Vegas to London on a journey that is as seductive as it is starkly revealing, a true tour de force.



The unnamed protagonist accounts his glory days in the Wall Street when he was a wolf and represented his club called 'BSD' (Big Swinging Dicks) along with his fellow buddies who made millions like anything as traders. He made millions week after week and spent it like a boss on drugs, alcohol, high-class hookers, exotic vacations, designer suits and accessories. This is when America saw the boom of the Wall Street trading during the 80s, when every young graduate's dream was to become not just rich but filthy rich, but it also saw the waking rage of AIDS/HIV that drove people to commit suicide and love became costly. The narrator here talks so honestly with an open heart that it at times, it will make the readers envy his fast life and as well as it will make the readers feel pity for his life as he never saw it coming when his liquid cash stopped loving him and it became a disaster for him to accept his poverty-stricken lifestyle with no glitters and fancy vacations.

The writing style is extremely brilliant and unknowingly and even unwillingly, the story will make the readers sway with it's hypnotic movements. From cocaine-high narrative to drowning-on-the-edge narrative, it will always keeps the readers on their edges till the last page. The prose is fantastically eloquent as well as flows so freely that it immediately hooks the readers like a drug right from the very first chapter. With clever anecdotes, the book stands out to be a perfection in the midst of so many Wall Street- themed novels in the market.
Yes it does reminded me of the movie The Wolf of the Wall Street, but this book has an unique flavor as well as essence that drags the readers into the ruination of the protagonist.
The characters are all strongly developed by etching their flaws which are kept under the limelight until the very last page, thus making the novel so realistic, intense and intimidating. The main character is like the face of all those young wolves of the Wall Street who had only one mantra "Earn it all and Spend it All Recklessly". But his honest voice hits the readers like a tequila shot right on their hearts and the author has crafted him with lots of depth and back story to make the readers somehow contemplate with his plight.

The soaring years of the protagonist's life is portrayed with great vivid details, at times blinding out the reality and living high on the edge of fantasy like a dream and also the carefully depicting his downfall that not only affects his lifestyle but also him when he hits the ground.

The author arrests the 1980s era so perfectly and vividly with his words that it feels like he is talking about yesterday when we actually saw it happening with our own eyes. The society and the culture paints the glittering backdrop that adds a vulnerability to the future thus adding a dramatic as well as true setting for the story. Moreover the author's sarcastic depiction of the 80s prove to be a pragmatic portrayal of today's world.

In short, this is a damn good book that I've read it in a while and that which made me think with all those insightful views on a not very distant past, that not only speaks about the disadvantages of money but also about those relationships that comes with the money and those which stays even when the money stops flowing.

Verdict: A must read book for everyone that makes one feel like riding high on a deadly roller coaster- sexy yet thought-provoking!

Courtesy: Thanks to the author's publishers for giving me an opportunity to read and read an ARC of this yet-to-be-released book. 
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Author Info:
Robert Goolrick was born in a small town in Virginia and attended John Hopkins University.

Fired after 30 years in the advertising business, Goolrick wrote his memoir, The End of the World as We Know It: Scenes from a Life. A Reliable Wife is his first novel.

Goolrick currently lives in New York City.

Visit him here 

  
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