Meet Matt Prior. He's about to lose his job, his wife, his house, maybe his mind. Unless . . .
In the winning and utterly original novels Citizen Vince and The Zero, Jess Walter ("a ridiculously talented writer"—New York Times) painted an America all his own: a land of real, flawed, and deeply human characters coping with the anxieties of their times. Now, in his warmest, funniest, and best novel yet, Walter offers a story as real as our own lives: a tale of overstretched accounts, misbegotten schemes, and domestic dreams deferred.
A few years ago, small-time finance journalist Matthew Prior quit his day job to gamble everything on a quixotic notion: a Web site devoted to financial journalism in the form of blank verse. When his big idea—and his wife's eBay resale business— ends with a whimper (and a garage full of unwanted figurines), they borrow and borrow, whistling past the graveyard of their uncertain dreams. One morning Matt wakes up to find himself jobless, hobbled with debt, spying on his wife's online flirtation, and six days away from losing his home. Is this really how things were supposed to end up for me, he wonders: staying up all night worried, driving to 7-Eleven in the middle of the night to get milk for his boys, and falling in with two local degenerates after they offer him a hit of high-grade marijuana?
Or, he thinks, could this be the solution to all my problems?
Following Matt in his weeklong quest to save his marriage, his sanity, and his dreams, The Financial Lives of the Poets is a hysterical, heartfelt novel about how we can reach the edge of ruin—and how we can begin to make our way back.
I got this book as a birthday gift this week from my Wish List. I'd seen a review in the New York Times a few weeks ago and tagged it. I read the book in 2 sittings, finishing it last night.
The book is funny, poignant, tragic, and hopeful from one moment to the next. The story closely parallels my own life the last 10 months; laid off from a long term job, huge debt from giant mortgage on a "dream house", marital issues, a failed startup business, inability to sleep and think rationally, job offer at a fraction of my former salary, and so on. Basically, I became "Slippers" (Matt) and had my own late night trips to the bright, surreal universe at the local 7-11.
I'm purposely not delving into any more specifics of the plot and characters. This is a book that should be experienced without preconceptions. It has my highest recommendation.
You or someone you know, like millions of us in this day and time, is probably living this story right now. Read it, love it, and try NOT to laugh the next time you buy milk at "nine dollars a gallon, dude" or see someone wearing a watch with a light-up dial.
Synopsis:
Successful throughout his life, Matt Prior finds himself in the unexpected position of being unemployed, deeply in debt and weeks away from losing his home. Things have been difficult at home and he can't bare to tell his wife the true state of their finances. Matt continues with the everyday life - caring for the children, applying for jobs, negotiating with their mortgage lender, and the usual household chores. When one late night, Matt discovers a possible solution - wacky and dangerous though it may be - to solve their financial hell, he decides to give it a go.
Review: In Jess Walter's The Financial Lives of the Poets, Matt Prior goes on a hilarious and absurd adventure triggered by today's financial crisis. Matt has his own crooked logic that will leave you chuckling, whether he's plotting ways to sabotage his wife's flirtation with her high school boyfriend or eke revenge against M_ who laid him or finding ways to reassure his father during his slow descent to senility. A fun and crazy ride - highly recommended!
Publisher: Harper (September 22, 2009), 304 pages.
Review copy courtesy of TLC Book Tours.
