Other People's Money [Format Kindle]

This is an extremely well crafted novel and a very good read. To some extent I was expecting it to be a banker-bashing exercise, but this is not the case. It's a well-paced Zeitgeist novel, very well constructed and easy to read, both insightful and humourous.

Justin Cartwright lets you into the heads of his characters, all of whom are sympathetically drawn and believable, complete with normal human strengths and foibles. Without exception his characters are beautifully drawn, with just enough detail that you immediately know who and what they are. Even the ancillary characters, in just a few sentences, are instantly recognisable.

There is some lovely writing and clever asides that so neatly capture observations on contemporary society in a way that makes you wish you'd thought of them first. The chapter which takes place in the fusion restaurant is a particular example, but there are small jewels throughout the book.

Surprisingly for a book on the banking crisis, there are no baddies or grand reckoning, and I found myself rooting for all the principal characters as they work through their huge uncertainties.

If I have only one negative observation, it is that occasionally the author's own words project a little too blatantly into the inner thoughts of some of the main characters, but this is a small quibble.

This novel tells the tale of a family, a banking family, caught in the web of a pending financial collapse. At heart this is a family drama rather than a deep look at the ills that helped cause the recent financial crisis. An incapacitated father, a son trying to stave off the collapse, a stepmother trying to rediscover her lost youth, a young journalist trying to make her mark, an aging editor desperate for one last story- all make this character-driven story a delight to read. The writing is magnificent, the characters finely drawn, and the situation realistic; this novel is a tuly excellent read. Highly recommended work of literary fiction.

This is brilliant British satire. The first two pages is just so wonderful, the newspaper account of those who attended the "Service of Thanksgiving" for Sir Harry Trevelyan-Tubal at, of course, St. Paul's Cathedral. The queen and the Duke of Edinburgh did not attend, but were represented by none other than Sir Thomas Carew Knollys... Just priceless name dropping, setting up this absolutely wonderful piece of satire.

By page three Sir Harry is alive--just barely--living in the Villa Tubal where ever-faithful employee, Estelle, in her seventies types up the letters Sir Harry dictates as best he can given his condition--he's suffered from a stroke. Since she has worked so long for Tubal and Company. Sir Harry's now-wife, in her twenties when she married him after his first wife committed suicide, is away. Why not! After all Sir Harry Trevelyan-Tubal is only one of a long line of fathers and sons who have headed this bank.

And, yes, son Julian Trevelyan-Tubal is the recipient of these letters, FedEx-ed daily, letters filled with "sage advice" about how to run the bank. But, of course, Julian has little need for such advice since he is very busy flying in the company jet transferring money from accounts in Lichtenstein to cover some of the many shady loans the huge bank has been making. I, like another reader who reviewed here, thought this was going to be a slam on the banks who have created the world-wide recession. But it isn't, at least not directly. But the satire is much more focused upon the people who made these decisions. Oh, yes, poor Julian suffers from migraines.

And then there is my favorite character, introduced first in chapter three: Artair MacCleod currently living in "an old lifeboat station." But not for long. MacCleod was once married to Fleur, a somewhat-actress and now the trophy wife of Sir Harry. And as part of that divorce settlement, actor-director-disillusioned and oh-so-nasty Artair has been granted a basics-only amount of money that keeps his small acting company going--they specialize in children's play productions. But Artair has bigger plans. But suddenly he discovers... Well, I won't tell.

The author is brilliant in his ability to convey point of view. If you like good British satire, this will not disappoint.