A brilliant,
un-put-downable book about a guy trying to make a quick
buck...
THE HOPELESS LIFE OF CHARLIE SUMMERS
Paul Torday
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, $38.99, pbk
Review by Ian Williams
The new novel from Paul (Salmon Fishing in the Yemen) Torday
has the same "fail-good" factor as his first mega-seller:
engaging humans swimming against the tide in the business of
making money, but sinking more often than not.
Despite the title, The Hopeless Life of Charlie Summers is
just as much the story of the novel's narrator, comfortably
middle-class Hector Chetwode-Talbot, who left the army under
a cloud due to a "mishap" in Afghanistan.
At a loose end, "Eck" takes time out to play a little golf in
France with best friend Henry, where a suspiciously
down-at-heel Charlie pops up, on the run from H. M. Inland
Revenue.
Torday's keen eye for the quirks of divergent males in the
business of making a buck, and the lessons learned in the
process, had this financially timid reader entranced.
Not that Eck's new job is too demanding - lining up investors
for a chum from school days who runs a funds management
business.
All this in 2008 when even banks went bust.
Charlie's "business" is also based on "get-rich-quick", but
no less shaky, schemes: dog food made with a "secret"
Japanese recipe; wine from Holland, aged in old beetroot
casks; and moving on quickly when local hostelries and
landlords want their bills paid.
But as this intriguing fable makes clear, the Charlies of
this world and the organisation Eck works for are two sides
of the same coin.
Only the scale of deception and consequences are different.
Brilliant, un-put-downable, plotting and reading.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
A name, residential address, and (preferably residential) telephone number is required from readers who comment on ODT Online. These details will not be visible to site visitors.