Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Book Review: Very Recent History

Synopsis from good reads:  

In one of the greatest cities in the world, the richest man in town is the Mayor. Billionaires shed apartments like last season's fashion trends, even as the country's economy turns inside out and workers are expelled from the City's glass towers. The young and careless go on as they always have, getting laid and getting laid off, falling in and falling out of love, and trying to navigate the strange world they traffic in: the Internet, complex financial markets, credit cards, pop stars, microplane cheese graters, and sex apps.

A true-life fable of money, sex, and politics, Very Recent History follows a man named John and his circle of friends, lovers, and enemies. It is a book that pieces together our every day, as if it were already forgotten.


Very Recent History by Choire Sicha sparked my interest when I saw it on the list of books I could review for TLC Book Tours as I work in the financial field and am fascinated by the period covered by this book (2009) as it's a period in time when as Warren Buffet has famously said "Only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked," which means to me that sometimes wealth or success is an illusion or a temporary state of being.  But for whatever reason, possibly my inability to focus on reading heavier or more academic type of writing, I struggled to get caught up in the story.  It was interesting to read about a time I have lived through, told by a narrator who lives far in the future.  

I think maybe if I had read this during a different phase of my life, a phase that is less taxing, I might have enjoyed it more...  

I received a complimentary copy of this book from TLC Book Tours. I was not compensated for this review, and the opinions are my own.  

1 comment:

Kelly (She Wears a Red Sox Cap) said...

It's funny- I am the SAME way about books. There are books i've read that I didn't really like, and I often think, if I didn't read that during ___ then I probably would've actually liked it! I mean I think the true sign of a good book is that no matter the time, it will always draw you in, but there are definitely in the middle books that would be better if I wasn't distracted by other things in my life :) I also tend to like books more when I'm on vacation... goes along the same lines!