The Financial Lives of the Poets: A Novel by Jess WalterMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Jess Walter has, in short shrift, become my single favorite contemporary author. I was first introduced to his work through his contribution to the series of short stories in the Amazon Warmer cli-fi collection, where he was absolutely brilliant. This innovative novel has only solidified my fan status.
The Financial Lives of the Poets opens with an introduction to Matt, an out-of-work journalist fresh off of a failed business attempt to meld poetry and financial articles in an online format—and in debt up to his eyeballs. The piece then proceeds to chronicle Matt’s desperate, yet hilarious, attempts to save his home, his family and himself. From his first encounter with a group of twenty-something stoners at a 7/11 to his eventual run in with law enforcement, Matt stumbles forward whilst consistently taking two steps back. His less-than-truthful wife, his increasingly senile father and his new weed-smoking friends are all along for the ride and add just enough color to keep the reader from falling into a funk over the existential overtones that don’t reconcile until the bitter end.
The novel moves between chapters, intertwining prose and poetry in a Shakespeare-worthy plot that hovers somewhere between comedy and tragedy. The writing in both formats is beyond genius, as evidenced here, in a passage that left me in awe of this writer’s talent: http://a.co/3FjGtNN.
This is a novel for those who love language and can appreciate a dry wit that is at once self-deprecating and self-indulged. If I could rate this beyond five stars, I absolutely would do so. For now, however, five will have to suffice! If you haven’t yet read Jess Walter, this is the perfect place to start.
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