Extravagance by Gary Krist

Extravagance Reviews

• 
  Chambodia

  Yes, the premise was clever. The book itself is incredibly dull. It's like having your prospectus read to you by a guy in a wig and cravat.
• 
  Ashley

  Gary Krist's Extravagance: A Novel had potential. A clever concept drew me to the novel initially, but this conceit alone was not enough to hold my attention.
  
  Extravagance tells the story of William Merrick through two time periods and two countries, London at the beginning of the stock market and New Economy and New York City near the end of the 90s tech bubble. Will wants to make his fortune playing the stocks and takes incredibly risks to do so. Will's lust for money in both eras is put into contrast with a romantic subplot that causes him to question himself and his intentions. However, it is not enough. The conceit shows the timelessness of the story, but there is little emotional pull to fully draw a reader in.
  
  I found myself not caring about most of the characters, making the love story, the novel's emotional core irrelevant. The oft repeated phrase that learning from history is for the foolish is grating at best. Overall this book was a slow read that never fully captured my attention. A competent story, but simply not one for the ages.
• 
  Greymalkin

  The idea is clever and it is true that the two moments captured in the book have a lot of similarities. But the book never goes anywhere, the main character remains a shallow thoughtless putz despite having very good advice to the contrary. If I'm going to spend a whole book with an annoyingly self-centered character, I want there to be a payoff- some kind of redemption or lesson learned. Nope. Nothing. He doesn't seem to fundamentally understand his huge character flaws. The plot is also disappointing. It hints at leading up to something exciting but it all just kind of fizzles. I finished it and thought "what the hell was the POINT?" Mostly because I felt like it could have said something really interesting but no. And the reader can't even make a good point because the facts are too broadly drawn to actually make a firm conclusion out of.
• 
  Lori McMullen

  I liked the idea of the storyline told from two very distinct eras in history. I constantly wondered how the author would resolve the two storylines into one. As the conclusion of the novel loomed, I thought perhaps the main character was delusional...but that was not the case. I wish that the story had resolved itself, but, for me, sadly it did not.
• 
  Michele

  I loved the premise: The story is told as one character and the similarities and differences of his life as lived in the sixteen century and modern times in an alternating pattern. Though the topic of finance itself was a bit droll for me, I found the book charming and clever.
• 
  Jeff

  A little hard to get into this book, but well-worth a read! It is a very clever premise!
• 
  Kirsten

  Der junge William Merrick ist ehrgeizig. Er kommt aus der Provinz in die große Stadt und will dort das große Geld machen. Aber die neuen Technologien, mit denen er seinen Traum verwirklichen will, bergen auch Gefahren.
  
  Die Geschichte spielt abwechselnd in der Vergangenheit und in der Gegenwart. Sie beginnt im London gegen Ende des 17. Jahrhunderts und wechselt dann nach New York in den 1990ern. Dabei läuft die Handlung selbst weiter, nur die äußeren Umstände ändern sich. Auch die Charaktere bleiben die gleichen. Sie sind moderner, aber ihre Absichten und Wesenszüge bleiben gleich.
  
  Mir ist die ist die Lektüre aus verschiedenen Gründen schwer gefallen. William ist kein sympathischer Protagonist. Seine jugendliche Arroganz war nicht leicht zu ertragen. Dabei hat mir der Charakter aus der Vergangenheit anfangs noch besser gefallen, weil er eine gewisse unschuldige Begeisterung mitgebracht hat. Aber je länger er sich in seiner neuen Position befunden hat, desto mehr glaubte er, die Dinge besser zu wissen und hat alle Ratschläge in den Wind geschlagen.
  
  Auch die Menschen in seinem Umfeld haben keinen guten Eindruck gemacht. Sie kamen mir durch die Bank arrogant und auf Erfolg und Äußerlichkeiten fixiert vor. Fehler wurden nicht verziehen. Vielmehr wurde derjenige umgehend aus ihrem Kreis verstoßen.
  
  Ein anderer Kritikpunkt war die Sprache. Spielte die Geschichte im 17. Jahrhundert, klang sie sehr künstlich. In den 1990er Jahren dagegen wirkte sie ein wenig zu sehr bemüht, modern zu sein. Eigentlich so, wie es auch Williams Charakter war.
  
  Die Idee, eine Geschichte in zwei verschiedenen Zeitebenen spielen zu lassen, ist sicherlich interessant. Hier hat sie allerdings aus mehreren Gründen nicht funktioniert.
• 
  Ali

  When I first heard about this book most the reviews I saw on here were less that stellar and that almost turned me off the idea of reading it, but luckily my lust for the Concept prevailed, because I honestly thought this was pretty good. The Concept being, first of all, excellent: one of those back-and-forth through time books that I am an absolute sucker for. The execution, even better, I've never read one before that did it quite like Extravagance with the two stories- 1990s NY and 1690s London- happening to the same person, not with him travelling through time but by simply existing, essentially identically except for the details, in both locations and periods. I loved loved loved how as the story wore on the switches increased faster and faster, oft with no formal division, at points changing from 20thc to 17th within a paragraph break or even simply a sentence break, enmeshing the two Williams even more inextricably. It was brilliantly done. The story itself- I've never cared much for stockbroker wank but you gotta love a good Icarus story and the struggle between deciding to be a good man or a rich man.
• 
  Scott

  What an intriguing, exciting premise.
  
  What a dull, pedestrian disappointment.
• 
  Rhea

  Why are there so many books like this? (And by this, I mean books that unfold paralleley in two different time periods with a common theme.) I mean, there's
  Revolution and
  Radiant Days and some more I can't remember. Hmm...
• 
  Heather Childree

  This is quite a different book. I like how Krist used the same characters in two different times and locations to tell one story. I was confused at first, but I quickly caught on to the shifting times and locations. Amazing concept.
• 
  Ruby Escalona

  not a very good book -- the premise is clever but the execution is not that nice. it's boring, the characters are bland and are extremely annoying as well.
• 
  Sara

  Not bad, an easy read.
• 
  Dale

  found in my office without the jacket—if I finished it (doubtful) I don’t remember. Purchased book, not sure when it was attempted in ’13.
• 
  Char

  Very creative story, weaving in one plot-line with 2 completely (practically opposite) timelines. I love the transitions between London 1600s and New York 1999/2000. The voices changes, the style of the sentences, the dialogue... i really enjoyed this part of the novel.
  
  I had hoped to enjoy this book more, but it could be that i'm just not big in the understanding and excitement of the stock market. Still, a great story and a great read.