Goodwin, Michael
Description
"The last poet on Wall Street delivers a luminous, trenchant critique of the American craving for wealth and status. James Alexander possesses a prodi
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gious intellect that promises a life of academic and artistic purpose alongside his college muse/girlfriend, the poet Sarah. Yet, his upbringing on a hardscrabble Tennessee farm exerts a relentless undertow, pulling him away from his love of poetry and scholarship to a lust for money and social stature. No place better illustrates that lust than the novel's setting, 1980's Manhattan, where 'Greed is good!' James partners with his charismatic, trust-fund/frat-brother, Lark. Seduced by the decade's defining myth, that worth is measured in wealth, they plunge headlong into volatile, high-stakes, 'get-rich-quick' Wall Street trading. With their hedge fund ascendance, James scales Manhattan's canyons of avarice. His climb's footholds include other Manhattan social climbers, financiers, and avant-garde artists: perfect foils for satire. But his precipitous rise will demand a profound spiritual tax. Trapped between the glittering canyons of high finance and the haunting, indelible echoes of his literary past, James's psyche becomes a battleground. He can't forget Sarah and the love that she inspired. Will the transgressive vision of his accidental friend/graffiti artist, Michel Baptiste, show a way out? Michael Goodwin masterfully interrogates the cost of heeding the Siren's song, the commodification of art, and the tragic splintering of the self in an era of unbridled avarice. These pages bring to living color the rollicking and flamboyant 1980s Manhattan, which had firmly established itself as the absolute center of global finance, surpassing the myth of the 'roaring 20's'. What better place and time to explore themes of greed, love, and a young man's search for himself?"--
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