The Financial Lives of the Poets, Jess Walter
The Financial Lives of the Poets, Jess Walter
List: $21.99 | Sale: $15.39
Club: $10.99

The Financial Lives of the Poets

Author: Jess Walter

Narrator: Jess Walter

Unabridged: 7 hr 55 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 11/17/2009


Synopsis

“Darkly funny, surprisingly tender . . . witheringly dead-on.” — Los Angeles TimesNamed one of the year’s best novels by: Time • Salon.com • Los Angeles Times • NPR/Fresh Air • New West • Kansas City Star • St. Louis Post-DispatchA comic and heartfelt novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins and Cold Millions about how we get to the edge of ruin—and how we begin to make our way back.What happens when small-time reporter Matthew Prior quits his job to gamble everything on a quixotic notion: a Web site devoted to financial journalism in the form of blank verse?Before long, he wakes up to find himself jobless, hobbled with debt, spying on his wife's online flirtation, and six days away from losing his home. . . . Until, one night on a desperate two a.m. run to 7-Eleven, he falls in with some local stoners, and they end up hatching the biggest—and most misbegotten—plan yet.

About Jess Walter

Jess Walter is the author of seven previous novels, including the bestsellers The Cold Millions and Beautiful Ruins, the National Book Award Finalist The Zero, and Citizen Vince, winner of the Edgar Award for best novel. His short fiction, collected in The Angel of Rome and We Live in Water, has won the O. Henry Prize, the Pushcart Prize and appeared three times in Best American Short Stories. He lives in his hometown of Spokane, Washington.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Julie on October 11, 2015

I recall standing in Seattle's Queen Anne Bookstore on a rainy late autumn afternoon in 2009, reading the jacket of this book and ultimately, passing. I wasn't familiar with Jess Walter, although this book seemed to be making quite the splash. I was, however, all too familiar with the effects of the......more

Goodreads review by Angela M on July 10, 2022

How could a story about a family in crisis be so comical? Most of the time I didn’t know whether I wanted to laugh or cry . This is actually a pretty funny story mixed with the sad state of affairs that Matt Prior finds himself in. During the financial crisis of 2008, out of a job, financially in de......more

Goodreads review by Kemper on September 11, 2014

Warning: The first part of this review consists of my idle musings on a topic that occurred to me while reading this book. If you don’t give a damn about that and just want to get on with the review, skip down. Ever notice how it seems like the same idea start showing up in a variety of tv shows, fil......more

Goodreads review by Ɗẳɳ 2.☊ on July 06, 2021

With all of those Breaking Bad/Weeds comparisons in Kemper’s most excellent review, I had rather high hopes for this one. And that opening act did little to dissuade my enthusiasm. “Here they are again—the bent boys, baked and buzzed boys, wasted, red-eyed, dry-mouth high boys, coursing narrow br......more

Goodreads review by Tom LA on May 10, 2017

I just fell in love with Jess Walter's "Beautiful Ruins", and I was really happy to see that he's been able to do his magic with this book too. The striking element in Walter's writing (in these 2 books at least) is his sense of humor, and that's where I see some readers not liking it because they j......more