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victorianamkung's review against another edition
4.0
Page-turning fiction for the Trump era, LAKE SUCCESS stars a highly unlikeable protagonist who you root for anyway.
alexkerner's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 rounded down
Gary Shteynghart’s Lake Success has been much hyped as one of the first works of literary fiction directly delving into the months leading up to the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States. Despite having the occasional glimpse of well crafted satire and a lead character written to endear, Shteynghart has grossly missed the mark, attempting to redeem the individuals largely responsible for the political calamity we find ourselves in and asking us to have empathy for those undeserving of it.
Lake Success largely follows Barry Cohen, a moderate Republican, hedge fund manager whose marriage and business venture appear on the verge of collapse, the former under the weight of a disabled child and the latter embroiled in shady business practices that Barry refuses to acknowledge are morally and legally questionable.
On the verge of financial and personal collapse, Barry sets out on a personal journey of self-discovery, taking a Greyhound bus across the southern United States to find his former college sweetheart to show her that he is not the cynical money hungry banker she refused to marry. Meeting various personalities on the way, until finally reconnecting and rekindling something with his ex and discovering through her son the desire to be a better father.
As Barry has this journey, his wife Seema, must also confront her frustrations in marriage and the difficulties raising a low functioning autistic boy, releasing these frustrations in a torrid love affair and potentially giving up her husband to investigating authorities.
In the backdrop is the 2016 US Presidential election, with the moderate Republican Barry disgusted by Trump’s mocking of a disabled person but positive Trump will lose (although he repeatedly notes his and his colleagues support of Trump’s tax position) and Seema terrified of what the world will look like if he were to win.
Although well written and engaging, Lake Success never figures out what it wants to be. On the one hand there is a streak of satire, offering a finance tycoon whose naïveté is beyond credulity and who indignantly refuses to acknowledge how his actions have played in creating not only his personal circumstances but also those of Trump, how his gross amounts of wealth and his financing of Republican efforts have laid the groundwork of the ugliness that the 2016 campaign laid bear.
On the other hand, Shteynghart’s story comes off as way too sincere, with the author eagerly wanting the likes of Barry to find redemption for their wrong doings, even if never recognizing how harmful those crimes in fact are and never facing consequences of any significance.
This book begs the question of what role literature plays in understanding our political zeitgeist, how stories like Lake Success help create or deny social license for behaviours and help assign judgement for those who have caused harm. In 2018, with the United States seeing a worsening of economic inequality, where the ramifications of the 2008 financial crisis continue to reverberate, and where bankers have still not faced much of any penalty, I question why we need a story where a wealthy hedge fund manager finds redemption; I question why we need a story that seeks to wash the hands of finance in the Trump world they have largely created.
There will be many works of literature that seek to provide insight into this absurdist political climate that will resonate and offer the stories we need to hear. Lake Success, unfortunately, is not such a work.
Gary Shteynghart’s Lake Success has been much hyped as one of the first works of literary fiction directly delving into the months leading up to the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States. Despite having the occasional glimpse of well crafted satire and a lead character written to endear, Shteynghart has grossly missed the mark, attempting to redeem the individuals largely responsible for the political calamity we find ourselves in and asking us to have empathy for those undeserving of it.
Lake Success largely follows Barry Cohen, a moderate Republican, hedge fund manager whose marriage and business venture appear on the verge of collapse, the former under the weight of a disabled child and the latter embroiled in shady business practices that Barry refuses to acknowledge are morally and legally questionable.
On the verge of financial and personal collapse, Barry sets out on a personal journey of self-discovery, taking a Greyhound bus across the southern United States to find his former college sweetheart to show her that he is not the cynical money hungry banker she refused to marry. Meeting various personalities on the way, until finally reconnecting and rekindling something with his ex and discovering through her son the desire to be a better father.
As Barry has this journey, his wife Seema, must also confront her frustrations in marriage and the difficulties raising a low functioning autistic boy, releasing these frustrations in a torrid love affair and potentially giving up her husband to investigating authorities.
In the backdrop is the 2016 US Presidential election, with the moderate Republican Barry disgusted by Trump’s mocking of a disabled person but positive Trump will lose (although he repeatedly notes his and his colleagues support of Trump’s tax position) and Seema terrified of what the world will look like if he were to win.
Although well written and engaging, Lake Success never figures out what it wants to be. On the one hand there is a streak of satire, offering a finance tycoon whose naïveté is beyond credulity and who indignantly refuses to acknowledge how his actions have played in creating not only his personal circumstances but also those of Trump, how his gross amounts of wealth and his financing of Republican efforts have laid the groundwork of the ugliness that the 2016 campaign laid bear.
On the other hand, Shteynghart’s story comes off as way too sincere, with the author eagerly wanting the likes of Barry to find redemption for their wrong doings, even if never recognizing how harmful those crimes in fact are and never facing consequences of any significance.
This book begs the question of what role literature plays in understanding our political zeitgeist, how stories like Lake Success help create or deny social license for behaviours and help assign judgement for those who have caused harm. In 2018, with the United States seeing a worsening of economic inequality, where the ramifications of the 2008 financial crisis continue to reverberate, and where bankers have still not faced much of any penalty, I question why we need a story where a wealthy hedge fund manager finds redemption; I question why we need a story that seeks to wash the hands of finance in the Trump world they have largely created.
There will be many works of literature that seek to provide insight into this absurdist political climate that will resonate and offer the stories we need to hear. Lake Success, unfortunately, is not such a work.
katdes's review against another edition
2.0
I will say this, I pushed through and finished this book. I did not love the characters one bit. Neither of the main characters had any redeeming qualities. I'm not really sure what the point was for the author to write this book. And lastly, there were too many unnecessary details.
tdeshler's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars
Although Barry was largely an unsympathetic character slogging through a series on unfortunate events, there was something oddly compelling about this book. Perhaps I felt slightly buoyed by Shiva's progress and the hopeful tone of the epilogue.
Although Barry was largely an unsympathetic character slogging through a series on unfortunate events, there was something oddly compelling about this book. Perhaps I felt slightly buoyed by Shiva's progress and the hopeful tone of the epilogue.
nothingforpomegranted's review against another edition
4.0
Gary Shteyngart is brilliant.
I hardly liked any characters in this novel, yet I was undeniably drawn to their stories, moved to continue turning pages to follow the dramas of their lives. Each snippet was simultaneously unbelievable and deeply relatable, a mosaic national landscape that echoes conversations of identity, irreverence, and inequality that spring up from every corner in our modern political world.
I hardly liked any characters in this novel, yet I was undeniably drawn to their stories, moved to continue turning pages to follow the dramas of their lives. Each snippet was simultaneously unbelievable and deeply relatable, a mosaic national landscape that echoes conversations of identity, irreverence, and inequality that spring up from every corner in our modern political world.
theonlystefania's review against another edition
3.0
Well written, fast-paced read but something is missing. Barry never quite seems to get to the redemption he so badly wants and needs.
boomt's review against another edition
4.0
I kept thinking of the parallels with Bonfire of the Vanities as I read Lake Success. Uberrich, privileged white master of finance is brought low by fate. Along the way the author takes advantage of the contrast between the 0.1 and the 99.9% to make social commentary. However, Barry Cohen and Sherman McCoy are very different characters. Barry is both more self-made and self-unmade than Sherman. His cannot have authentic relationships because he is continually chasing fantasies of what he expects from love, family, and career. As his hedge fund crashes, his marriage hits the skids and the feds circle, he sets off on a journey of self-discovery, taking a bus trip across the country to pursue a new fantasy of restarting his life with his college girlfriend. Barry is both clueless and eager to please and I found him unappealing as a character, but his character becomes more sympathetic as we increasingly understand that, like his autistic son, he is "on the spectrum", just in a very high functioning way.
This book will make you wince at the string of appallingly bad choices he makes, but the writing is sharply observed and satisfying.
This book will make you wince at the string of appallingly bad choices he makes, but the writing is sharply observed and satisfying.
rj42's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
imperfectcj's review against another edition
4.0
The characters were largely unlikable but I found them endearing in their flawed humanity. I'm something of a sucker for dramatic gestures and epic bus trips.
Interesting exploration of the concept of luck and our inclination to discount it if things are going well for us (the myth of the "self-made man"). But then, if we can't lose because the system is set up in our favor, is that luck? What is the difference between "luck" and "privilege"?
Interesting exploration of the concept of luck and our inclination to discount it if things are going well for us (the myth of the "self-made man"). But then, if we can't lose because the system is set up in our favor, is that luck? What is the difference between "luck" and "privilege"?