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A review by kstaff
The Gambler: How Penniless Dropout Kirk Kerkorian Became the Greatest Deal Maker in Capitalist History by William C. Rempel
2.0
This review is strictly about the quality of writing, and not about Kirk Kerkorian himself. Sometimes biographers fall in love with their subjects. I’ve never seen such a clear example of this as this book. Kirk Kerkorian was presented as a saint/savant without faults or failures. People who were not part of club Kerkorian were treated with undisguised disdain by the author. The result was a portrayal of a man who lacked nuance, and it was utterly dull.
Kerkorian was notoriously private, so there was often not much to tell. This book falls into the fatal flaw of not understanding that just because someone had a life of extraordinary achievements and experiences does not mean that individual is at all interesting outside of what he accomplished. As a result, there was 350+ pages of boring minutiae around financing stock purchases, takeovers that failed, etc. In the hands of a more talented writer, there may have been something here.
Also, the worst part of this book were the gambling metaphors. Kerkorian didn’t merely increase an investment, he “put more chips on the table”. He didn’t consolidate his funds into a single venture, he went “all in”. These metaphors were frequent (nearly every page) and very labored. By page 100, I was getting eye strain from rolling them.
Kerkorian was notoriously private, so there was often not much to tell. This book falls into the fatal flaw of not understanding that just because someone had a life of extraordinary achievements and experiences does not mean that individual is at all interesting outside of what he accomplished. As a result, there was 350+ pages of boring minutiae around financing stock purchases, takeovers that failed, etc. In the hands of a more talented writer, there may have been something here.
Also, the worst part of this book were the gambling metaphors. Kerkorian didn’t merely increase an investment, he “put more chips on the table”. He didn’t consolidate his funds into a single venture, he went “all in”. These metaphors were frequent (nearly every page) and very labored. By page 100, I was getting eye strain from rolling them.