Rating: Summary: Obsessions Review: "American Sucker" explains as much about Denby's obsession with the recent stock market bubble as he knows. Can obsessions be explained? Other reviewers clearly weren't riveted by this book as I was. It resonanted with my own life experience--and that of many others who saw a lot of their net worth evaporate.I liked the fresh perspective of the in-person stories of Denby's meetings with Henry Blodgett and Sam Waksal. Merrill Lynch gave Blodgett a grotesque bonus after this fiasco; what does that say about Merrill? Self-love helps us all deceive ourselves I guess. To me, the title expresses Denby's disgust and mystification about the recent past. Well, to those of us "smart" folks who, with Denby, were swept along with the stock market tide, "misery loves company." You'll love "American Sucker." DD
Rating: Summary: Obsessions Review: "American Sucker" explains as much about Denby's obsession with the recent stock market bubble as he knows. Can obsessions be explained? Other reviewers clearly weren't riveted by this book as I was. It resonanted with my own life experience--and that of many others who saw a lot of their net worth evaporate. I liked the fresh perspective of the in-person stories of Denby's meetings with Henry Blodgett and Sam Waksal. Merrill Lynch gave Blodgett a grotesque bonus after this fiasco; what does that say about Merrill? Self-love helps us all deceive ourselves I guess. To me, the title expresses Denby's disgust and mystification about the recent past. Well, to those of us "smart" folks who, with Denby, were swept along with the stock market tide, "misery loves company." You'll love "American Sucker." DD
Rating: Summary: Something's Missing Review: Although Denby admits his privilege and the folly surrounding his desire to raise $1 million in order to save his apartment from the fall out of his divorce, the reader is still confronted with the question "why?" (why did he risk so much for a piece of real estate, why did it take him so long to realize that "home" is moveable, why could he not see the truth of the people and organizations he became obsessed with). The answers to these and more questions are hard to come by in the text. Denby is generous with clever text, but stingy with real explanations for his behavior. Perhaps his story would have worked better, as another reviewer noted, as an article rather than a book length narrative. The text is padded with numerous quotes from Denby's movie reviews (he points out frequently that reviewing movies is how he makes his living) - a "feature" intended to provide insight to his state of mind at the time certain actions or decisions were made, but serves more often as advertising for his bread and butter work. Additionally, Denby sets up the story as a sort of mystery - we know the ultimate outcome of his quest for money, but he wants us to be compelled to turn the pages quicker and quicker to find out the details. Sadly, the device doesn't quite work out - too many of us suffered the same type of economic fall out and it's just not that interesting. Still, it's not a bad book. Readers who are willing to set aside these, and other, flaws will find it an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon (with liberal page skipping).
Rating: Summary: Oh, Please... Review: As a title, "American Schmuck" may have been more apt. Rarely has there been a more incisive portrait of the effete, weak, narcissistic and self-indulgent New Yorker than this book. Denby is unwilling to recognize the American disease of conspicuous consumption that has left this culture morally bankrupt and spiritually empty. Only an American in the 21st century would think accumulating wealth and possessions could justify his existence. If you must read this, get a library copy. It's not worth the purchase price.
Rating: Summary: American dream turned into an American nightmere Review: By the First of January 2000, New Yorker writer and film critic David Denby knew that his marriage to novelist Cathleen Schine was over, but was not prepared for the depression that followed. He kept thinking about being in his fifties and failing at an important institution. David sought a goal to prove to himself that he was a success. He chose sole ownership of the family's longtime apartment on the Upper West Side. However, he would need to pay Cathleen for her share of their abode, approximately 700,000 dollars. Listening to the gods of the stock market, David plunges in with an objective of making a million within a year. He has contact with those on the stock market Olympus, but by year's end his investments are in the tank and he has learned lessons about the great American system that will haunt him for the rest of his life. This is an interesting journal that at times amusingly and indirectly condemns American capitalism that works well as long as everything is working well. The stock market fiasco that David Denby describes is something that many middle class individuals felt too as scandals and pundits shrilling weak firms in which price was inflated over value became the norm. Mr. Denby's other adventures to survive include starting a romance all over again after losing his partner and spending time with his two children. They add depth to his mental dive. Thus AMERICAN SUCKER is one person's account of how the American dream turned into an American nightmare as this solid intelligent work wryly condemns the author, a nation and a system that worships avarice over positive values. Harriet Klausner
Rating: Summary: Unbearably Lite Human Beings Review: David Denby flirts with internet porn but commits to the NASDAQ. His motive for the marriage is not so much to make a million, but to stave off the inconvenience of having to sell off his 1.5 million dollar digs on the upper west side after an amicable divorce from his non-chalant wife. His I.T. investment capital is really, at bottom, just play dough. Denby doesn't actually dread the spectre of the Poorhouse, and this vibe we feel up front-- that Denby inhabits a world where nothing really awful is going to happen, where nothing Drastic actually happens, where something, but not everything is at stake -- distracts from any real amusement this confessional could have provided.
Denby romps through an arena of the genteel, where no one is beaten to a bloody pulp for skulking about with married women, where no one balks at $350 a night for a lover's weekend at the Red Lion Inn, where no one actually jumps the 50 stories when the portfolio goes bust, and where no one spits in your eye for lying to their face. Denby is both attracted to and repulsed by those fiduciary hooligans who behave badly as they bleed money. He even covets Nyquist's capacity for homicidal passion, but we know from the get-go that Denby himself won't throttle anyone over his tech losses, even those cultured vultures who deserve at least a moderate neck-wringing.
Sometimes it seems Denby leers at those for whom everything is at stake like some kind of pecuniary voyeur. But that isn't really fair, because he really is more than that -- he does get to hang out with Waksal and Blodget. He becomes at least an honorary insider, but it's the Martha Stewarts and her ilk who are privy to the late night phone calls before the bottom drops out. Denby feels jilted by Waksal and Blodget, and in fact he appears more wounded and sunken by the end of his "romance" with those two than he ever seemed over his wife's leaving. When Denby muses over Blodget's "coded" lingo, and the betrayal it ultimately suggests, he understates, "It hurt like hell," but he could well have blurted, He Never Really Loved Me! As he attends a court hearing for Waksal, and they briefly meet up, we are reminded of Alvy Singer at the end of Annie Hall, wistful and a bit embittered, yet still too decent a fellow to muster unbridled hatred.
Rating: Summary: An Awful Book by a Selfish Man Review: David Denby is a selfish man. He refers to his wife of nearly two decades as the "novelist Cathleen Schine" and hardly ever mentions his kids except as nuisances. His greeds leads him to the diabolical duo of Henry Blodget and Sam Waksal who then fleece Denby out of much of his life savings. American Sucker is the work of a selfish, greedy self-obsessed man. The book is similarly awful. It is a waste of both your money and your reading time.
Rating: Summary: A 21st Century GREAT GATSBY Review: David Denby's portrayal of the roaring 90's in Manhattan is reminiscent of Fitzgerald's Jazz Age New York. Denby's meditations on wealth, its acquisition, and its meaning, reminded me of Fitzgerald. Denby is very much like Nick Caraway, Fitzgerald's narrator, who steps into the foreign world of Manhattan glamor without ever really accepting what he finds. And at the center of Denby's book is Sam Waksal, a Gatsby-like figure with great personal charm and a dubious past, who eventually comes to a sad end. Denby's fondness for and sympathy with Waksal mirror Nick's feelings for Gatsby. If you liked Fitzgerald, you'll love Denby.
Rating: Summary: Cautionary Tale For The Investor Review: Excellent, lively well written, American Sucker is a cautionary tale for the individual investor. Denby gives his inside account of the latest investment bubble...the tech craze of the 1990's. Along the way Denby described in sordid detail all the angst and pathos the he experienced in his private life ( his divorce, 9/11 etc.) He wants to buy out his wife for the right to own the family apartment. This is his motivating factor to get rich. Meanwhile, we are introduced to the cast of "charlatans": Sam Waksal and Henry Blodgett. Through his greed and gullibity, Denby "loses" 1 million dollars in paper "losses". But wait, are Waksal and Blodgett really villains, or are they scapegoats vilified and lynched by an angry mob of greedy and gullible investors? Denby ignored all the basic tenets of investing: he failed to diversify, he bought on emotion, he failed to learn about the companies and the sector before investing, he relied too much on the advise of the insiders. In addition, Denby ignored the advice of the New Yorker's business writer and he ignored the warnings of Alan Greenspan. Denby even admits that he was overtaken by irrational exuberance. Yet he stilled blamed Waksal and Blodgett for his losses. Rather than blame Waksal and Blodgett, Denby should blame the person he sees in the mirror every morning. Novice investors are warned ad nauseum about previous bubbles in history ( Tulip Craze, the Nifty Fifty). Add to that the tech craze of the '90's. For this reason American Sucker should be part of every investor's library.
Rating: Summary: Dumb, dumber, and greedy Review: Having read a good but cautionary review when the book came out and having an interest in the topic, I waited for a copy at the local library. Good idea. Buying this book to learn something about investing would be like buying the stocks Denby chose to make money. At least the reader's intentions or motives would be a bit more rational. Denby apparently has watched too many movies and read too many great books. What he really needed was some good common sense. The title is misleading. Denby's entire downfall is not based on his being "American" or a "sucker". Yes, he was greedy and willing to be gullible. He waxes eloquent on greed and envy. But these are besides the point. Yes, he listemed to precisely the wrong people. But his initial, critical, deadly mistake was to assume that he could make a million dollars in one year by not doing anything other than "invest". He was greedy, envious, naive, uninformed and lazy. He wanted so much to make that million that he ignored red flags, warning bells, and first-year business student advice on investing. He has a cynical view of investing, based on Keynes' observations as to the risks involved. That pretty much explains how he thinks he can make a million in one year just by buying technology stocks in 2000. Denby also decides that taking risks means being irrational, that progress requires irrational behavior. What he fails to do is to listen even to the people who he indirectly accuses of having duped him; even Henry Blodgett told Denby to be more careful. Denby seems convinced that Alan Greenspan's effort to raise interest rates was the market's true undoing, This is a bad case of denial from the recent dot.com bust debacle. Denby's self-absorption with his attempts to maintain his liberal, upscale, upper West Side lifestyle and apartment in the face of a pending divorce speaks volumes for his willingness to do incredibly foolish, shortsighted and greedy things makes this more of a lesson in how not to dissolve a marriage than any sort of morality play, note of sympathy, or tale of snake oil salesmen swindling a poor, innocent, well-read but naive movie critic. It is hard to feel sympathy, even for such a large, personal loss.
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