Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but hard to follow at times
Review: I enjoyed Bringing Down The House much more. This was difficult to follow without some background information about the stock market.
Rating: 
Summary: Mezrich's really tapped into something here
Review: (...) In reading both Bringing Down the House and Ugly Americans, I believe Mezrich is tapping into a personality thing. He wants to know what makes these guys tick, and he does a good job of communicating the emotional journeys both Malcolm and Lewis go through.Mezrich isn't a "Great" writer by any stretch, but he's good enough, and the guy knows how to tell a story. Better yet, he knows how to make you want to be that guy. I heard an NPR interview with him a few months ago, and he says some interesting things about what makes him tick, and I think it helps explain his writing style. For instance he likes doing the research, living the life, and then the book tours. He doesn't particularly enjoy the actual writing process. It's hard work, and can be an agonizingly slow process. But who can argue with his success? He's a best-selling author, who has just cut a movie deal with Kevin Spacey. So there you go. There are a few plot holes, some of the dialogue is unrealistic, and he over-uses certain terms and phrases. "His hair was platinum blonde." "She had saucer-shaped eyes." "She had almond eyes." "She screwed up her face." Granted, he used the last one only once, but whenever I see it in writing I always think about the video for Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden, and how everyone's facial features get all screwed up and distorted. Then I start giggling. Or in Raiders of the Lost Ark, when the Nazis faces melted. It's kind of unfortunate. Actually, when I read that part and started chuckling, my wife looked at me and asked, "What's so funny." I looked up at her and started singing, "Black Hole Sun won't you come, and wash away the rain..." She just stared at me Then she screwed up her face and said, "What the (...) was that all about." But I digress. Oh, and did Akari ever manage to resolve his loan fiasco? But these are just minor details. The book has all the ingredients for a satisfying story, which most of us can envision as a movie. So Kudos to Ben Mezrich for recognizing a good story, and having enough talent to make it into a fun read, which will probably end up as another movie. He's a wealthy guy for doing it, and all the Wall Street guys, the expat bankers, and hedge fund workers should at least recognize that. Good for you, Mezrich. Continued success!
Rating: 
Summary: might have made a decent magazine article
Review: ...but there really wasn't enough material here for a book.
"Mission Impossible, The Heart of Darkness on speed" is what we're promised in chapter two.
But the core of the story is index-based arbitrage at a computer screen, and to keep that from being as boring as it sounds, Mezrich has to keep throwing distractions at us.
Also, amid the flurry of phony names, phony jobtitle, phony descriptive details, it isn't clear what, if anything, we are supposed to take this book as documenting. The Leeson crisis as seen by the peripherally involved?
Rating:
Summary: Good read; could have used more technical details
Review: Although Mezrich embellishes the characters enough to make an exciting semi-fiction story, I was very interested when the actual topics of hedge funds and arbitrage were breached. Yet, Mezrich seemed to make little effort to explain these in anything more than basic terms. Considering that the book is based on the exploits of high finance, I wish there was more in-depth analysis. Still, it is an intriguing book and a fast-paced read.
Rating:
Summary: A novel dressed up like a true story
Review: First let me point out that my review of Ugly American is coming from someone who avoids reading novels and has a strong preference for nonfiction. Having said that, my biggest issue with Ugly American is that it is written like a novel. Forget the fact that all the characters (oh, I mean people) have factious names. The author's writing style simply screams novel! Rather than just presenting the facts, he goes into great detail trying to describe events and places as the characters "might have" experienced them. Some readers might enjoy the author's use of creative license and think that it adds color to the story. Others, who are reading the book to get a real sense of what happened, will find it wasteful to read paragraph after paragraph of the authors best guess attempt to describe the emotions and moods of people who were never interviewed for the book. Another disappointment is the book's lack of amusing sex, drugs, and wild living stories that the book cover seems to suggest (a describition of sleazy place is not nearly as interesting as people acting out in a sleazy place). During the few times that the author actually describes people engaging in "interesting" behavior, the main character is portrayed as an angel in sin city. The type of person always uncomfortable around debunkery and who never seems to end up the main object of a juicy story. Maybe the main character is actually a saint in a $1000 suit, however my gut tells me that the storyteller is not telling the whole story. Aside from those glaring issues, the book is an easy read and provides some interesting insight. As a former I-Banker and now a private equity guy, I can tell you that a lot of the facts in the book are wrong related to how hedge funds and the markets work. Moreover, the author does a very poor job capturing the complexity and challenge of pulling off the massive trading profits the main character obtained. Maybe the author thought that the transaction details would bore the reader or maybe he thought the average reader was not bright enough the grasp the transaction complexities. Either way, the lack of detail gives the impression that the main character just woke up one morning and said, "today is the day that I'm going to generate $500 million in trading profits."
Rating:
Summary: Fiction?? Fact?? or Just plain bad writing!!!
Review: First off i was a huge fan of Liars Poker. That being said Mezrich drops the ball consistently in this book and these are some the biggest problems I haven in no particular order.
1) Trying to create ficticious characters that are painfully unconvincing. His main character had a full ride athletic scholarship at Princton. Ivy's dont give scholarships.
2) Not living up to the title... if he was not going to talk about sex, drugs, and the mafia it would have been refreshing to hear the details of the "biggest deal in the history of finance"... and it wasnt by the way... heard of George Soros?
3) Fiction or Artisitic licence? i dont know but Mezrich "borrows" everything from the conversations to the plot from Liars poker.
examples: "Always know when to walk away" & "Always have an exhit strategy"; both houses get wrecked; the girlfriend experiences of the main characters are almost identical
4) Unrealistic. Finally, he is working as the main characters PR person instead of giving the reader an honest picture of the real situation. He paints the main character as a saint who never has sex, never trades on insider information, and never does anything that is illegal, while he is entirely surronded by it in both his social life and his buisness one.
Suggestions, if you want to change the characters and setting significantly to wear the book looses some of its non-fiction status, at least tell it like it was, filthy. Dont kiss the main characters ass, and tell us a little about finance. please.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I also read Bringing Down the House and if there's one thing I like more than gambling, it's the market so I thought I'd love this book. Unfortunately, it's basically the same book with a slightly different setting. You've got the same protagonist - a good guy from a middle-class background and a top school who gets involved in a shady world and eventually breaks free from it. You've got the older "puppet-master" character who the others both respect and resent. And a similar supporting cast of kids caught up in their new-found riches and fast lifestyle. And let's not forget the underworld element - the menacing guys lurking in the shadows who threaten to end the dream for our hero.
So it's the same, which still would have been fine with me if Mezrich had given us some of the great details behind the workings of the markets that he gave about the mechanics of card counting. But he was much more interested in talking about illicit sex and Japanese mobsters - which are cool too but there have got the be better books on those subjects if that's what you want to read.
BDTH was so promising - I hope next time Mezrich gets off his butt and writes about something other than what one of his ivy league buddies did after college.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Read
Review: I dont know how accurate some of the minor details of this book are as some have mentioned "full ride to ivy league schools etc.) but regardless I really like this authors writing style and usually read his books all the way through because they are very well done as far as capturing and keeping your attention.
Rating:
Summary: An Interesting Read
Review: I first saw this book at a bookstore in Newark Airport but it wasn't until I got back to Toronto that I ordered it from Amazon.
This book read more like a fictional novel. But that was fine with me. I'm always in the look out for good storytelling, with facts or no facts, and this book did just that. But I must admit I did buy this book in the hope of getting a glimpse into the Asian markets and how they function and thrill the many traders that live and die by the Buy and Sell buttons on their computer terminals. After reading it, I'm left with more questions than answers, but that's ok. It's something I'll be exploring on my own...
Pick up this book if you want a good storytelling and a trip down Japan's red light district that is the backdrop of
this book. A district where Ugly Americans burn their money and Japanese salarymen pick their girls and drink till the morning light. Desire is desire wherever you go.
I'm going to be ordering Mezrich's previous book, "Bringing Down the House." Looking forward to another good storytelling.
Rating:
Summary: 2 Stars if you are in the Industry 4 if you are not
Review: I had to read this book, because I know Dean Carney and Bill Sammon from real life. Unlike Michael Lewis of Liar's Poker, Ben simply doesn't understand the business. Simple things like scalping the Nikkei (index arb), index additions, are very mundane and simply strategies. Ben attempts to make John and Dean more than they are to sensationalize the characters, and in the process losses all street (wall street that is) credibility. But if you are in the index arb community, or are part of the princeton wrestling/football crowd, or was an expat in Japan. I recommend it. Otherwise, it's a decent piece of ficition. As a side note. The real Dean Carney is a great guy, and actually lives in upstate NY now with his beautiful wife and kids. The real retirement place is not Bermuda! How can one do index arb in Asian markets while based in Bermuda. Just say Hawaii, you are not going to give anything away.
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