Boomtown

Rating:
Summary: Wish I could option it....
Review: .... but I'm undoubtedly too late! Fully fleshed-out characters and compelling, overlapping themes - relationships, personal growth, and the dot-com bubble bursting in 2000. An exceptional read.

Rating:
Summary: Bright lights, big city, big crash
Review: A highly enjoyable, engrossing read, "Boomtown" (not related to the excellent but short-lived NBC series of the same name) charmed and delighted me. Moving quickly through the New York dot.com landscape of the year of the bubble burst, Williams uses his own experience (including perhaps his undergraduate major) to write a story that kept me turning the pages from start to finish -- with great interest -- in one satisfying day.

The ensemble cast includes the functional (and, at times, dysfunctional) protagonist, Brad Smith, the PR vice president for a content-free start up. We never really learn or need to know what it is they are selling; this makes for a good parable about the entire dot.com mirage/mania. Smith provides the central point to the strange populace from his firm, including the duplicitous general manager, the former stripper turned PR assistant, the Middle Eastern investor, the oversexed personal assistant, and the nerdy tech guy. They are an interesting crew and Smith stumbles aimlessly, drunkenly for much of the novel before finding some light at the end of the dot.com tunnel, most of it from a fellow traveler who wants something quite different than what Smith seems to be seeking.

In a parallel world, Nicole Garrison, aspiring actress, leaves her unfaithful boyfriend, spurns a calculating but clueless Wall Street type, earns her big break, loses it, and...well, let's not give away the entire plot.

The crash of the greedy, paper-rich Internet employees of the end of the last century provides good fodder for a "Bright lights, big city" like romp through the bars, bedrooms and refurbished office space that makes New York such an interesting setting for the book, much better than any bone-dry Silicon Valley setting. The characters, perhaps based on Williams' own experiences in this era, may be a bit stereotypical, but they are fun to watch. Sort of like "Sex in the city," only with more realistic work schedules.

Williams provides some personal insight about the dot.com collapse, some philosophy about contemplation, and a beguiling, almost too quick close to the story. The story would make a great movie and the conclusion provides the lead-in to a possible sequel.

A great way to spend a hot summer day.

Rating:
Summary: Remembrance of Things Past
Review: Boomtown is a great, fast-moving novel that takes place in New York City during the pre 9-11 dot-com bubble. New York City serves as a glittering backdrop for the very compelling characters, the delusional dot-com schemes ("it was another great week for Biz Dev"), and painfully fragile relationships. The characters are entirely believable, and I felt genuine sadness for many of them. They get swept up in something much larger than themselves, and soon find themselves and their beloved city caught up in a new cycle of "creative destructiveness", seeing relationships end, seeing dreams end, but still holding on. This book struck a deep chord with me, and I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Remembrance of Things Past
Review: Boomtown is a great, fast-moving novel that takes place in New York City during the pre 9-11 dot-com bubble. New York City serves as a glittering backdrop for the very compelling characters, the delusional dot-com schemes ("it was another great week for Biz Dev"), and painfully fragile relationships. The characters are entirely believable, and I felt genuine sadness for many of them. They get swept up in something much larger than themselves, and soon find themselves and their beloved city caught up in a new cycle of "creative destructiveness", seeing relationships end, seeing dreams end, but still holding on. This book struck a deep chord with me, and I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Sierra's Club
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this account of the dot.com world. The star of the book for me was the wondrous Sierra who is a former stripper hired into the firm for her obvious attributes. Endowed with more smarts than her resume might indicate, Sierra identifies the power behind the throne, Farouk Kharrazi, who has too much money and one wife too many. Sleeping your way to the top may not be the most ethical business practice, but Sierra uses what she knows best and does an end run around the manager Jonathan Scarver and his right hand man Brad Smith. Ultimately, "Boomtown" comes down to a question of values. No amount of money in the world brings peace of mind, although it can bring a nice luxury apartment in New York City. There is a bit of a high-tech comedy of manners as computer geek Steven Bluestein reads everybody's email and then creates a virus that sends their emails to everyone else. This spirals out of control as the virus spreads around the world, bringing in the FBI to investigate the origins of the hoax. Greg Williams does a wonderful job of painting this world and making us care about it. I kept picturing Marge Helgenberger from CSI playing Sierra in the movie version. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Really good
Review: This book is simply fantastic. An awesome read. I would recommend it to anyone!

Rating:
Summary: A funny read if you've worked at a dotcom
Review: This is a great book for anyone who's worked in software/dotcoms - the characters will be familiar, and you'll relate to the plots. Williams might as well have been a coworker of mine.