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Bombardiers

Bombardiers

List Price: $12.95
Your Price: $9.71
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Pathetic
Review: The author, like all writers who do not have what it takes to be a Master of the Universe, fails not only at humor, but also fails to show the truth, that Investment Banking and Trading _are_ the most exciting, most noble things to do.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Bombadiers is a first-rate first novel that hums with humor
Review: There are only two spots in the entirety of Bombadiers where the writing is anything less than perfect, and if you can find another first novel than can say that (Speedboat doesn't count), I'll buy you a popsicle. Bronson's prose is fast and funny, and it makes Bombadiers a quick read that will make you laugh out loud frequently. But the story is also disturbing: set against a backdrop of financial wrongdoing and misrepresentation, it also gives an unsettling, true impression of the modern world of finance. Po Bronson has produced a wonderfully funny first novel I recommend to all my friends, who refuse to give my copy back.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Truth Hurts
Review: There is no better book that shares the hypocrasies and truisms investment banking than Bronson's book. Having worked in this industry for a number of years, I can attest that there is far more in this book that is true than fiction - as hard as it might seem for someone not affiliated with this industry to grasp. Unfortunately, only insiders will appreciate how revealing this book is because there is so much that will whiz over the average readers head. Much of this, to the average reader, is pure silliness and fun. But it's not so.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Comparing This To Liar's Poker Is A Joke
Review: There's something odd about the way it is edited, so it's disappointing technically. But still, I read it straight thru, thoroughly entertained by the characters. Again, Bronson's dialogue is excellent, in my opinion. I laughed out loud, too.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Toss up between 3 and 4
Review: There's something odd about the way it is edited, so it's disappointing technically. But still, I read it straight thru, thoroughly entertained by the characters. Again, Bronson's dialogue is excellent, in my opinion. I laughed out loud, too.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Funny characters bland ending
Review: This book has some wonderfully funny characters similar to the zanies found in Catch 22. However, if you're not in the financial industry you can get lost. I felt that the story got too far fetched down the stretch and ended weakly

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent
Review: This book was humorous, fast paced, and full of suspence. It was well written. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This book redefined the word originality!! Bravo!
Review: This book worked very well, in that the characters were extremely unique and complex. The character of Sydney Geeder especially was very amusing and dark!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Be ready to laugh out loud!
Review: This hysterical first novel does for the financial world what Catch-22 did for world war II. This book is so good it's addictive; I had to read it twice. Although the characters are reminiscent of those seen in "Liar's Poker" and the humor is similar to Catch-22, it is not at all predictable. One warning - you may never be able to believe your stockbroker again. Fortunately, Po Bronson has rewarded us with a second novel taking aim at the computer industry. I wonder who's next

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Uproarious, disquieting and all too real
Review: This is the Catch 22 of the stock market set, sort of, in which the "Third Law of Information Economics" has a good solid ring to it, over sands of shifting substance. Hilarious and manic, this first novel features a room full of brokers strung out on fear and greed. "It was a filthy profession, but the money was addicting, and one addiction led to another, and they were all going to hell."
The book's great strength is the writing, which snaps and sizzles with wicked glee and doesn't let up from first page to last. Its weaknesses are lack of plot and no main character.

Sid Geeder is the closest Bronson comes to a protagonist. An old man of 34, with just nine months to go before his five years are up and he can cash in his shares and become a rich man who will never have to work again, he's the King of Mortgages. The more he hates an offering the better he can sell it, in hopes one of these deals may finally bring the whole corrupt system crashing down. He sells the Resolution Trust Corp.'s "preposterous intention to borrow a gazillion dollars in order to shut down some thrifts," by assuring his accounts "that the government is a safe investment because we can count on them never to solve their problems."

Eggs Igino is the new kid, the maverick. "In a world of unmerciful uniformity, rebels were hard to come by," muses sales manager Coyote Jack. He was King of Mortgages in the old days, four or five years earlier when "Mortgage bonds were brand-new and nobody understood them, so they were easy to sell, because no client wanted to admit he lacked the intellectual brain power to understand these complex variable cash flows."

Nowadays he clings to his own Third Law: "Never hire anyone you can't fire," and berates his crew unmercifully. "Coyote Jack watched with unbearable pleasure. To have Sidney Geeder howling angry and Eggs Igino wildly subordinate was the perfect market condition for selling bonds."

The deals get more and more outrageous until finally U.S. capitalism has decided to attempt a hostile corporate takeover of the assetts of the Domican Republic. Eggs Igino mysteriously disappears and is there ever any hope Sidney will get to cash in his shares and retire?

Forget suspense, story line, all that rot. This is your national deficit at work and as your peals of laughter slowly subside, you'll be left with the disquieting notion that every word is still true, though the book was first published in 1995.


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