Extravagance: A Novel
2002 ira. · Crown
5,0star
1 iritzireport
Liburu elektronikoa
304
orri
family_home
Egokia
info
reportBalorazioak eta iritziak ez daude egiaztatuta Lortu informazio gehiago
Liburu elektroniko honi buruz
William Tobias Merrick, an energetic young man from the provinces, travels to the big city in a time of great optimism and ferment, hoping to make his mark on a frenzied, money-crazed society obsessed with the promise of new technologies.
The city in question is London in the 1690s; but it is also New York in the 1990s. The new technologies are diving bells, pneumatic winches, and "sucking-worm" drainage engines; but they are also wireless telecommunication devices, patented biotechnology processes, and revolutionary electronic Internet routers. Only the sense of unlimited possibility remains the same throughout.
Unfolding simultaneously in two distant--but remarkably similar--periods of history, Extravagance is a comic, pictaresque novel of financial mania, the story of a world gripped by a terminal case of irrational exuberance. Navigating the perils of both eras is a single cast of characters: Will himself, a young man on the make, eager to do whatever it takes to make his fortune; Will's uncle (and sponsor) Gilbert Hawking, a shrewd businessman with one foot in the Old Economy and one in the New; Benjamin Fletcher, the developer of a pioneering new technology destined to set the world on fire; and Theodore Witherspoon, the cheerfully unscrupulous wizard of the financial markets who promises to make them all wealthy beyond their dreams.
Meanwhile, Will's aspirations are complicated by his pursuit of Ben Fletcher's sister, Eliza, the gorgeous and disconcertingly aggressive woman who is as desirable as she is elusive. Can Will succeed in his efforts to win both Eliza and the fortune that her brother's new technology seems likely to bring him? And can he make it all happen before the general euphoria of the age reaches its inevitable climax?
Extravagance is a uniquely conceived work of high comic entertainment -- an ultra-smart time machine of a novel that proves that both love and greed are timeless.
The city in question is London in the 1690s; but it is also New York in the 1990s. The new technologies are diving bells, pneumatic winches, and "sucking-worm" drainage engines; but they are also wireless telecommunication devices, patented biotechnology processes, and revolutionary electronic Internet routers. Only the sense of unlimited possibility remains the same throughout.
Unfolding simultaneously in two distant--but remarkably similar--periods of history, Extravagance is a comic, pictaresque novel of financial mania, the story of a world gripped by a terminal case of irrational exuberance. Navigating the perils of both eras is a single cast of characters: Will himself, a young man on the make, eager to do whatever it takes to make his fortune; Will's uncle (and sponsor) Gilbert Hawking, a shrewd businessman with one foot in the Old Economy and one in the New; Benjamin Fletcher, the developer of a pioneering new technology destined to set the world on fire; and Theodore Witherspoon, the cheerfully unscrupulous wizard of the financial markets who promises to make them all wealthy beyond their dreams.
Meanwhile, Will's aspirations are complicated by his pursuit of Ben Fletcher's sister, Eliza, the gorgeous and disconcertingly aggressive woman who is as desirable as she is elusive. Can Will succeed in his efforts to win both Eliza and the fortune that her brother's new technology seems likely to bring him? And can he make it all happen before the general euphoria of the age reaches its inevitable climax?
Extravagance is a uniquely conceived work of high comic entertainment -- an ultra-smart time machine of a novel that proves that both love and greed are timeless.
Balorazioak eta iritziak
5,0
1 iritzi
Egileari buruz
GARY KRIST is the author of two story collections -- The Garden State and Bone by Bone -- and the novels Bad Chemistry and Chaos Theory. He reviews books regularly for The New York Times, Salon, and The Washington Post Book World, and frequently writes satirical op-eds for The New York Times. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland with his wife and daughter.
Baloratu liburu elektroniko hau
Eman iezaguzu iritzia.
Irakurtzeko informazioa
Telefono adimendunak eta tabletak
Instalatu Android eta iPad/iPhone gailuetarako Google Play Liburuak aplikazioa. Zure kontuarekin automatikoki sinkronizatzen da, eta konexioarekin nahiz gabe irakurri ahal izango dituzu liburuak, edonon zaudela ere.
Ordenagailu eramangarriak eta mahaigainekoak
Google Play-n erositako audio-liburuak entzuteko aukera ematen du ordenagailuko web-arakatzailearen bidez.
Irakurgailu elektronikoak eta bestelako gailuak
Tinta elektronikoa duten gailuetan (adibidez, Kobo-ko irakurgailu elektronikoak) liburuak irakurtzeko, fitxategi bat deskargatu beharko duzu, eta hura gailura transferitu. Jarraitu laguntza-zentroko argibide xehatuei fitxategiak irakurgailu elektroniko bateragarrietara transferitzeko.
