Reviews for Bleak House, Volume 2

The average rating for Bleak House, Volume 2 based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-01-28 00:00:00 Michael Self "In short, he was one of those early, daring manipulators who later were to seize upon other and even larger phases of American natural development for their own aggrandizement." ― Theodore Dreiser, The Financier If there was ever a novel spotlighting American character, this is it. Theodore Dreiser goes right to the heart of the heart of American business and industry with this novel featuring Frank Cowperwood, a man who is a financial genius and leader by instinct and by nature. In this first of the Cowperwood trilogy, the author sets his tale in 19th century horse-and-buggy Philadelphia. Reading this novel is one memorable experience: it is as if you are right there in Philadelphia with Cowperwood and all the other men and women, walking the streets, sitting in on business meetings, living the cycle of work-a-day everyday life. What does it take to grow up to be a captain of industry, to amass fortune and wealth beyond measure, to be a titan among men? Here is how Dreiser describes his main character, "Frank Cowperwood, even at ten, was a natural-born leader. . . . he was looked upon as one whose common sense could unquestionably be trusted in all cases. He was a sturdy youth, courageous and defiant. . . From the very start of life, he wanted to know about economics and politics. He cared nothing for books." I mention 'cared nothing for books' since anybody reading this review presumably is, like myself, a reader of books. Well, that's what separates bookworms like us from Mr. Frank - we enjoy curling up with a good book far from the maddening crowd; Frank enjoys being at the center of the maddening crowd, giving exacting orders a mile a minute and making money, lots of money. Dreiser writes how as a boy Frank wondered how life was organized and found his answer watching the drama in a merchant's fish tank, a drama taking place over the course of several days, that of a lobster hunting and finally killing and eating a squid. This incident made a profound impression on young Frank. He finally understood how life works: life feeds on life, one animal feeds on another animal, men feed on other men. The animals and men who are the best equipped and the strongest will win. This raw-boned naturalism and what would come to be known as Social Darwinism would remain Frank Cowperwood's unswerving view of life. Although Cowperwood is a financial wizard, a man who masters the world of money and the game of influencing people the way those top Castilians in Hermann Hesse's 'The Glass Bead Game' master their game of mathematical-musical metaphysics, his life expands in other ways, particularly in his appreciation of visual beauty, the beauty of women and the beauty of art. Here are the author's words on Cowperwood's collecting art objects in his new home: "He foresaw a home which would be chaste, soothing, and delightful to look upon. If he hung pictures, gilt frames were to be the setting large and deep: and if he wished a picture-gallery, the library could be converted into that, and the general living-room, which lay between the library and the parlor on the second-floor, could be turned into a combination library and living-room." Back on Cowperwood's appreciation of the beauty of women. Without going into the particulars of the women involved, it is worth highlighting how his relationship with women brings him into conflict with others, usually older men and women, who hold to traditional moral and religious values. Indeed, this contrast between the America of religious believers and the America of the naturalistic, materialistic non-believers like Cowperwood is part of Dreiser's overarching social commentary. When men confront Cowperwood with religion and morals, he simply replies that they have one view of life and he has quite another. For 500 pages we follow Cowperwood through his ups of amassing millions and downs of losing millions and then up again. Toward the end of the novel, he muses, "I am as rich as I was, and only a little older. They caught me once but thy will not catch me again." He realizes his life destiny, his life meaning, is one of grandeur, one of tremendous wealth and influence and that his future lies well beyond the city limits of Philadelphia, in a city to the west, a city providing ample financial elbow room and entrepreneurial leg room to accord with his ambition and his magnificence. The 19th century thinker Friedrich Nietzsche said, "We should face our destiny with courage." Frank Cowperwood was no reader of philosophy, but he would have wholeheartedly agreed with the German philosopher on this point.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-08-02 00:00:00 Brian Vandermark Nothing New Under the American Sun There is scarcely any internal dialogue in The Financier. All is surface, not to say superficial. Frank, the protagonist, is driven entirely by the opinion of others and is yet entirely self-centred in defiance of all Jungian psychological types. He cannot be analysed, only observed and documented by Dreiser's hyper-realism. Morality exists for Frank as an abstract category but not as a demand for doing the right thing. The right thing is the commercially and, especially, financially most expedient thing. No other criterion is allowed to intrude. Slavery is evil, war is destructive, democratic government is a sham, but evil, destruction and duplicity are actually necessary for progress of the world and in it. Written with the driest and subtlest of irony, The Financier describes but it doesn't condemn. Frank calculates, he does not live, love, or care other than for awaiting the chance to calculate. His existence takes place among others who also calculate, especially politicians, whom Dreiser recognises as the source and guarantors of commercial and financial success. These are the insiders without whose tips and legislative legerdemain, Frank's abilities are useless. Corruption is not incidental to the system; it is the system. The Financier is a real 'how to' become a Wall St mogul, as relevant now as it was a century ago. The only real difference today is that the aspiring captain of finance has fewer choices for realising his ambitions. Frank is able to worm his way into the big deal on financing the American Civil War under the noses of the then dominant Drexel & Co. of Philadelphia. Today's Goldman Sachs would crush any such impertinence. Frank would therefore have to ply his nefarious trade within its ranks to get ahead. Loyalty, of course, is defined as expediency in Frank's world, as it is in today's financial culture. All relationships are expendable. Even the 'word is my bond' culture is in force only as long as it is expedient for the participants. When disaster threatens, if an agreement is not in black and white, and properly witnessed, it doesn't exist. Frank is the model for the likes of Donald Trump and Anthony Scaramucci. Except Frank is more civil and articulate.