Jordan Belfort

The Wolf of Wall Street chronicles the professional and personal rise and subsequent fall of Jordan Belfort, a world-class stock market manipulator, money launderer, drug addict, serial philanderer, disloyal colleague, and all-around moral vacuum. Billed as a “rollicking tale” and a real-world complement to Tom Wolfe’s superb social satire The Bonfire of the Vanities, this book is really neither of those two things. Instead, it is little more than a tawdry, delusional, and show more self-aggrandizing memoir written by a very unreliable narrator. Indeed, I found this to be a truly execrable account of one of the most despicable characters I’ve ever encountered in print.

Belfort’s story of frequently depraved and often criminal activity is by now well known, primarily because of the film adaptation that followed the publication of this volume by a few years. However, it is nowhere close to a story of redemption—certainly, I found the author’s myriad reprehensible actions to be far less charming and heroic than he himself does—nor does it even serve as a useful cautionary tale for how not to live one’s life. After all, what do we learn from someone who willfully—gleefully, even—cheats on and lies to two different wives (the second of whom he repeatedly refers to as the “luscious Duchess” for some vague reason), endangers the children he considers to be his possessions, defrauds thousands of investors out of millions of dollars, enlists relatives to engage in self-serving illegal schemes, and betrays numerous friends and business associates? Further, the book’s entire premise appears to another lie: Belfort’s financial activities were far removed from what is traditionally considered to be Wall Street and, as the prosecutor of his legal case recently revealed in a New York Times article, the author was never even called “The Wolf” until he wrote this memoir!

I am not sure when I had such a strongly negative reaction to a book as I did to this one. As a personal guideline, I do not like to abandon any book I begin before reaching the end, but I must confess to questioning the wisdom of that rule for the last 150 pages of The Wolf of Wall Street. The whole time I was reading about Belfort’s exploits, I had to fight the frequent urge to put it down and take a long shower with plenty of industrial-strength soap in order to remove the slime. Ultimately, I found absolutely nothing in this sordid narrative that redeemed any part of the experience of reading it. It now represents several days of my life that I will never get back and I would encourage other potential readers to avoid falling victim to the same fate. show less

When I was reading this book I wasn't sure whether I believed everything Belfort was writing, but after about fifty pages I stopped caring and sat back and enjoyed the dazzling experiences that were unfurled before me. His style was aggressive but had some genuinely tender moments, and I thoroughly enjoyed the book as an expose of life in the fast line. It was refreshing to see the lack of remorse that Belfort held for some of his actions, a trait I think that clogs up too many 'celebrity' show more memoirs. show less

I just can't. I listened to the first several chapters, and I cannot bring myself to turn it back on. The author is incredibly unlikeable - he is supposedly hoping that his children will one day understand his actions, but he talks in way-too-graphic detail about his wife's body (the mother of at least one of his children!), and in way-too-proud-of-himself detail about his drug use. And the narrator is just as awful, although I admit he has a thankless job - he has to narrate just about an show more entire chapter between Belfort and his wife during which they threaten and say vile things to each other in cloying babytalk. I only hope I can eradicate the memory of the narration and the book quickly. show less

I chose this book because I thoroughly enjoyed [The Buy Side] by Tourney Duff, a loveable screw up who I rooted for from beginning to end. But Jordan Belfont in The Wolf of Wall Street is a different character. He's a real asshole but you keep reading out of sheer curiosity about Wall Street. Although I follow the business community, I wasn't familiar with his story - which made the book suspenseful until the crooked end. I also enjoyed the B-School analysis of how to run Steve Madden's shoe show more company. And I have to admit, I warmed to Belfont toward the end. I like second chances, but if I met him today, I think he's still an asshole - utterly unredeemable. show less