Michael M. Thomas (1936–2021)

I found this book in my mom's old things back in grade school. She didn't care for the book too much, but I started reading it anyway. I hated it. Then I tried coming back to it in middle school, skipping ahead to get the gist of the book. I still hated it. By high school, I gave up on the book altogether, and I think I gave it away to someone. There are some times when you have to just let things go, and I did. Bottom line, there was a lot of potential here for an interesting story, but it show more got bogged down by unnecessary information. History and expository passages are great when used properly, but a detriment when they pop up every five pages. And keep in mind that this is a LONG book. The most fascinating character in the book was Buford Gudge's (his name is burned into my literary memory and my compendium of odd tidbits) half-sister. I felt like she got a bad break from beginning to end, and that she was not viewed with enough sympathy, either by Gudge, the other characters, or even the author. I may try and come back to it later, but I highly doubt that I will. show less

This is a book that spans seven decades and 4 generations of the ultra-wealthy Warrington family who make their lives as Wall Street financiers. It's a good story, and despite the large cast of characters, I felt I got to really know and understand the major ones.

The last section wasn't necessary. And there was a section that was just rampant with typos that was kind of grating. Overall, the story was interesting.

I was a bit surprised that I like this book. I started reading it for the differences between 1980 and 2012 but got to thinking the story was OK. A lot of skimming and it all seemed to fall apart at the end but all and all a pretty good yarn.