An Absolute Scandal

I had read the No Angel trilogy by Vincenzi and enjoyed it quite a bit, but I think she's made a permanent fan out of me after I finished this book. It has so many things I would normally hate in fiction, but she pulls it off and makes it into a completely addictive read.

I normally hate books that jumps between different groups of characters. I had a hard time with it here at first, but eventually I got to know who was who, and I actually got to liking pretty much everybody quite a bit. It's amazing to me that I could grow to like that many characters as much as I did, and a lot of them did things I just hated.

The book was also set in a period I had absolutely no knowledge of. I don't often read books set in the 80s (or at least show more consciously set in the 80s, making references to things that would date it), let alone London in the 80s, and in addition all of the characters are suffering from an economic problem caused by Lloyd's of London that I just... did not know about until I read this. Everything is explained though, and I got settled into the plot pretty quickly.

As I said, a lot of the characters do things I hated. I generally hate it when characters have affairs with one another, which happens here a lot. A LOT. There's a really serious one towards the end of the novel that I absolutely dreaded reading about every time it was brought up. The fact that I still adored all these characters while they were being unfaithful is, once again, amazing to me.

It's just like reading a soap opera. Except I hate soap operas, and I absolutely loved this. I couldn't put it down. I'll probably read absolutely everything Penny Vincenzi writes from now on, even though I'm pretty sure most of it is a lot like this. It's just great stuff. show less

Joanne Kaufman said of one of Vincenzi’s previous novels, “Soap opera? You bet – but with her well-drawn characters and engaging style, Vincenzi keeps things humming.” Well, I couldn’t have said it better myself. An Absolute Scandal really is like a soap opera, but with a friendly narrator who speaks to the reader as if a confidante and in a cute British accent. This book may have been a little more lengthy than necessary, but I was kept far from bored with the cast of characters and their intertwining lives.

Around mid-1990 at a meeting called to gather together all of the parties involved in losing money to Lloyd’s of London, most of the main characters are introduced to each other. As the novel progresses, the characters show more are thrown together again and again as they attempt to sort out how they have been duped by their Lloyd’s contact, how they should go about suing those responsible, and how they are going to hold it together. Never mind the fact that most were made filthy rich at first after signing on with Lloyd’s; they’re losing their sailboats and million-dollar mansions now!

The actors in this drama marry, separate, divorce, have babies, and trade spouses in a little under a year that the novel takes place, although the real scandal is the death of a beloved friend who tied all of the pieces together. The cause of his death must be deliberated in court which brings a sense of appallment and reflection on their current vicissitude.

It just goes to show you, you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. Losing money can drive people to do all sorts of desperate things. show less

Why oh why did I insist on finishing this book? Nothing much happens -- certainly nothing unexpected -- and every time I closed the book, I was surprised at how many pages I had left to slog through. Vincenzi's book has been publicized as a "summer" book, and put with "chick lit," but light beach reading it is not. Well, unless financial disaster, people with way more money than you, and working mother diatribes are your idea of beach reading.

Vincenzi's books are usually a guilty pleasure, but sadly this one wasn't. I don't know whether it was because this one was set against the backdrop of the Lloyds financial scandal of the 1980s, which lets face it was never going to be a barrel of laughs, or was because it was hard to care about the characters because they were all so three-dimensional and formulaic? All I know is that this wasn't up to her usual standard and just wasn't an enjoyable read.

What a book... 756 pages, very heavy to carry around oh but what a read. Those kind of books, well, anytime, dear, anytime, you can drop them off on my desk.

An absolute scandal is my kind of books, you know those books that don't add any smartess to an already full mind? Books that don't make me think or make me re-read three times the same phrase becausd I did not get it the first time? An easy read, nothing too fancy here, just an intriguing story, full of wonderful and different persons here and there, all reliated together by an absolute scandal, one that needs to be told.

Bravo Penny Vincenzi for this one!

What a great holiday read (even though I wasn't holiday, but sick with the flu). Lots of characters (but easy to remember), this jumps seamlessly from character to character until they all get entangled together due to the Lloyd's scandal. I really enjoyed it.

Not her best book. A bit long and did not care that much about the characters.