Too Much Money

I loved Dominick Dunne and his monthy diary was always the first thing I read when I received my copy of Vanity Fair magazine. It's been a while since we've had a novel from him, so it was a delight to pick this up & find all my old friends fom his other novels of society manners - Lil Altemus, Adele Harcourt, & Elias & Ruby Renthal. All of Dunne's novels are roman a clef & this one is especially transparent, especially if one has been following Dunne's obsessions in his magazine columns.

This is not deep reading. Instead it's like diving into a giant box of excellent chocolate and not stopping until every last piece has been eaten. Sadly Dunne has gone to his great reward, so this will be the last of his highly enjoyable novels. In his show more memory I may go back and read all his earlier ones over again. show less

Dunne's last book, this one is a zinger. I'm not sure I recognize all the people (they would be crushed). I enjoyed the time I spent with the crowd that exists in higher ether. They squabble, fart, go to and get out of prison (excuse me, a facility), have parties, take lovers, write letters, die and have funerals. It was a fast read.

I'm glad that Dunne found the time while fighting cancer to put together this last novel. It brings back a few favorites who've exploits I've come to relish in previous Dunne works: Gus Bailey, the thinly veiled self portraiture of Dunne who is being sued for slander, Elias and Ruby Renthal, the filthy rich couple who are again trying to buy their way into the New York high society after Elias' release from prison, and Lil VanDegan, a high society snob humbled by the forced down sizing of her life style. There are also some newbies to the scene that I didn't recognize: Adison Kent, a promiscuous gay "walker" who gets access to society on the arms of fashionable women and Perla Zacharias, a women who Gus is writing about after the show more suspicious death of her husband. Dunne doesn't try very hard to pull all of these stories together especially during the first half of the novel where beyond attending the same parties the characters do not interact much at all. But he does put in a lot of treats for his long time fans, and gets a lot off of his chest. Too Much Money feels likes an extended goodbye. I, for one, am disappointed that I will never be able to delve into a fresh Dunne novel. Please note that I "read" the audio version so please forgive the misspelling of any names. show less

The last book Dominick Dunne wrote before his death which is presaged by his alter ego narrator, Gus Bailey. Dunne assembles all his favorite New York society characters together for one more story about new money eclipsing old money and how people either adapt to changing times or get run over.

Dunne's diary columns for Vanity Fair were the first thing I read in the magazine every month, and I loved his roman a clefs on New York life. A great read for a plane trip or a beach vacation

Disappointing. I've always enjoyed Dominick Dunne's books but this one just wasn' t up to scratch. Maybe because he was battling cancer when he wrote it, maybe because whatever the manuscript he left behind had not been honed enough, we'll never know. I certainly think he was ill-served by his editor and publisher. The repetitive descriptions about the characters became embarrassing, just left in to pad out the text I suspect - in some cases whole phrases or sentences were repeated. If this is the only book by DD you've ever read, don't give up on him, try one of his others - The Two Mrs Grenvilles is a cracker.

Typical Dominick Dunne society novel, with thinly-disguised characters drawn from real life. A little bittersweet, as this is his last novel and the "autobiographical" narrator deals with end-of-life issues also. An enjoyable, light read and I'll miss having new ones occasionally.

As I read Dominick Dunne’s last literary gift to us, Shakespeare’s phrase from HAMLET, lightly and insistently scampered through my mind. An appropriate farewell, I thought, to Dunne’s veiled insights into the rich, infamous, and legendary. Who better than Shakespeare to bid, Adieu…”

"...Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow
of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath
borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how
abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at
it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know
not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your
gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment,
that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one
now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen?
Now get show more you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let
her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must
come; make her laugh at that..."

Thank you, Mr. Dunne. We shall miss you. show less