Synopses & Reviews
Its the spring of 2001. Drew Hagel has spent the last decade watching things slip away--his marriage, his real estate brokerage, and his beloved daughter, Shannon, now a distant and mysterious high school senior. But as summer approaches Drew forms an unexpected friendship with Quint Manning, the manager of a secretive hedge fund. Drew sees the friendship leading to vast, frictionless wealth, but Drew doesn't know that Manning has problems of his own: his Midas touch is abandoning him, his restless wife has grown disillusioned, and his hard-drinking son is careening out of control. As the fortunes of the two families become perilously interwoven, a terrible accident involving the men's children gives Drew the leverage he needs to stay in the game.
Stephen Amidon's previous books include
The New City and
Subdivision. He lived and worked in London for fifteen years before returning to the United States, where he lives in Greenfield, Massachusetts, with his wife and children. It's the spring of 2001, and Drew Hagel has spent the last decade watching things slip awayhis first marriage; his beloved daughter, Shannon, now a distant and mysterious high school senior, and the thriving real estate brokerage that was his father's legacy to him. And then an unexpected friendship with Quint Manning, the manager of a secretive hedge fund, opens to Drew the prospect of vast, frictionless wealth. What Drew doesn't know is that Manning has problems of his ownhis Midas touch is abandoning him; his restless wife, Carrie, is growing disillusioned with all that new money, and his hard-drinking son, Jamie, Shannon's classmate, is careering out of control.
As the fortunes of the two families become perilously interwoven, a terrible accident involving Shannon and Jamie gives Drew the leverage he needs to stay in the game. But his decision to speculate with human lives instead of money has unforeseen consequences and brings the novel to a devastating climax. Human Capital is the work of a "powerful and perceptive" novelist (The Washington Post) and of a realist for our times. "[A work of] meticulously observed social details [and] some shrewd psychological insights. And Mr. Amidon proves himself a nimble storyteller, providing the reader with a solid, literate, and consistently compelling tale . . . Mr. Amidon moves the story along as quickly as any Hollywood director of thrillers, but he does so while giving us entrée to his characters' inner lives."Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times "Like Rosellen Brown's Before and After (1992) and Scott Spencer's Endless Love (1979), Human Capital grounds a melodramatic, soap-opera-ish plot in meticulously observed social details, its relentless pacing in some shrewd psychological insights. And Mr. Amidon proves himself a nimble storyteller, providing the reader with a solid, literate, and consistently compelling tale . . . Mr. Amidon moves the story along as quickly as any Hollywood director of thrillers, but he does so while giving us entrée to his characters' inner lives, lavishing special attention, as he has in so many of his earlier novels, on the fraught relationships between parents and their children . . . We finish this novel not only with an appreciation of his skill at orchestrating suspense but also with a keen understanding of the emotional consequences of his characters' decisions."Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times "Smart . . . Amidon moves the story along swiftly and skillfully . . . His characters are interesting and sympathetic and very real . . . The best things about Human Capital derive from his skills as a reporter and social commentator. He has learned a great deal about a great many thingshedge funds, real estate, the executive limo business, school fundraising, you name itand this knowledge embeds the novel in the real world of middle- and upper-middle class America with an authenticity that few contemporary novels achieve, embedded as they so often are in their own authors' psyches . . . If there's anyone writing about [the suburbs] now with the clarity, insight, and honesty that he brings to the task, I'm unaware of it. Human Capital is terrific."Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post "Amidon's novel is a wonderfully wicked satire on a twenty-first-century gilded age. . . . His book is more than just one family's story. It's a portrait of a whole society caught in the dead end that everyone insists will lead somewhere after all."Chicago Tribune "Amidon's novel is a wonderfully wicked satire on a 21st-century gilded age, when everything seems to be in abundance except common sense and decency. His book is more than just one family's story. It's a portrait of a whole society caught in a dead end that everyone insists will lead somewhere after all. The kids are so pampered that they balk at doing any real work and rely on their parents to clean up all their messes. The adults move like zombies from Starbucks to the office park to the mall, murmuring brand names to each other and magic acronyms such as NASDAQ."Michael Shelden, Baltimore Sun
"Amidon has gone to work describing the morbidity and mortality of an affluenza epidemic. His result, Human Capital, is a splendid novel with the satiric bite of Bonfire of the Vanities and perhaps the most inexorable plot since House of Sand and Fog."Carol Doup Muller, The Seattle Times
"Amidon has a keen eye for the distinctive details of upper, middle, and lower-class life, but he's even more insightful about the commonality among these people."Ron Charles, The Christian Science Monitor
"Amidon mixes the tales of wealthy, wannabe, and down-and-out to good effect and, in doing so, questions the value of an American dream. What use is accumulating wealth and property if it is purchased with souls?"Robin Vidimos, The Denver Post
"Human Capital by Stephen Amidon deftly slices open the rich, corrupt heart of suburban America today and lets its dark secrets bleed out through the fascinating, self-deceiving machinations of New England real estate broker Drew Hagel. His entanglements with a hedge fund wizard and his imploding family wreak havoc on Hagel's own familial bonds in this smart, realistic portrait of how one man's near-fatal high-stakes wager is played out with all-too-human assets."Elle
"A gripping, troubling, and incisive portrait of the way we live now, Human Capital has the ambitious sweep and narrative power of a nineteenth-century novel. Stephen Amidon is the rare writer who can illuminate the secrets of money and love with equal authority."Tom Perrotta, author of Little Children
"Amidon combines the intellectual acuity of a social theorist, the steady powers of observation of a first-rate reporter, and the sympathy and grace of a natural writer. From its very beginning, Human Capital seizes us and plunges us into the grand delirium of reading about charactersmen, women, boys, girlswhose fates we eagerly, agonizingly follow to the last lovely page."Scott Spencer, author of A Ship Made of Paper "A gripping, troubling, and incisive portrait of the way we live now . . . has the ambitious sweep and narrative power of a nineteenth-century novel."Tom Perrotta, author of Little Children "Stephen Amidon's beautiful and terrifying Human Capital is an ever-tightening knot of money, love, sex, and lies. This roaring read cuts to the heart of how we live now in America, risking all for the almighty dollar. His best book yet."Colin Harrison, author of The Havana Room "Human Capital turns over the rock of NASDAQ affluence and lets us see the squirmy things underneath. Stephen Amidon's plot, full of secrets, reveals his garden-green Stepford suburb as an ethical desert, his characters driven and ultimately damned by their selfishness. An entertaining, scathing, very American fable."Stewart O'Nan, author of Wish You Were Here
"Richly complex and genuinely tragic, painfully cognizant of the lethal interaction among human weakness, skewed societal values, and the random blows of fate."Kirkus Reviews (starred review) "Within a complex narrative taut with suspense, Amidon (The New City, 2000) offers a rip-roaring portrait of contemporary class warfare. Drew Hagel has only the best intentions, but he has allowed the family real-estate business to steadily deteriorate. When his much-loved, levelheaded daughter, Shannon, becomes involved with wealthy, troubled Jamie Manning, Drew sees it as a way into the good graces of Jamie's father, the steely manager of a secretive hedge fund. Investing money he can't afford to lose, Drew becomes desperate when the fund tanks. Trading on his daughter's personal relationships, he sees a way to recoup his losses, and he ruthlessly pursues it. Like Colin Harrison in The Havana Room, Amidon has an unerring instinct for portraying the peculiar tensions of modern society. He turns fear of failure, greed, and therapy sessions into the stuff of compelling fiction. He also juggles multiple incisive portraits, from the dilettante suburban mom with hidden depths to the down-on-his-luck limo driver with small but unreachable goals. Showing both how the rich always emerge from trouble unscathed and how the pursuit of money can taint even the most loving relationships, this is gripping but disturbing fiction that cuts close to the bone."Joanne Wilkinson, Booklist (starred review) "[A] fine new novel of suburbia from Amidon . . . Writing with a sociologist's insight, he crafts a sharp page-turner mined with moments of dark satire . . . this exceptional novel delves deeper and more passionately into the fractured lives of people whose lives revolve around money. Its impact lingers long after the final credits roll."Publishers Weekly
Review
"Amidon nails it. . . .
Human Capital is terrific."--
The Washington Post Book World
"A splendid novel with the satiric bite of Bonfire of the Vanities . . . terribly well-realized."--The Seattle Times
"Amidon's novel is a wonderfully wicked satire on a twenty- first Century gilded age. . . . His book is more than just one family's story. It's a portrait of a whole society caught in the dead end that everyone insists will lead somewhere after all."--Chicago Tribune
"A gripping, troubling, and incisive portrait of the way we live now . . . has the ambitious sweep and narrative power of a nineteenth-century novel."--Tom Perrotta, author of Little Children
Synopsis
It's the spring of 2001, and Drew Hagel has spent the last decade watching things slip away--his first marriage, his real estate brokerage, his beloved daughter, Shannon, now a distant and mysterious high school senior. He is in danger of losing his place in the affluent suburb that his father once ruled. And then an unexpected friendship with Quint Manning, the manager of a secretive hedge fund, opens to Drew the prospect of vast, frictionless wealth. What Drew doesn't know is that Manning has problems of his own--his Midas touch is abandoning him; his restless wife, Carrie, is growing disillusioned with all that new money; and his hard-drinking son, Jamie, Shannon's classmate, is careering out of control.
As the fortunes of the two families become perilously interwoven, a terrible accident involving Shannon and Jamie gives Drew the leverage he needs to stay in the game. But his decision to speculate with human lives instead of money has unforeseen consequences and brings the novel to a devastating climax.
Human Capital is the highest achievement to date of a powerful and perceptive novelist (The Washington Post) and a realist for our times.
Synopsis
Stephen Amidon's Human Capital is a gripping novel of new money, old jealousies, and the secret lives of parents and children in the suburbs. Now a major motion picture
It's the spring of 2001. Drew Hagel has spent the last decade watching things slip away--his marriage, his real estate brokerage, and his beloved daughter, Shannon, now a distant and mysterious high school senior. But as summer approaches, Drew forms an unexpected friendship with Quint Manning, the manager of a secretive hedge fund. Drew sees the friendship leading to vast, frictionless wealth, but Drew doesn't know that Manning has problems of his own: his Midas touch is abandoning him, his restless wife has grown disillusioned, and his hard-drinking son is careening out of control.
As the fortunes of the Hagels and the Mannings collide, a terrible accident gives Drew the leverage he needs to stay in the game. At once brilliantly observed and masterfully paced, Human Capital deftly slices open the rich, corrupt heart of suburban America and lets its dark secrets bleed out (Elle).
Synopsis
It's the spring of 2001. Drew Hagel has spent the last decade watching things slip away--his marriage, his real estate brokerage, and his beloved daughter, Shannon, now a distant and mysterious high school senior. But as summer approaches Drew forms an unexpected friendship with Quint Manning, the manager of a secretive hedge fund. Drew sees the friendship leading to vast, frictionless wealth, but Drew doesn't know that Manning has problems of his own: his Midas touch is abandoning him, his restless wife has grown disillusioned, and his hard-drinking son is careening out of control. As the fortunes of the two families become perilously interwoven, a terrible accident involving the men's children gives Drew the leverage he needs to stay in the game.
Synopsis
It's the spring of 2001. Drew Hagel has spent the last decade watching things slip away--his marriage, his real estate brokerage, and his beloved daughter, Shannon, now a distant and mysterious high school senior. But as summer approaches Drew forms an unexpected friendship with Quint Manning, the manager of a secretive hedge fund. Drew sees the friendship leading to vast, frictionless wealth, but Drew doesn't know that Manning has problems of his own: his Midas touch is abandoning him, his restless wife has grown disillusioned, and his hard-drinking son is careening out of control. As the fortunes of the two families become perilously interwoven, a terrible accident involving the men's children gives Drew the leverage he needs to stay in the game. Stephen Amidon's previous books include The New City and Subdivision. He lived and worked in London for fifteen years before returning to the United States, where he lives in Greenfield, Massachusetts, with his wife and children. It's the spring of 2001, and Drew Hagel has spent the last decade watching things slip away--his first marriage; his beloved daughter, Shannon, now a distant and mysterious high school senior, and the thriving real estate brokerage that was his father's legacy to him. And then an unexpected friendship with Quint Manning, the manager of a secretive hedge fund, opens to Drew the prospect of vast, frictionless wealth. What Drew doesn't know is that Manning has problems of his own--his Midas touch is abandoning him; his restless wife, Carrie, is growing disillusioned with all that new money, and his hard-drinking son, Jamie, Shannon's classmate, is careering out of control.
As the fortunes of the two families become perilously interwoven, a terrible accident involving Shannon and Jamie gives Drew the leverage he needs to stay in the game. But his decision to speculate with human lives instead of money has unforeseen consequences and brings the novel to a devastating climax. Human Capital is the work of a powerful and perceptive novelist (The Washington Post) and of a realist for our times. A work of] meticulously observed social details and] some shrewd psychological insights. And Mr. Amidon proves himself a nimble storyteller, providing the reader with a solid, literate, and consistently compelling tale . . . Mr. Amidon moves the story along as quickly as any Hollywood director of thrillers, but he does so while giving us entree to his characters' inner lives.--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times Like Rosellen Brown's Before and After (1992) and Scott Spencer's Endless Love (1979), Human Capital grounds a melodramatic, soap-opera-ish plot in meticulously observed social details, its relentless pacing in some shrewd psychological insights. And Mr. Amidon proves himself a nimble storyteller, providing the reader with a solid, literate, and consistently compelling tale . . . Mr. Amidon moves the story along as quickly as any Hollywood director of thrillers, but he does so while giving us entree to his characters' inner lives, lavishing special attention, as he has in so many of his earlier novels, on the fraught relationships between parents and their children . . . We finish this novel not only with an appreciation of his skill at orchestrating suspense but also with a keen understanding of the emotional consequences of his characters' decisions.--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times Smart . . . Amidon moves the story along swiftly and skillfully . . . His characters are interesting and sympathetic and very real . . . The best things about Human Capital derive from his skills as a reporter and social commentator. He has learned a great deal about a great many things--hedge funds, real estate, the executive limo business, school fundraising, you name it--and this knowledge embeds the novel in the real world of middle- and upper-middle class America with an authenticity that few contemporary novels achieve, embedded as they so often are in their own authors' psyches . . . If there's anyone writing about the suburbs] now with the clarity, insight, and honesty that he brings to the task, I'm unaware of it. Human Capital is terrific.--Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post Amidon's novel is a wonderfully wicked satire on a twenty-first-century gilded age. . . . His book is more than just one family's story. It's a portrait of a whole society caught in the dead end that everyone insists will lead somewhere after all.--Chicago Tribune Amidon's novel is a wonderfully wicked satire on a 21st-century gilded age, when everything seems to be in abundance except common sense and decency. His book is more than just one family's story. It's a portrait of a whole society caught in a dead end that everyone insists will lead somewhere after all. The kids are so pampered that they balk at doing any real work and rely on their parents to clean up all their messes. The adults move like zombies from Starbucks to the office park to the mall, murmuring brand names to each other and magic acronyms such as NASDAQ.--Michael Shelden, Baltimore Sun
Amidon has gone to work describing the morbidity and mortality of an affluenza epidemic. His result, Human Capital, is a splendid novel with the satiric bite of Bonfire of the Vanities and perhaps the most inexorable plot since House of Sand and Fog.--Carol Doup Muller, The Seattle Times
Amidon has a keen eye for the distinctive details of upper, middle, and lower-class life, but he's even more insightful about the commonality among these people.--Ron Charles, The Christian Science Monitor
Amidon mixes the tales of wealthy, wannabe, and down-and-out to good effect and, in doing so, questions the value of an American dream. What use is accumulating wealth and property if it is purchased with souls?--Robin Vidimos, The Denver Post
Human Capital by Stephen Amidon deftly slices open the rich, corrupt heart of suburban America to
About the Author
Stephen Amidon's previous books include
The New City and
Subdivision. He lived and worked in London for fifteen years before returning to the United States, where he lives in Greenfield, Massachusetts, with his wife and children.