Arthur Fairthorne

In the end this book is a clouded look at how each of us invents our own narrative of who we really are. Each character creates their own reality to explain who they are or at least who they want us to think they are. Bevel himself is the most self-deceived of the lot. He tries so hard to convince others that all his manipulations and the slight of hand he plays in the world of finance is done only out of his altruistic need to save the country from its own catastrophic failure. In the end he convinces no one, especially himself. And at the end we find out that it was not his talent or genius at all. He just stole Mildred’s genius. Ida needs to invent herself as someone who Bevel will let in so she can tell his story as he so desperately wants it told. He makes up essential parts of it because he can’t own the truth. He made all that money simply to make all that money. Ida’s father invents himself as the great anarchist to cloak his own failure in every other realm. The creative structure of the book kept me reading but it certainly is no page turner.