Rating: 
Summary: Buying BRK.A at $1,300. Exceptionally brilliant. Clever and
Review: funny. I can't recommend this book more highly. It is just exceptionally brilliant. A social satire/comedy along the lines of Tom Wolfe's "Bonfire of the Vanities" and "A Man in Full" it is better in its own way. It absolutely NAILS a part of American life after Sept 11, 2001. It takes place in MA with a company called Playtime that has issues a la Tyco, Enron and Martha Stewart. Willett has a real talent for dialogue. His gay clothes salesman is a real hoot. I don't know if he wrote it before "Queer Eye" was on the air but it sounds exactly like Carson Kreesley and it is all too funny. Why this book is not on the best seller list just goes to show how inefficient Mr. Market is. Reading this book is like buying BRK.A at $1,300. There's the CEO and what is he concerned about? His options and stock of course! His characterizations are just great. Even minor characters like the lawyer Pearl are just very good. Willett is a practicing lawyer in Boston so there is plenty of material to draw from and to that extent he's ahead of Tom Wolfe or John Grisham because he's living it and writing about it. Not just observing and writing. Plenty of laughs about Dover and the goats. And milfs! What a great new word. One of the best parts of the book are four lectures from the Amherst economics professor. This part is so good I wondered if it is fact or fiction. It would make a great movie. No doubt about that. Some clever misdirection and mystery lead to a very interesting ending. Two points: 1. The NYSE opens at 9:30 eastern and not 9:00 AM. 2. Interesting to note that religion is not a part of the family's life and maybe that's part of the problem. Admittedly the book is a comedy but it delivers more and there is a slight reference at the end. To that extent I feel sorry for the secular Northeastern Boston-DC culture.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Enjoyable
Review: I enjoyed this book very much. It's satire of business life made me laugh, and the mind set of the characters toward today's way of life made me think about my own life. I agree with some of the other reviewers in that I did not think Ronnie was such a good idea, but then it did show that Fritz is human like the rest of us. This is a good read!
Rating:
Summary: Very Enjoyable
Review: I enjoyed this book very much. It's satire of business life made me laugh, and the mind set of the characters toward today's way of life made me think about my own life. I agree with some of the other reviewers in that I did not think Ronnie was such a good idea, but then it did show that Fritz is human like the rest of us. This is a good read!
Rating:
Summary: Intrigued by comparisons to Thomas Wolfe...
Review: I grabbed and gobbled Sabin Willet's newest, "Present Value". Wolfe's "Bonfire of the Vanities" is the testament to high-priced American greed gone bad (please, please don't see the movie!). Willett starts out on a very promising note. He's witty and sharp, and he sets his parable to Enron's story in a well-grounded toy distribution company. How the company has positioned itself for disaster by catering to all the current American corporate fads (an attorney that shadows the CEO at all times, so that everything said is privileged, the "off the books" subsidiaries, all venture capital deals, the need to find some third quarter revenue SOMEWHERE so that everyone's stock options won't be disturbed, etc.)is at the core of this corporate fairy tale gone bad. In chapter one, Willett's sarcastic wit shines through as he describes the ritual of his hero, Fritz Brubaker, dropping off the children (Precious Cargo) at their exclusive private school. His treatise on the massive, fully-equipped line of SUV's is exceeded only by him revealing the brattiness of his spoiled offspring. We move on with nice-guy Fritz opening up his eyes (finally) to the difficulties in his marriage, where his wife Linda is more fond of her Blackberry device than she is of him, and the ethics of the company he works for are seriously in question. The Brubaker family is headed for a fall, and in a thinly disguised plot twist, the weight of the white collar crime that brings them to their knees all falls on Fritz. As Fritz makes a couple of legendary appearances in court, the story recaps how he got to this place, including his entanglement with a wife that resembles a shark more than a feminine ideal. Through
it all, Willett's skill at making you care about Fritz, and the lightning quick speed with which his life falls apart, keeps you reading without pause. The story starts to turn south with the introduction of Ronnie, a private investigator. Ronnie doesn't fit into the story, and the subplot between her and Fritz adds a jarring note. Despite this, Willett winds to the end of Fritz's incarceration, keeping things light, and letting the reader wonder whether the Brubakers will ever be able to set things right again. A fine read, a light touch, but no Thomas Wolfe here. Just a clever novel that feeds our fascination with the ethical malaise in American corporations.
Rating:
Summary: Loved this Book
Review: I thought this book was superb. I really enjoyed the read. The story was not the main motivator, as much as the writing style and character development. I agree with other reviewers re: the similarity to Tom Wolfe. In fact I loved the Economic College Class chapters so much, that I copied them and sent them to my son who is taking economics in college.
Rating:
Summary: Great book, not so great ending
Review: I would really give this 4 1/2 stars were I able. I loved every page in this book until the last few. The ending left me feeling as if there should be more. It was too pat, almost contrived, a bit as if the author were pressed to simply end it. But the author's descriptions of corporate life (non-life is more accurate) are right on and his depiction of the frustrated company president as he grasps to hang onto his options is hysterical, especially in light of all the Enrons, Worldcoms, and SEC scams we read about daily. It's very scary to realize this is a true account of a fictional company, that a company's lifeline is so connected to the stock market that a series of planned but nefarious trades could be its permanent downfall. I disagree with a previous reviewer who didn't understand the presence of Ronnie in the story. This book is significantly deeper than one would initially believe. Ronnie is the road that could be taken. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Great book, not so great ending
Review: I would really give this 4 1/2 stars were I able. I loved every page in this book until the last few. The ending left me feeling as if there should be more. It was too pat, almost contrived, a bit as if the author were pressed to simply end it. But the author's descriptions of corporate life (non-life is more accurate) are right on and his depiction of the frustrated company president as he grasps to hang onto his options is hysterical, especially in light of all the Enrons, Worldcoms, and SEC scams we read about daily. It's very scary to realize this is a true account of a fictional company, that a company's lifeline is so connected to the stock market that a series of planned but nefarious trades could be its permanent downfall. I disagree with a previous reviewer who didn't understand the presence of Ronnie in the story. This book is significantly deeper than one would initially believe. Ronnie is the road that could be taken. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth your time!
Review: Really a great read--funny, caustic and tragic. Very Wolf-esque in his satire on our culture. Way too true. There's so much of this corruption in corporate America. Willett hits the nail on the head!
Rating:
Summary: Comparable to Wolfe
Review: See storyline above. This was a pleasant departure from what I normally read (suspense/thrillers). The last book I read like this was Tom Wolfe's A Man in Full.
It entertains at the same time it educates. You'll get a taste of the corporate life as well as the prison life. A well rounded novel written in a wonderfully entertaining and informative manner. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Back to Basics - 2003
Review: The "present values" of Fritz and Linda are very different. He is a down-to-earth mid-level financial executive and she is a politically driven, high powered lawyer whose income enables them to live with their 2 kids in a luxurious "palazzo" in the best section of Dover, Mass. When Fritz is implicated in an apparent insider trading scam that threatens his company's survival...and Fritz discovers the culprit close to him...he accepts the blame and spends a year in prison.
That's the storyline but not the story. Woven expertly within this framework is biting satire, intelligent commentary on corporate politics, a clear eyed look at the role of economics in society, the human factor in market manipulation and, most critical of all, an ultimately reassuring assessment of what is really important in life...our own "present values".
Willett has a real winner!
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