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Extravagance by Gary Krist Rating: ••• (Recommended)
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To Market, To Market Gary Krist’s new novel, Extravagance, shows off cleverness, timeliness, and wit. Krist reveals the same set of characters in two locales and times: Wall Street in the 1990s, and London in 1690s. Ben Fletcher’s invention of a new winch in the 1690s turns into switching technology in the 1990s. A horse-drawn coach becomes a taxicab. Bedlam insane asylum turns into a Goth club. Krist keeps all the characters consistent with their time and setting, and moves the action along in ways that keeps readers smiling, engaged and interested. Here’s an excerpt (pp. 134ff) of a business dinner meeting at an exclusive Japanese restaurant between an investment banker, Ted, and the client, Ben, whom he’s trying to convince to do an IPO. Protagonist Will Merrick starts the dialogue: “ … ‘Ted handled the Cerebral Pharmaceuticals IPO two weeks ago, didn’t you, Ted?’ He – Mr. Subtlety himself – flashed me a can’t-you-be-any-subtler look. ‘As a matter of fact, I did,’ he said. ‘But let’s talk about that later. I could use a drink.’ ‘That we can handle,’ Ben said. He reached for the little raku carafe on the table in front of him. ‘Do you like sake, Ted?’ ‘Love it, Ben,’ he answered, savoring the first names. ‘Can’t get enough of it.’ ‘Well, I bet you’ve never tasted anything like this we’ve got right here. A very special sake – Yamaga Tokubetsu Junmai.’ ‘I know it well,’ Ted replied. I cringed, knowing that Ben would not let this pass unchallenged, and certain that Ted was about to go down in flames. ‘You do?’ Ben asked. ‘One of my faves in the Junmai style. From Chitonosono shuzo in the Kumamoto Prefecture, right?’ Ben;s mouth opened wide, but he seemed incapable of making a sound. ‘Tell you the truth, though, I find it a little big-hipped and earthy. I prefer something in the Daiginjo style. You know Takasago’s Ichiya Shizuku?’ Ben’s state of flummox was only momentary. ‘Hey, if we’re going that route,’ he said, ‘let’s bump it up a notch. They’ve got a Tentaka Hinsho here that’ll knock your socks off.’ ‘Outstanding,’ Ted replied. ‘And I’d like to propose we follow it with something like the Chujonosono 100.’ ‘An excellent choice,’ Ben said, his jaw tight. ‘But I think we can get the same high fragrance with better acidity if we go for the Kakunko from Sudo Honke.’ ‘I don’t know that one,’ Ted replied. I could see the tension in Ben’s shoulders release. A palpable wave of relief seemed to expand from the table and lap the shoji screens. ‘So why don’t I just let you decide. I can see you know more about it than I do.’ Ben smiled, leaned back, and said, ‘I like a man who likes his sake.’ ‘As do I, Ben, as do I,’ Ted crooned, and shot me a tiny grin. Impressed – and appalled – by this demonstration of master salesmanship, I could only nod my head in tribute.” Krist does a fine job through Will in showing the formation of character, in this case, one with weak moral standards. Eliza, whom Will courts, tells him, (p. 148) ‘You accept the rules and yet never question the game itself.” The market games Will plays in London and New York provide what Krist and Will refer to as the tokens of extravagance: “The tokens of Extravagance seemed everywhere in abundance, from the ever-growing headdresses of fashionable young ladies to the ever-finer carriages of their prospering husbands. Indeed, I seemed to me quite clear that if wealth were a river, then ‘twas a river in flood that day, running o’er its banks and rushing this way and that through the streets, carrying all who stood in its path.” Krist’s skills shine as he uses language appropriate to each time, while maintaining the development of characters consistently, and moving the plot along seamlessly. Reading Extravagance is a treat. Steve Hopkins, October 23, 2002
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