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Good
Faith by Jane Smiley Rating: ••• (Recommended) |
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Real Estate If you liked Jane Smiley’s A Thousand
Acres, you’ll probably love her new novel, Good
Faith. The levels of meaning are wide and deep in this well-written book.
Real estate agent and protagonist Joe Stratford, accepts good faith deposits
from the buyers of houses he sells. He places faith in a newcomer to town,
Marcus Burns, and Joe is surprised when he learns how Marcus returns Joe’s
confidence. There’s a smarmy S&L in this tale, set in the high-flying
real estate boom of the 1980s. Personal relationships are complicated, and
the nature of what characters believe and count on changes as the story
unfolds. Here’s an excerpt (pp. 280-83): On
Monday, I gave Jane the list of names. She looked it over, and then I said,
"Do tell me, Jane, what the point of these real estate investment trusts
is." "Well,
I think the real point is cash flow." "Yes,
but, pardon me for asking, what do the investors get fot their
money?" "I'm
sure, in the end, some of them hope to profit." "In
the end?" "Well,
think of it as a sort of junk bond. High risk, big payoff. Most people who
have plenty of money to invest understand that. Believe me, we are not going
after little old ladies on widows' pensions. That's a game for the S and
Ls." "Excuse
me?" "Oh,
you know, bundling passbook savings accounts and selling them to other
institutions that are paying a quarter of a point higher interest. Or less
than that. I'm sure that's what Crosbie is doing. That merger hasn't gone
through yet, but they're rolling in dough. Not just investments, either, but
a flood of deposits. I guess they raised payouts by a quarter of a point or
something, and some deposit brokers started sending them more deposits than
they can have on the books and still look good. Crosbie came to Marcus just
the other day and asked if we have any other properties anywhere." She
shrugged. "And what else did he say? Something about how Portsmouth
Savings was thinking of getting into T-biU futures or even junk bonds. It's a
new world,that's for sure." "I'm
not sure Bart is ready for the new world, Jane." "Who
is? I've been doing finance and investment for fifteen years, and I'm
not ready for other people's junk bonds. Most junk bonds are pure roulette,
is what I told Marcus. There's no way to judge their value except by some
kind of intuition. Marcus says they have no real value, only market value,
and I understand that in principle, but I don't know. I suppose I'm lucky to
find myself here in this little office in a little town with a tangible asset
on my hands." "It's
a good asset." "I
know you think that, Joe, and when I wake up in the night, I remember that
you think that and I can actually get back to sleep." I
stared at her. "Anyway,
Bart doesn't have to deal with that end of the business. As long as they keep doing a few
residential mortgages, he'll have something to do. But listen. These trust
people aren't like buyers. You know, I know a woman who went into the horse
business. She bought two miniature horses. You know what they look like?
About the size of Great Danes, or even golden retrievers, if you're lucky.
Anyway, they graze out on her lawn, and she deducts everything—part of her
mortgage payment, her lawn maintenance costs, her house maintenance costs. I
mean, she's in the horse business. She doesn't have to make a profit for
seven years. By that time she will have saved a small fortune in taxes." "I
hope we make a profit before seven years is out." "Me,
too, but these guys"—she gestured at the list of investors—"they
don't care one way or the other. They have to have losses too. So we can do
that for them. Profit and loss; both are services in the end." She
smiled. She
seemed in a good mood, so I hazarded a question. "Did you know Marcus
was leaving the IRS, or was it sudden?" "Oh,
God, Marcus complained about working there so much, it was me who told him he
had to get out. It took him a year to make up his mind. Between you and me, I
don't think he ever would have left if he thought he could get promoted, but
after the election, he bet me that there would be cutbacks, and sure enough
there were, and that was it for him." She grinned. "Marcus is
always ready to sell himself to the highest bidder, even if the bid isn't
very high." "You
have a very jaded view, Jane." "Yes.
I'm so smart, why aren’t I rich?" We
laughed. A
couple of days later, I ran into Bart. He was coming out of a travel agency
right next to the drugstore I was going into. He waved his tickets in my face
and said, "Whatcha doing?" "Buying
some Pepto-Bismol for my mother. What are you doing?" "Going
to France. Everyone. The whole family. Two weeks. We leave tomorrow, and
we're flying first class. It was Crosbie's suggestion. I mean, he said, you
know, time to give the place a little style. No more bow ties." "Are
you taking my money with you?" Bart
laughed. "You won't believe this, but no. Crosbie gave me a little
bonus. Well, not only me. All the vice presidents. We had some investments
that paid off." "What
were they?" "Let's
see. Oh, yeah. T-bill futures. See you in a couple of weeks!" He
jumped in his car and drove off. Smiley’s writing continues to be superb,
and these characters are memorable. Take it on Good
Faith and enjoy reading it. You’ll come away thinking about greed,
community, charlatans, and human nature. Steve Hopkins, May 27, 2003 |
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ă 2003 Hopkins and Company, LLC The
recommendation rating for this book appeared in the June 2003
issue of Executive
Times URL
for this review: http://www.hopkinsandcompany.com/Books/Good
Faith.htm For
Reprint Permission, Contact: Hopkins
& Company, LLC • 723 North Kenilworth Avenue • Oak Park, IL 60302 E-mail: books@hopkinsandcompany.com |
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