Praise for Extravagance
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from The Los Angeles Times
"Superlatively and consistently engrossing...a masterfully realized conceit...Extravagance is substantial and a fast, fun read. Now, like Krist's insatiable character Merrick, we are left wanting more."
by Daniel Cariaga
(Read the full review here)
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from The San Francisco Chronicle
"Exhilarating...a big story with a big lesson...a virtuosic showcase of
Krist's talents as a stylist that also helps emphasize Krist's main
point:
The new, new thing is, in fact, as old as time."
by Mark Athitakis
(Read the full review here)
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from The Washington Post Book World
"Entertaining...ingenious...a most agreeable and antick Diversion."
by Michael M. Thomas
(Read the full review here)
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from David Liss, author of A Conspiracy of Paper
“In Extravagance, Gary Krist has created a marvelous novel that links two remarkably similar and disparate periods with a device both original and wonderfully-executed. This tale, full of humor, suspense, double dealing, and financial recklessness, holds up a funhouse mirror to our recent past and shows how little greed and ambition have changed in three hundred years. It is that rare book that is illuminating, erudite, and entertaining all at once.”
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from United Press International
"An amazing feat and a treat for the reader...skillfully woven and entertaining. This would make a great movie, along the same lines as 'Wall Street,' but doubly exciting and visually entertaining."
by Shirley Saad
(Read the full review here)
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from The Seattle Times
"A twisty new novel of greed and betrayal...deftly drawing parallels between two economic miracles while turning two tales into one...Krist mercilessly exposes con men of both eras."
by John Hartl
(Read the full review here)
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from The Economist
“An entertaining work...captures the exhausted ethos of a late bull market.”
(Read the full review here)
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from Andrew Marlatt,
author of The Economy of Errors and Editor of The Dotconomist
“With the deftness of a master weaver, Gary Krist stitches together two distant eras held fast by threads of hubris and greed. Extravagance is an absolutely brilliant read."
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from the Book of the Month Club News
“A wonderful trick of a book that with near faultlessness blends two different stories taking place in two different--but similar--eras...History comes utterly alive; it is as if Michael Lewis had rewritten Tom Jones.”
by Michelle Slung
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from The Toronto Sun
"Intriguing...Krist weaves the periods together with skill and wit and the result is an entertaining and instructive time machine of a novel."
by Yvonne Crittenden
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from the Dallas Morning News
“The author's portrayal of William Tobias Merrick's quest for fame and fortune has more than its share of rewards.”
by Lee Milazzo
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from the Courier Post
“Timely and timeless...That this time-shifting device is effective testifies to Krist' command of his craft...He operates the elaborate narrative mechanism of Extravagance with confidence and grace...Krist has done his homework. Extravagance has a pungent sense of place, as well as a persuasive grasp of the irrational exuberance of the stock market(s). And Krist makes deft satiric use of the parallels between the technology craze of the 1990s and the mechanical technology boom of the 1690s...Krist's wit keeps things buoyant.”
by Kevin Riordan
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from the Tulsa World
“Krist shifts seamlessly between these two worlds and two cultures. Changing only the time and place, he has cleverly populated both cities with nearly identical characters, taking them through the paces of making and losing money, and the enormous courage it takes to do either...It is the depth of time and place and the faithful recreation of 17th-century English language that compels. Krist has a gift for detail. The reader is rewarded with a sense of being there and being a player in boom times.”
by Terry Clark
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from Richard Dooling, author of Brain Storm and White Man's Grave
“Extravagance is a cautionary Tale Of Two Centuries that takes us on a
whirlwind tour of market madness and the darker secrets of human hearts
locked in the speculation called romance. For love, or money,
Extravagance is a brilliant concoction."
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from Library Journal
"A morality tale...that entertains as well as informs...Krist’s ‘extravagance’ refers to the money obsessed London of the 1700s and the equally obsessed New York City of the 1990s. But it might just as well refer to the richness of his imagination in bringing the two together...Recommended for all libraries with contemporary fiction collections.”
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from Publishers Weekly
"A worthwhile read...Krist pulls off an impressive feat."
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from Lisa Zeidner, author of Layover
"By my faith, 'tis a marvel how Extravagance manages to reference both
portmanteaus and Palm Pilots, suckling pigs and Ben & Jerry's ice
cream. The way that Krist links past and present is extraordinarily
clever, but this novel is far more than a cool party trick. Krist asks
how much of human nature is eternal and universal, how much shaped by
our own times. And if the world has changed, should the novel change
too--or is the form as hardy as the lust for wealth? Krist's answer is
both funny and fiercely intelligent."
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