Our Little Racket

One of The Atlantic's books of the year in 2017, I found this debut novel by Angelica Baker one of the most compelling and readable fictionalized accounts of the credit crisis. Baker writes in the tradition of Wharton and James, with antecedents also in Fitzgerald, while Lauren Groff would be a valid modern peer. Baker's eye for detail is notable and her use of simile well deployed. She writes with intelligence and empathy. Sure, the lives of almost all the protagonists are, rightfully, depicted as shallow and feckless, but one of the things that makes Our Little Racket interesting is that the impact of the crisis is shown from the perspective/through the eyes of five women. — In other words, we get a female take on what was generally considered a very male event. This is not to suggest that the novel should be seen as a feminist text. Rather, the thrust of the novel is to highlight the lies we tell ourselves, and others, both intentionally and unintentionally. For reasons tactical, expedient and downright devious, the “racket” may simply be a specific, wealthy Greenwich, Connecticut, Hobbesian view of human nature, since Baker offers many red herrings along the way. That Bob D'Amico, modeled on Lehman's Dick Fuld, gets away with having brought down his bank, could be seen as scant compensation for having lost his daughter's love and trust. Madison, the daughter, is most affected by the novel's events, although by its conclusion she too has learned to play the game — of survival, prepared presumably for the next “racket”. 10/10.

By Angelica Baker