Review by blurrylon -- Ambition by Val Grian
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blurrylon
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- Latest Review: Ambition by Val Grian
Review by blurrylon -- Ambition by Val Grian
[Following is a volunteer review of "Ambition" by Val Grian.]
Ambition by Van Grian is a refreshing 163 pages fiction book, about 2 best friends who had everything and then lost it. It is about how you feel when you have got a lot of ambition and still get shot in the foot.
Even if it contains a big emotional part, coupled with money issues (Wall Street style), I really think it stays light and pleasant to read. As a middle-class person, I would have been outdated by this rich people world, but the author made a pretty good work keeping it simple.
I spotted some macho comments and moreover, I must say it, women have absolutely no role in this book. It irritates me, it's really about men who leave their wives at home, never explain them anything that is financial and only expose their successes, then when women intervene it's to get angry in a cliché hysterical way, to ask for expensive things to be offered to them, or just to have someone carry the child that men want so badly.
Another thing that struck me was Jamal's beautiful story. He taught a beautiful lesson of simplicity in the middle of a book about products of capitalism. I hoped so strongly that what was going on in Jamal's life would talk some sense to Alan and that he would think a little bit about his lifestyle and how to be happy without depending on his finances.
The discussions and actions are quite interesting when read from our point of view as precarious people. The effects of capitalism and greed are revolting, even just when the money thief says "I won't give it back, the colossal sum I stole here, it would have taken me 10 years to earn it legally" 10 years !! Revolting when you know that a large part of people don't earn this amount in a lifetime, it's impressive this contrast. Not to mention this constant desire to want more than necessary? For what? This way of creating so many problems for oneself to never end because if we follow this logic, he will always want more.
I realize that this book looks like little stories/criticisms of capitalism hidden in a big global thing where the stories have a link anyway but are independent too, it's great. In the end (I'm not saying if they succeed or not), you can tell the characters didn't learn much but at least, as a reader and in retrospect, you hopefully learned a bit more than they did. You still hope that they will stay happy with their families, and no longer try to go off on crazy projects to get richer unnecessarily.
I will give this book the rating of 3 out of 4 stars, although it was professionally edited, as I did not come across anything such as typos, spellings or grammar errors. It is, in my opinion, a great book to whoever wants to read something not too long nor complicated but still wants to come out with new thoughts about the way society is made. However, it is not convenient to children, as it contains descriptions of "hot girls" and contains a lot of economic remarks not simple to understand when you are not an adult. Also, it may have some misogynist passages and as a woman, it is not always good to read those kinds of things, if you are someone too engaged, I do not think you will 100% enjoy this book. I, for the matter, am a woman and even if I globally liked it and understood that these passages are there to fortify the men's vision of the world, it cringed me a little. But apart from it, this is a book that I enjoyed a lot. It made me want to read the volume 1 that I hadn't read before, and I advise you to do the same.
******
Ambition
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Ambition by Van Grian is a refreshing 163 pages fiction book, about 2 best friends who had everything and then lost it. It is about how you feel when you have got a lot of ambition and still get shot in the foot.
Even if it contains a big emotional part, coupled with money issues (Wall Street style), I really think it stays light and pleasant to read. As a middle-class person, I would have been outdated by this rich people world, but the author made a pretty good work keeping it simple.
I spotted some macho comments and moreover, I must say it, women have absolutely no role in this book. It irritates me, it's really about men who leave their wives at home, never explain them anything that is financial and only expose their successes, then when women intervene it's to get angry in a cliché hysterical way, to ask for expensive things to be offered to them, or just to have someone carry the child that men want so badly.
Another thing that struck me was Jamal's beautiful story. He taught a beautiful lesson of simplicity in the middle of a book about products of capitalism. I hoped so strongly that what was going on in Jamal's life would talk some sense to Alan and that he would think a little bit about his lifestyle and how to be happy without depending on his finances.
The discussions and actions are quite interesting when read from our point of view as precarious people. The effects of capitalism and greed are revolting, even just when the money thief says "I won't give it back, the colossal sum I stole here, it would have taken me 10 years to earn it legally" 10 years !! Revolting when you know that a large part of people don't earn this amount in a lifetime, it's impressive this contrast. Not to mention this constant desire to want more than necessary? For what? This way of creating so many problems for oneself to never end because if we follow this logic, he will always want more.
I realize that this book looks like little stories/criticisms of capitalism hidden in a big global thing where the stories have a link anyway but are independent too, it's great. In the end (I'm not saying if they succeed or not), you can tell the characters didn't learn much but at least, as a reader and in retrospect, you hopefully learned a bit more than they did. You still hope that they will stay happy with their families, and no longer try to go off on crazy projects to get richer unnecessarily.
I will give this book the rating of 3 out of 4 stars, although it was professionally edited, as I did not come across anything such as typos, spellings or grammar errors. It is, in my opinion, a great book to whoever wants to read something not too long nor complicated but still wants to come out with new thoughts about the way society is made. However, it is not convenient to children, as it contains descriptions of "hot girls" and contains a lot of economic remarks not simple to understand when you are not an adult. Also, it may have some misogynist passages and as a woman, it is not always good to read those kinds of things, if you are someone too engaged, I do not think you will 100% enjoy this book. I, for the matter, am a woman and even if I globally liked it and understood that these passages are there to fortify the men's vision of the world, it cringed me a little. But apart from it, this is a book that I enjoyed a lot. It made me want to read the volume 1 that I hadn't read before, and I advise you to do the same.
******
Ambition
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Ambition by Val Grian
