Broker Jim

by J. Glenn Evans

Broker Jim, a top regional stockbroker, sits in his office, his gaze transfixed on the file sitting on the corner of his desk. His gut instinct tells him he better put the file somewhere safe. He... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0759682097
• ISBN13: 9780759682092
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: 1st Book Library
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 0.91 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

An authentic tale

Although this is a novel (fiction) there are parts of this story that just are too authentic not to have been a part of the author's life. In fact the authenticity of Broker Jim's early life in a small communities could easily have been my story from growing up in small rural towns in Michigan. In some of the story I had so much empathy that I nearly cried at the truth of it all. The problems Broker Jim had with regulators reminded me of the problems presented by government buracracy to the owner of a real company, JS & Associates of the Chicago area, a successful mail order firm...ended up selling everything to fight the bureaucrats...eventually going out of business because he failed to notify customers of supply problems within 30 days of an order. The irony was that other mail order companies didn't even deliver or return money as JS & A did. How do I know this? I was a customer and was with the owner at the hearing in Peoria, Illinois led by then, Senator Percy...and gave him a ride back to the airport. Sometimes it just makes you cry, when you think your legislators are fighting for the small business when their own buracracy is fighting against you. Yes, the book is about life, and an authentic one, and for that I give the book and author five stars. I do fault the publisher for the curious use of a font that has such fine lines they sometimes disappear, and makes for difficult reading. So I have to give it 4 stars. On the other hand, not all prints may be like my copy.

An Umbrella is not a Golden Parachute

Mark Twain, Joyce Cary and Kingsley Amis wrote novels full of comic goodwill and characters who wrestle with their own individual morals amid those of society. Jim Bradley, the protagonist of Broker Jim, navigates with his own moral compass the world of women, money and the stock market. The combination of dead-serious innocence and eccentric humor in the author's unique voice makes this novel a hilarious romp that is unforgettable. Evans has a good ear for dialogue and is able to create memorable characters.Broker Jim is pacing the floor around the big teakwood desk in his downtown office. He is the top regional stockbroker in town but he is facing a crisis and is worried about the file on his desk. He is just about to put the file in a safe place when the door opens and three official-looking men walk in and flash ID cards. One of them picks up the file, leafs through it, and slips it into his briefcase. Jim was just about to join his banker for lunch but he figures he better reschedule the meeting. It wouldn't do to ask your banker for a loan when you have a roomful of regulators sitting in your office. Jim is scheduled to fly to Dallas the next day to mend fences on an oil deal. He leaves matters with Major Gray, his second-in-command, to finesse things with these regulators while he is out of town. His oil partners with names like Waterflood, Geologist and South Africa, meet him at the Dallas airport. After an afternoon sparring with the Texans, he retires to his hotel room.The story shifts to his childhood when "being poor was no shame. Everybody was poor." In the mind of a youngster, growing up poor wasn't so bad. Evans grew up in the Oklahoma Dust Bowl of the Great Depression and in Broker Jim, he recreates the world of the child where the crickets sing and the grasshoppers escort his chariot. "Dust and grasshoppers spread across the dry land. The world of the stock market was far away and didn't really matter. But being a stockbroker is how you meet real money.After college he meets Lois, the girl of his dreams, but puts off any relationship with her, focusing instead on making it in the world. Promising Lois he'll be back, Jim heads to the West Coast to become a stockbroker, but instead of breaking into the world of the stock market, Jim runs through a series of odd jobs before ending up as an accountant in a lumberyard in Riverside, California owned by Silas Tidler. Now that he has a steady job, Jim goes back and marries Lois. The drive back to California, however, is a revelation for Jim. Lois runs hot and cold and he wishes he had left her with her mother.Silas Tidler is a Bible-quoting fanatic who prays on his knees and lusts his secretary. When Tidler's wife sues him for divorce and takes him to the cleaners, Jim's job goes away. He figures there is no time like the present to pursue his original goal: be a stockbroker. In the 1950s most of the stockbrokers are gray-haired, ulcer- driven old men. Jim goes to one firm after another