Das Kapital: A Novel of Love and Money Markets

by Viken Berberian

Book Overview

Moving seamlessly between the financial skyscrapers of New York and the crisp blue skies of Corsica and Marseille, Das Kapital is an extraordinary homage to Marx's seminal work for the twenty-first century. Wayne is the emblematic Wall Street trader: opportunistic, brash and driven. His position is something of a rarity; he bets against the market's rise, gambling vast quantities of money on the short sell and profiting hugely from the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743267249
• ISBN13: 9780743267243
• Release Date: October 2010
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Before the global financial crisis there was das kapital

A wonderful book that was written before the global financial/economic crisis of 2007-2009, the most profound in decades. What makes this book wonderful is that it is pure fiction, or then again, perhaps it isn't. The title has been expropriated from Karl Mark's Das Kapital, yet the novel has little to do with it. The central issue is the role of the unknown in decision making, not just financial decision-making , but in other aspects of life, like love. A sharp, biting satire of Wall Street.

The Peril of Rooftop Kissing

If Viken Berberian had not been such a fine novelist he could easily be a food critic, an architect, a market analyst, an art impresario, a POET ... Aware of most of my contemporaries (me included) suffering of the attention deficit disorder I tried to make the list as short as possible but others might find more applications for this multifaceted artist who at each turn reveals yet another dimension to the story that has an uninhibited flowing quality and whose expertise in the depicted diverse fields is that of marked vastness. It is a novel of manifold intricacies; the obvious ones are: shedding new light on Marx's masterpiece as well as on one of the phenomena of flourishing at Wall Street, along with `ecstasies' promised and fulfilled by French love angulations commingled with the wafting aroma of delicacies, structural details of architectural wonders until a fateful slip sends hearts crumbling (mine too). It would not have been true Berberian if human multiplicity, the rules and games, our feeble balance with the nature, the evil and the divine were not contextual constituents to be gleaned. The world is known to shudder and move on but readers will be awestruck. A brilliant following to his debut THE CYCLIST.

THIS BOOK IS SO AU COURANT...

You should read this book if only for its uncanny alignment with the seemingly unpredictable, frenzied behavior of the financial markets in the past two weeks. Not even the VIX index could foreshadow as accurately as this novel did. How I wish Wayne (or Berberian) would manage my portfolio!

Necessary reading for citizens of capital markets

Much like the main character Wayne, I avoid fiction novels - unless there is an important lesson that may be derived from the reading. This book perfectly encompasses the reasons why I think fiction should ever be read and it does so with a subtle mockery of the reason that was the source of my disdain: the capital markets. I loved this book because it so simply highlighted how in our persistent pursuit of wealth, we rarely make the effort to appreciate what we were presumably accumulating the wealth for in the first place. The pleasantries of life such as companionship, of natural beauty, of moderate laziness are replaced with electronic toys, quick thrills (like a ten million dollar play against the market), fragile designer furniture. We become concerned with salaries, investments, 401Ks, retirement planning, expected growth, dividends ... except we forget that the original plan was to use these things to somehow enjoy our lives - although we may have forgotten how to enjoy anything besides the increased return on investment of our portfolios. What good is money if you don't use it? Berberian clearly understands all of this and coupled with his immaculate descriptions of people, places, and things, he creates a wondrous projection of our capitalist society - not to condemn it but to show that capitalism need not be the sole governing philosophy of our existence. In total, the perfectly placed instances of humor along with the important and relevant societal messages make for a thoroughly enjoyable and significant literary work. Every lover, financier, employee, and hopeful bon vivant should read this book.

A Das Kapital for today

You're going to want to reread this book as soon as it ends. It is the story of today's world, froth with suspension of conscience in the abysmal pursuit of wealth, abated only by primal human needs and wants. You will find the protagonist Wayne endearing despite his obnoxious Manhattanite tendencies complete with a Varda shoe collection and Hans Wegner furniture. You will find comical the fustian melodrama with which he greets his hedgefund colleagues AND his sandwiches that consistently arrive sans the desired avocado. You might even dismiss his utter and specific dedication to econoterrorism. Berberian propels you there. You will be drawn to Wayne's cryptic partnership with a Corsican obsessed with ecopreservation and all things bucolic. He executes Wayne's strategy of blasting international financial landmarks for market manipulation, in as clandestine a manner as he preserves his relations with Wayne's beloved. You might find the Corsican esoteric but easily engage his frustration with a world not concerned with losing its trees or finding its red ants. Perhaps you will most relate to Berberian's Alix. A capricious architecture student, she offers an appreciation of Marseille--its hues and babble--strangely, but alluringly, from its rooftops. Ultimately, she provides Wayne and the Corsican with the actual blueprints necessary for their schemata, and this story the grace it yearns. Berberian tells a harsh story, reminiscent of daily CNN reports (to which we're now immune) from seemingly the middle of nowhere across the Atlantic, with the delicacy of Queen Anne's lace. He weaves, with unparalleled ease, algorithmic theorems and ideologies long-forgotten with amorous details of keeping count of a lover's birthmarks and the sequence of their emails. His storytelling is almost algebraic in design, such that the reader is comfortable with the organized chaos of the intersecting yet linear lives of the characters on different continents and different spheres of thought. He quotes Guy Debord within a page of a generic "roses are red, violets are blue" poem, and, in doing so, helps you internalize and champion the ideologies, strata and human condition of each of his characters. Berberian has a way of making you feel like you are part of the story, aware of every iota of the characters' environment, from furniture that has affect, to eateries screaming with personality, and swimming-pools in glass buildings that tout the best capitalism has to offer. Nothing about Berberian's writing is incidental. His approach is scientific, his lexicon poignant, his wry humor inescapable. However, there is nothing categorical or conditional about the organic manner with which he presents you this story and helps make it your own. This is the story of today's world in which Marx's Das Kapital is challenged daily, and the ultimate victor is never really clear and always victim to interpretation. You're going to want to reread this book as soon as it ends.