The Financial Lives of the Poets is the first book by Jess Walter I’ve read. I hadn’t even heard of him which I suppose is somewhat pathetic given that he’s apparently quite famous and has won several notable awards for previous books. When I saw The Financial Lives of the Poets in the library, I couldn’t pass up the title. I must admit that I’m not sure I ever considered that poets might actually have financial lives.
The book was a lot of fun although I’m not so sure it was particularly good for my current midlife malaise. It’s the adventures of Matt Prior, a 46 year old man (exactly my age) who has lost his job and is about to lose his home and possibly his wife who recently had a crazy Ebay failure of her own. She’s since hooked up with Chuck from Lumberland, an old boyfriend from high school who stands to inherit the family lumber yard.
Matt is driven to do crazy things and it just keeps getting crazier. He will periodically burst in with some hefty philosophical thought while considering the potential rebound of the real estate market or the going rate of weed.
Here’s one of Matt’s philosophical thoughts for you: “I’m also sure of this: I’ll never fall in love again. I’ve lost my innocence. And my disappointment is not that my own home has lost half its value. What disappoints me is me – that I fell for their propaganda when I knew better, that I actually allowed myself to believe that a person could own a piece of the world when the truth is that anything you try to own ends up owning you.” Amen to that, Matt!!
In trying to decide what to tell his sons, he comes up with this: “Boys, pay attention to your mother; mothers have a million things to teach you. But fathers? We only have two lessons, but these two things are everything you need to know: (1) What to do and (2) What not to do. “ That thought actually made me feel a little bit better about my husband’s lack of involvement with the kids. Perhaps it is, simply, a male thing.
And maybe it’s OK to feel like you are falling apart. Maybe it’s even OK to fall apart. Jess Walter’s book is surprisingly hopeful despite being about losing it all (including your mind).