What has to be the most interesting aspect of this book is the author. Ben Stein is supposedly one of the most learned and scholarly celebrities in America. A writer of economic and legal articles and essays, it is very difficult to believe he wrote this particular novel.

Rife with impossible characters whose development and character is defined by what they are wearing, how the smell and what size their breasts are if they happen to be women, they are thrust through an equally impossible tale of rags to riches, boy meets girl cliches for 298 pages.

I was unable to determine if the author was writing about alcoholism, a love story, the intricacies of big business in the 1980's, or perhaps simply attacking conservative politics, the Japanese economy or his perception of minorities. There are countless and needless inferences to Jewish people in less than conscientious or appropriate ways, African-Americans are servile and inconsequential and Hispanic people are consistently one rung below that. Where does all this fit in with the story line? I couldn't figure that out either.

The dual protagonists are far too heroic and far too weak at the same time. A drum major from Tennessee and a tycoon from Texas, perhaps they are the fantasy characters the author always wished he could be. There is no realism in this novel and it is lacking in ironic or sarcastic unrealism to balance the imaginary universe these characters operate in.

There are high points, however. At times there are very real and powerful emotional pangs that the reader can feel from the pages. Sadly they are few and far between. The book is laced with too much descriptive narrative regarding name brands and designer items, hopelessly imprisoned in the 80's, to read with continuity. There are loose ends and grand excursions taken by the characters that don't make much sens and seem to have been added by the editors either from another work or to fill out the novel. All of which combined makes it difficult to get through this novel without giving up.

If this book was intended to be a high line romance novel it missed the mark. If it was a sardonic, satirical treatment of one it missed even more so. If it was intended as a corporate love story, there was too little knowledge about the subject matter on the part of the writer and editors to make it work. Again, difficult to believe considering who wrote it.