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Bombardiers
From the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller What Should I Do with My Life ?, Bombardiers is Po Bronson’s first novel, a devastating satire of the business world told through the lens of a crazed and colorful group of salespeople forced to push increasingly absurd financial products.
336 pages, Paperback
First published February 14, 1995
11 people are currently reading
322 people want to read
About the author
Po Bronson
32 books192 followersPo Bronson has built a career both as a successful novelist and as a prominent writer of narrative nonfiction. He has published five books, and he has written for television, magazines, and newspapers, including Time, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and for National Public Radio's Morning Edition. Currently he is writing regularly for New York magazine in the United States and for The Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom.
Po Bronson's book of social documentary, What Should I Do With My Life?, was a #1 New York Times bestseller and remained in the Top 10 for nine months. He has been on Oprah, on every national morning show, and on the cover of five magazines, including Wired and Fast Company. His first novel, Bombardiers, was a #1 bestseller in the United Kingdom. His books have been translated into 18 languages. Po speaks regularly at colleges and community "town hall" events. He is a founder of The San Francisco Writer's Grotto, a cooperative workspace for about 40 writers and filmmakers. From 1992 to 2006 he was on the Board of Directors of Consortium Book Sales & Distribution. He lives in San Francisco with his family.
from pobronson.com
Po Bronson's book of social documentary, What Should I Do With My Life?, was a #1 New York Times bestseller and remained in the Top 10 for nine months. He has been on Oprah, on every national morning show, and on the cover of five magazines, including Wired and Fast Company. His first novel, Bombardiers, was a #1 bestseller in the United Kingdom. His books have been translated into 18 languages. Po speaks regularly at colleges and community "town hall" events. He is a founder of The San Francisco Writer's Grotto, a cooperative workspace for about 40 writers and filmmakers. From 1992 to 2006 he was on the Board of Directors of Consortium Book Sales & Distribution. He lives in San Francisco with his family.
from pobronson.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
February 21, 2012
Bombardiers is Po Bronson's debut novel. The thematic chapters that read more like interconnected short stories follow a group of salespeople who sell more and more outrageous financial products.
This book should have set off alarm bells in the 1990s and early 2000s. Every scheme these salespeople try was being done by actual financial salespeople on Wall Street and in the big banks.
Reading this on the backside of the most recent financial collapse deflated the humor for me. Instead of being wacky, silly or outrageous parody, it was just depressing. Maybe ten years ago I would have naively enjoyed it.
This book should have set off alarm bells in the 1990s and early 2000s. Every scheme these salespeople try was being done by actual financial salespeople on Wall Street and in the big banks.
Reading this on the backside of the most recent financial collapse deflated the humor for me. Instead of being wacky, silly or outrageous parody, it was just depressing. Maybe ten years ago I would have naively enjoyed it.
November 16, 2008
It's no coincidence that I picked up Po Bronson's "Bombardiers" at a time when the real-world financial markets are in turmoil. It's been on my bookshelf for a while now; not even really in the "to read" pile -- more accurately the "I happen to own this book" pile. Several years ago I read another of his works, "The First $20 Million Is The Hardest" and I wasn't wild about it. Of course, I internally compared it with Douglas Coupland's "Microserfs", against which most Silicon Valley novels are likely to pale.
Regardless, "Bombardiers" is, according to Bronson's foreword, an experimental novel, in the sense that he sat himself down in a closet, listened to a single R.E.M. song on infinite repeat, and wrote a novel without worrying about whether adverbs were the devil, ignoring most of what he "knew" about writing, and avoiding at all costs the so-called three-line break that most authors use to break up scenes within chapters.
What results is a fairly pleasant novel. Even the aforementioned adverbs read as irony instead of incompetence, which is a plus. Bronson uses language to good effect in this novel; it's peppered with puns, ironies, and Tom Swifties. Sure, they distract the reader, but in such a way that one feels that one is sharing a joke with the author, not groaning at a literary faux pas or clumsy hacking.
This is a novel about the absurdities of financial markets and the people who sell its products. In it Bronson invites us to observe the world -- the sales floor -- of the Atlantic Pacific corporation and its denizens, including Sid Geeder, the King of Mortgages, Regis Reed, the Prince of Mortgages, Eggs Igino, the New Genius, Lisa Lisa, with her swollen feet; Clark Kalinov and his petty tyranny; Coyote Jack and his insane sales quotas.
This is a satire of the truest sort: it is not a roast of the financial markets, it's a skewering. The salespeople at AP are faced with three progressively ridiculous bond issues to sell, and their cocksure innumerate boss Coyote Jack gives them increasingly impossible quotas to fill. Finally, of course, the whole thing implodes when the AP braintrust has the bright idea to actually turn the hostile takeover of a sovereign nation into a bond issue.
In Bronson's world, an implosion -- your name being "mud on the Street" -- is a minor, temporary setback. The busted Atlantic Pacific is completely recast with a brand new corporate identity even before the last shambling casualty of the previous incarnation leaves the building. There's always the expectation of a juicy government bailout just this side of defeat. In this context, though, a bailout as large as $700 billion is too far-fetched, too much a fantasy. Single-digit billion-dollar bailouts are hard enough to swallow. Ah, the shortsightedness.
Ultimately, Bombardiers is an entertaining read but fairly unmemorable. Most of the characters are single-sided. Bronson deals effectively with midstream point-of-view shifts (mostly to cover what would ordinarily be a three-line break) and as mentioned wields the language with some skill. It's both sad and terrifying that the subject matter of the novel could be so timely, so accurate, and so unnerving over a decade since its first publication.
Regardless, "Bombardiers" is, according to Bronson's foreword, an experimental novel, in the sense that he sat himself down in a closet, listened to a single R.E.M. song on infinite repeat, and wrote a novel without worrying about whether adverbs were the devil, ignoring most of what he "knew" about writing, and avoiding at all costs the so-called three-line break that most authors use to break up scenes within chapters.
What results is a fairly pleasant novel. Even the aforementioned adverbs read as irony instead of incompetence, which is a plus. Bronson uses language to good effect in this novel; it's peppered with puns, ironies, and Tom Swifties. Sure, they distract the reader, but in such a way that one feels that one is sharing a joke with the author, not groaning at a literary faux pas or clumsy hacking.
This is a novel about the absurdities of financial markets and the people who sell its products. In it Bronson invites us to observe the world -- the sales floor -- of the Atlantic Pacific corporation and its denizens, including Sid Geeder, the King of Mortgages, Regis Reed, the Prince of Mortgages, Eggs Igino, the New Genius, Lisa Lisa, with her swollen feet; Clark Kalinov and his petty tyranny; Coyote Jack and his insane sales quotas.
This is a satire of the truest sort: it is not a roast of the financial markets, it's a skewering. The salespeople at AP are faced with three progressively ridiculous bond issues to sell, and their cocksure innumerate boss Coyote Jack gives them increasingly impossible quotas to fill. Finally, of course, the whole thing implodes when the AP braintrust has the bright idea to actually turn the hostile takeover of a sovereign nation into a bond issue.
In Bronson's world, an implosion -- your name being "mud on the Street" -- is a minor, temporary setback. The busted Atlantic Pacific is completely recast with a brand new corporate identity even before the last shambling casualty of the previous incarnation leaves the building. There's always the expectation of a juicy government bailout just this side of defeat. In this context, though, a bailout as large as $700 billion is too far-fetched, too much a fantasy. Single-digit billion-dollar bailouts are hard enough to swallow. Ah, the shortsightedness.
Ultimately, Bombardiers is an entertaining read but fairly unmemorable. Most of the characters are single-sided. Bronson deals effectively with midstream point-of-view shifts (mostly to cover what would ordinarily be a three-line break) and as mentioned wields the language with some skill. It's both sad and terrifying that the subject matter of the novel could be so timely, so accurate, and so unnerving over a decade since its first publication.
October 10, 2016
The book is overall an easy read and almost like watching tabloid television, what with all the misfit mortgage-backed security salespeople and the anecdotal narrative. I had a lot of laughs. It is helpful to hit the ground floor running as there is a lot of industry jargon. I briefly worked an institutional sales floor -in a past life- and you can tell the author was in the business; this is an inside job. I think the character Mark 'Eggs' Igino may be a foil for the author. He's the new guy who seems to have both talent and a conscience, and we hang our hopes on him to maybe find a way out of an ultimately degrading profession. Everyone's in the game for quick money and devoting a few solid years (body, mind and soul) to 'the company' for financial security for themselves and their families. The company gets to treat them like dogshit. They bounce you at any time for any reason with 15 minutes notice. They bark at you like a boot camp drill sergeant. They spy on you and steal your phone records, all in the name of protecting trade secrets. They use your vices and vulnerabilities against you to keep you docile in your chair for 12+ hours a day. The author tracks the lives of several company men and women and they do indeed have the elements of the horror stories we hear about a life in high finance (misogyny, greed, deception, adultery, addiction). All wrapped up in a closed system of money chasing money in an abstract, global, electronic market. One of the telling moments is when Igino demands to hold a real-live paper bond in his hands so he can see what he's really selling - the company is horrified! Good luck getting out because your ass is owned!
April 6, 2008
While it is a shameless homage to Catch-22, it is a particularly timely read during the recent market turmoils.
Read it if you want to understand how investment banking works, and have a few laughs at the expense of your retirement account.
Read it if you want to understand how investment banking works, and have a few laughs at the expense of your retirement account.
Read
May 2, 2012an inside look into the real world of finance. what's amazing is that it has be written in 1995.... that's 13 years before the general collapse of the financial system. it just shows that all the signs were there but nobody cared to read. this book is prophetic
April 15, 2021
I love this book! I read it for the first time back in business school, I think. And just re-read it and enjoyed it even more the second time. Stories set in the workplace are out of vogue, perhaps exacerbated by COVID. But this is the kind of story any professional can relate to, brilliantly satirized with Bronson's wry wit. I wish there were contemporary novels like this, but there just... aren't. Maybe it's considered too mainstream now. What is so often missed about "workplace" novels, is that they are really not about the workplace at all -- they're about the human condition. The workplace is just the catalyst. I hope there will be a next generation of novels like this one.
July 9, 2021
I read it when it first came out in 1995 and re-read it in 2021...I laughed more the second time around, as I could appreciate it from the outside rather then when I was actually living it. As others have noted, it's a very close homage to Catch-22 (which I think Bronson hat-tips with the title) but it still resonates today.
November 18, 2017
Бомбардировачи изсипват всеки ден боклуци върху икономиката: http://knigolandia.info/book-review/b...
Героите на Бронсън лъжат от сутрин до вечер. Лъгани са първо от шефовете си, сетне се лъжат помежду си, а най-вече лъжат клиентите си. Продават с приказки от 1001 нощ облигации, които никога не са виждали, знаят, че продават нищо, дори по-лошо, продават боклучави финансови инструменти, които неотклонно повличат към дъното всеки глупак, поблазнил се от миражните обещаия за лесна печалба. Но тяхната работа е да ги разкрасят така, че да изглеждат съвършената сделка – и това е нещо, което се случва пак и пак в икономиката, вижте например “Големият залог” на Майкъл Луис. И те успяват, продават всеки ден стотици милионни лъжи, които се трупат бавно, но сигурно до стигането до критичната маса – и следва БУМ.
Изд. "Лъчезар Минчев"
http://knigolandia.info/book-review/b...
Героите на Бронсън лъжат от сутрин до вечер. Лъгани са първо от шефовете си, сетне се лъжат помежду си, а най-вече лъжат клиентите си. Продават с приказки от 1001 нощ облигации, които никога не са виждали, знаят, че продават нищо, дори по-лошо, продават боклучави финансови инструменти, които неотклонно повличат към дъното всеки глупак, поблазнил се от миражните обещаия за лесна печалба. Но тяхната работа е да ги разкрасят така, че да изглеждат съвършената сделка – и това е нещо, което се случва пак и пак в икономиката, вижте например “Големият залог” на Майкъл Луис. И те успяват, продават всеки ден стотици милионни лъжи, които се трупат бавно, но сигурно до стигането до критичната маса – и следва БУМ.
Изд. "Лъчезар Минчев"
http://knigolandia.info/book-review/b...
June 20, 2022
Eggs Ingino was grown in a lab to appeal to me, personally.
Overall, a heartily entertaining look into the lives of some of the most unreasonable people possible. All of these people could go home any time, but there they are, developing chronic illnesses of the body and mind all for the sake of capitalism's false promises.
Overall, a heartily entertaining look into the lives of some of the most unreasonable people possible. All of these people could go home any time, but there they are, developing chronic illnesses of the body and mind all for the sake of capitalism's false promises.
June 4, 2024
Bombardiers is the type of book you read and time doesn’t feel wasted but you’re not necessarily satisfied. It feels like it drags on for more than it needs to but the characters are well described. It is written well enough where I do feel connected to some characters and the scene feels set. Other than that it’s a bit predictable.
September 18, 2024
Early 1990s in the San Francisco office of Atlantic Pacific where salesmen and the token women sell junk bonds to colleagues in other financial institutions. King of the Mortgages, Sid Geeder fulfils the role that Yossarian occupied in Catch 22 - chief stirrer of the troops and asker of the difficult questions. It's all great fun.
January 20, 2023
Tremendously engaging and crazy story with a truly memorable cast of characters living the wall Street pressure cooker insanity. Deeply enjoyable and a snide commentary that has stood the test of time.
November 20, 2019
Picked this up, and Bronson always succeeds.
April 25, 2015
Bombardiers takes place in San Francisco, following the employees of Atlantic Pacific, but it could easily have been set elsewhere. Using midstream point-of-view shifts, Bronson entreats us to multiple points-of-view from Sid Geeder the King of Mortgages, through his colleagues, and even past his boss Coyote Jack. In this manner Bronson risks confounding his readers until they get used to these sudden shifts but keeps up the furious pace of his story. It certainly made me stop and pause once or twice, but it was used to good effect.
Thankfully despite this, and the extended descriptive passages that are somewhat repetitive in nature once you're halfway through the book, this novel has more than enough going for it. Bronson's characters are over the top, the dialogue is at times hilarious, and you're almost guaranteed to laugh out loud. I particularly found parts where we were following Sid (who we are much of the time) to be funny, even at times when it probably shouldn't have been. Bronson uses language to good affect, and gives his writing a very specific voice which covers for any weaknesses in "plot." You really don't need to know anything about finance, or that "world" either, a good thing since I didn't know anything at all.
This isn't a book I'd recommend reading in small chunks, it's a better read when consumed almost entirely, so that the flow isn't broken. However, despite how entertaining Bombardiers is, I found myself beginning to skim-read in the last third of the book, particularly the large paragraphs. Even then the writing was peppered with funniness, and even if this isn't your usual style of read is worth giving a go.
Thankfully despite this, and the extended descriptive passages that are somewhat repetitive in nature once you're halfway through the book, this novel has more than enough going for it. Bronson's characters are over the top, the dialogue is at times hilarious, and you're almost guaranteed to laugh out loud. I particularly found parts where we were following Sid (who we are much of the time) to be funny, even at times when it probably shouldn't have been. Bronson uses language to good affect, and gives his writing a very specific voice which covers for any weaknesses in "plot." You really don't need to know anything about finance, or that "world" either, a good thing since I didn't know anything at all.
This isn't a book I'd recommend reading in small chunks, it's a better read when consumed almost entirely, so that the flow isn't broken. However, despite how entertaining Bombardiers is, I found myself beginning to skim-read in the last third of the book, particularly the large paragraphs. Even then the writing was peppered with funniness, and even if this isn't your usual style of read is worth giving a go.
June 26, 2008
It's strange to me that this book got favorable reviews from the business press when it portrays the world of high finance in such a deeply cynical light. That might attest to its veracity, and if so, that is truly disturbing. Bombardiers takes place in San Francisco - one reason I read it - but it could just as easily take place in any major American city, because the location is "Wall Street" in its abstract sense - not the actual street or even the financial district of New York, but the networked deterritorialized grid of global capitalism, where enterprises that buy and sell debt and manipulate markets are like floating spaceships in skyscrapers that tower above the city, scheming on how to dupe investors and strip third-world countries.
Bronson portrays this world as built on lies and deception and and intricate game of bluffing and manipulation - first with numbers, then with words, and finally in the personal lives of the traders. It's brutal and paranoid and very funny, and in its portrayal of the logical and ethical quandaries of free market economics it is very relevant.
Bronson portrays this world as built on lies and deception and and intricate game of bluffing and manipulation - first with numbers, then with words, and finally in the personal lives of the traders. It's brutal and paranoid and very funny, and in its portrayal of the logical and ethical quandaries of free market economics it is very relevant.
March 23, 2009
Originally written as a satire in the mid'90s, Bombardiers now reads as an unheeded warning call to all the economists, politicians, and other business leaders who weren't paying attention to the absurd and unsustainable business practices occurring right under their noses. Po Bronson takes a direct cue from Joseph Heller's Catch-22, and structures his novel in a similar fashion, with hilarious dialogue, lightning-fast transitions, and a manic dedication to highlighting hypocrisy and inanity in his chosen environment. Even the title is a homage to Yossarian, the protagonist of Catch-22. And much like Heller, Bronson shows the depravity of corporate groupthink, particularly when directed toward greedy pursuits. At the end of the book, protagonists Sidney Geeder and Eggs Igino, despite all the madness around them, have gotten themselves to a better place. When I closed the book, I wished we, as a country, could say the same.
May 8, 2014
I enjoyed that this book was a tribute to Catch 22, but set within the financial industry. It oddly made sense to me. I thought it was a clever approach when I picked it up- writing about the increasingly complex and higher pressure financial instruments being sold vs increasingly insane and dangerous war missions.
Then I saw that this book was written in 1995. What was clever in a post-subprime crisis world suddenly became downright prescient.
Fun plot twists (though I wish more was done with a few of them), silly characters and some smart writing about the mess that is finance. It really is a tribute to Catch 22, down to the title, so along with that comes a bit of difficulty to get into early on before you catch on.
Then I saw that this book was written in 1995. What was clever in a post-subprime crisis world suddenly became downright prescient.
Fun plot twists (though I wish more was done with a few of them), silly characters and some smart writing about the mess that is finance. It really is a tribute to Catch 22, down to the title, so along with that comes a bit of difficulty to get into early on before you catch on.
December 13, 2023
I think in Bombardiers many of the characters are one-dimensional which I suppose is a symptom with viewing co-workers, but some of them he delves into a little bit more like Lisa Lisa. I am really liking the book right now because Eggs Ignito just decided not to show up for work and they are all in a panic. He is one of their best salesman or thought has always been half-hearted about the job. It was pretty clear he was going to leave, but I love that he just didn’t show up. They have no idea if he quit or what’s going on. That’s terrific.
July 1, 2011
Funny, farcical, quick office-based novel. Set in 1995 but even better with age as the economic meltdown of 2008 reminded us that financial and corporate silliness don't belong to just one age, but are ever-present. Also weirdly prescient when a character predicts that fax machines will crumble the edifices of Muslim fundamentalism better than any military approach could. It was meant to show the arrogance skullduggery of the character, but update the technology and here comes Muslim spring.
Read
August 11, 2011Not the kind of book I would normally enjoy, but this one really got to me. I actually enjoyed 'the lack of conflict' as someone has put it here, and the author's witty sarcastic humor, and the way it flows, and the way it subconsciously makes you think about things not directly related to investments (or was it just me?)
Having got an MA in Economics I haven't worked a single day as an economist, and having read this book I am most certainly happy I haven't =)
Having got an MA in Economics I haven't worked a single day as an economist, and having read this book I am most certainly happy I haven't =)
October 19, 2012
This started out being sort of funny and interesting and then after a few chapters of the over the top accounts of every character's problems, it simply became painful. Like a horror movie or and acclaimed tearjerker, maybe it was "good", but it was not enjoyable to read. given that it was not a true story and had no plot to speak of, this one got sent back to te shelf after about 80 pages.
April 4, 2013
Highly and consciously derivative of Heller's Catch-22, but Bronson can't capture Heller's humor and wit. Bronson also throws in extended descriptive passages about the twisted logics and irrationalities at the heart of high finance that feel closer to a Philip Roth rant. The character of Eggs Igino is the most compelling, but he ends the novel escaping from the whole system "gone to hell," which doesn't have the same gravitas as Yossarian defecting from the army.
September 27, 2022
A first attempt by what is obviously a young man who, as a fresh recruit into the world of high international finance, thoroughly felt the excitement and verve of working with large sums of money in the years of expanding globalization, and thought, in his naivety, that it would make a cool story.
Unfortunately, it does not work. And that is why the author switched to feel good stories for airport bookstores instead.
Unfortunately, it does not work. And that is why the author switched to feel good stories for airport bookstores instead.
May 30, 2007
It was odd. I didn't really get into it until I had a 3 hour train journey and I sat and finished the book off. Not one to be read in small time slots - you really need to devote a lot of time to this book.
The story wasn't really apparent at the beginning and it seemed to jump around a lot - from character to character; past, present, future; place to place.
An interesting book...
The story wasn't really apparent at the beginning and it seemed to jump around a lot - from character to character; past, present, future; place to place.
An interesting book...
Read
October 24, 2007This book is impossible to rate. On the one hand, it took me nearly eight months to get through this book, because it was such a depressing satirical indictment of capitalism. On the other hand, I could never just walk away from it because it was such a brilliant satirical indictment of capitalism. Either way, if you read this book, you'll never trust your broker again.
July 4, 2008
This is probably the funniest book I've ever read, if the number of times laughing out loud in a room by myself or number of minutes spent reading with a fixed, apoplectic grin on my face are acceptable criteria. There is a book called Personal Days, by Ed Park, that I'm thinking of buying but perhaps unfortunately for Mr. Park, Bombardiers is the standard that I'm going to hold it to.
May 10, 2009
This is a comic novel about the financial industry. It's very timely, despite being set and written in the late '90s. It's more Catch-22 than Bonfire of the Vanities, and Bronson is mostly successful with his over-the-top characters and situations.
Make-you-think funny; not laugh-out-loud funny. Funny, though.
Make-you-think funny; not laugh-out-loud funny. Funny, though.
July 3, 2009
At this moment in history, when the fate of the US (and other economies) has been brought down in no small part by greed in the banking and mortgage industries, this seems like a telling indictment of that industry. While Bronson stopped working as a broker after writing this book in the mid-90s, I don't think that even he could have predicted the way that things would turn out.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews