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Peripheral Involvement
Jack Caufield never imagined that he would wake up one day and find a dead woman in his bed. That sort of thing wasn't supposed to happen to guys like him. He was on his way to law school, but instead of fielding Socratic questions from law professors, he finds himself facing the third degree from a bunch of angry cops. Despite their efforts, they find nothing incriminating, and Jack is allowed to get on with his education and his life. Over the next fifteen years, he becomes a modestly successful corporate lawyer, a well-paid but insignificant cog in the Wall Street machine. He's resigned to playing a disappointing role in the system that he has come to disdain, until he learns that his encounter with that unlucky girl may not have been coincidental. Confronted with the possibility that the men who run the prestigious financial institution that he now represents may have been involved in a shocking conspiracy, his search for the truth is complicated by the knowledge that discovering it could cost him the success that he's spent his life chasing.
282 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 12, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 27, 2014
Is Jack Caufield a simplified Bob Waldner?
My take is that he more or less is.
So how much of the plot is taken from real life?
All of it?
Well not as a chronology of a single existence, but yes, this all can have happened. The plot is novel in construct, inventive, containing adrenaline kickers, psychological, thoughtful, page turning and ultimately frustrating in a very good reflective of unfolding true life. As individuals we never get all the answers to anything, do we? Crimes and their solutions are usually beautifully dovetailed in conventional genre reads but rarely in the grit and sweat of real life.
To Jack, so much of the life he has cut-out for himself seems to be far short of what he would have liked to achieve, despite the fact that he is more than financially secure. He is pervaded by self-doubt. "I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up" and, "I'm not brave enough to be what I want to be" are ever familiar thoughts. We are never satisfied and yet rarely able to change such fundamental truths. How many people actually gain the courage that weak Jack needs? Jack Caufield, the ghost of Waldner, has settled for never trying to achieve more than a 'middle-of-the-road' sum of his parts will easily allow. He could have really done something special with the events, and thus opportunities, that imposed themselves on him. Even a murder can be an opportunity, a bringer of fame or infamy, or perhaps a chance to lever opinion or be a hero. The book is full of possible initiatives not taken. Jack does nothing more than take an essentially easy and predictable safe path, following the lead of those he naively, even timidly, trusts. We suspect that even his single status is a reflection of his total lack of balls.
Real life- We the individual can of course play safe and still be high achievers, be typical Jack Caufields. Though then we are, generally speaking, only achieving cogs because we play patsy to someone else's greater games; just like Jack. We may never be brave enough to unlock the key of our potential, to try and break the mould that life has poured us into. The second main character in this story spectacularly fails, but at least he is brave enough to try. I felt far more sympathetic to his cause whether he is mad or not. He put the physical key, to a door with massive possibilities, into Jack's hands.
Many readers won't like the left hanging questions, the lack of solved clues, the chapter that slides into the worship of baseball, the lack of developed of female characters, the frustrations of looking at a deeply unlikable main character. The list goes on with everyone's choosing from the smorgasbord of often unusual, not quite in any genre, not often mixed together ingredients.
Jack hasn't even got the 'ballgame' to risk his paycheque whatever legal/accounting abuse he is expected to be complicit in hiding, let-alone to really risk his life in helping uncover a murder. It is unusual in this kind of book to be asked to see life through the eyes of such a pathetic and manipulated character. As for my personal view, I love the whole construction. This is a fantastic book. Well paced, Inventive, original, finally believable, grammatically well written, and is typical of the sort of wonderful reading that had as about as much chance of getting through the barriers of the traditional publishers as I have of walking with Richard Branston on the Moon. Certainly at the extreme end of improbable, especially as I don't know that living legend, though ultimately possible.
What a tragedy it would have been if the long time intention to publish had been abandoned by Waldner. How sad if he had given up, in the way that his main character would have done. It is a reasonable conjecture that Jack went on after the final chapter to at least follow some very weak version of his baseball dream, but I doubt it. We will have to wait and see whether he appears in a sequel to stand any chance of finding out.
My view is that this book might have been even better written in the first person. However, even this sort of one perspective narrative is often regarded as best written in the third person. The distaste amongst so many literary heavyweights for first person narrative persists in 2014. Such was certainly a very often recognised 'proof' of amateur stamped on the literary hopes of would be authors in the days when the early chapters of Waldner's book were first drafted. The author is very open about having returned much later to a previously abandoned script. Perhaps Waldner simply prefers that still dominant style and quite justifiably mocks my suggestion. After all the script works well as it is. However, I argue that possibly a little is lost to the reader by being forced to look inside from a distance rather than looking outside from within. I would love to know what you think if you find the time to read this book. We still get a strong sense of Jack's 'point of view', but surely more weakly than we would have felt it with such good writing projected as from the character's mind.
My take is that he more or less is.
So how much of the plot is taken from real life?
All of it?
Well not as a chronology of a single existence, but yes, this all can have happened. The plot is novel in construct, inventive, containing adrenaline kickers, psychological, thoughtful, page turning and ultimately frustrating in a very good reflective of unfolding true life. As individuals we never get all the answers to anything, do we? Crimes and their solutions are usually beautifully dovetailed in conventional genre reads but rarely in the grit and sweat of real life.
To Jack, so much of the life he has cut-out for himself seems to be far short of what he would have liked to achieve, despite the fact that he is more than financially secure. He is pervaded by self-doubt. "I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up" and, "I'm not brave enough to be what I want to be" are ever familiar thoughts. We are never satisfied and yet rarely able to change such fundamental truths. How many people actually gain the courage that weak Jack needs? Jack Caufield, the ghost of Waldner, has settled for never trying to achieve more than a 'middle-of-the-road' sum of his parts will easily allow. He could have really done something special with the events, and thus opportunities, that imposed themselves on him. Even a murder can be an opportunity, a bringer of fame or infamy, or perhaps a chance to lever opinion or be a hero. The book is full of possible initiatives not taken. Jack does nothing more than take an essentially easy and predictable safe path, following the lead of those he naively, even timidly, trusts. We suspect that even his single status is a reflection of his total lack of balls.
Real life- We the individual can of course play safe and still be high achievers, be typical Jack Caufields. Though then we are, generally speaking, only achieving cogs because we play patsy to someone else's greater games; just like Jack. We may never be brave enough to unlock the key of our potential, to try and break the mould that life has poured us into. The second main character in this story spectacularly fails, but at least he is brave enough to try. I felt far more sympathetic to his cause whether he is mad or not. He put the physical key, to a door with massive possibilities, into Jack's hands.
Many readers won't like the left hanging questions, the lack of solved clues, the chapter that slides into the worship of baseball, the lack of developed of female characters, the frustrations of looking at a deeply unlikable main character. The list goes on with everyone's choosing from the smorgasbord of often unusual, not quite in any genre, not often mixed together ingredients.
Jack hasn't even got the 'ballgame' to risk his paycheque whatever legal/accounting abuse he is expected to be complicit in hiding, let-alone to really risk his life in helping uncover a murder. It is unusual in this kind of book to be asked to see life through the eyes of such a pathetic and manipulated character. As for my personal view, I love the whole construction. This is a fantastic book. Well paced, Inventive, original, finally believable, grammatically well written, and is typical of the sort of wonderful reading that had as about as much chance of getting through the barriers of the traditional publishers as I have of walking with Richard Branston on the Moon. Certainly at the extreme end of improbable, especially as I don't know that living legend, though ultimately possible.
What a tragedy it would have been if the long time intention to publish had been abandoned by Waldner. How sad if he had given up, in the way that his main character would have done. It is a reasonable conjecture that Jack went on after the final chapter to at least follow some very weak version of his baseball dream, but I doubt it. We will have to wait and see whether he appears in a sequel to stand any chance of finding out.
My view is that this book might have been even better written in the first person. However, even this sort of one perspective narrative is often regarded as best written in the third person. The distaste amongst so many literary heavyweights for first person narrative persists in 2014. Such was certainly a very often recognised 'proof' of amateur stamped on the literary hopes of would be authors in the days when the early chapters of Waldner's book were first drafted. The author is very open about having returned much later to a previously abandoned script. Perhaps Waldner simply prefers that still dominant style and quite justifiably mocks my suggestion. After all the script works well as it is. However, I argue that possibly a little is lost to the reader by being forced to look inside from a distance rather than looking outside from within. I would love to know what you think if you find the time to read this book. We still get a strong sense of Jack's 'point of view', but surely more weakly than we would have felt it with such good writing projected as from the character's mind.
August 11, 2016
I admire the author for taking a big risk in making his protagonist both unlikeable (for me) and over-cautious to the point of cowardice. Perhaps it's supposed to be a portrait of the mainly empty existence of a late baby-boomer in the United States who happens to be a lawyer, but it did not sit well with me, and/or I didn't get it. (I received a free copy through Goodreads.com and the author; my apologies to the author.)
May 26, 2014
An appraisal of Peripheral Involvement presents a quandary. How much of a reader’s expectations of and reactions to a book should be colored by what could reasonably be anticipated based on genre? A simple example with an obvious correct answer would be a book with a budding romance as its focus. If presented as contemporary fiction, chick-lit, or almost any other genre, anything might happen to that relationship. However, if the story is presented as in the romance genre, the promise of a happily ever after ending is inviolate and if it isn’t delivered, the majority of romance readers would feel cheated. But few genre conventions are as solidified and unyielding as that one.
Which brings us back to the book at hand. Presented as literary fiction, a classification many view as the non-genre genre, often marked by a more serious tone, slower pacing, and a particular style of writing described as “elegant” or “lyrical.” Last, literary fiction focuses more on character than plot. However, the plot of Peripheral Involvement, although slow paced, feels much like a suspense or thriller novel.
Finally I’ve laid the foundation to explain my thoughts on Peripheral Involvement. If you feel like I’ve taken too long to get to the point, you can bail now, because literary fiction isn’t going to be your thing anyway. If I were judging this book as a suspense novel, where the focus is going to be more on the plot than the characters, I’d have complaints about going into way too many details, spending an inordinate amount of time in the narrator’s head, and the slow pace that is largely the consequence of both of those things. While I didn’t find the writing style especially literary, all the other attributes were there, so I can’t really quibble with classifying this book that way.
However, the focus on character more than plot in literary fiction doesn’t mean plot doesn’t matter, which I’ll come back to shortly. First, a bit about characters. Often a review will describe a main character as “likable.” Does it matter? Yes and no. The protagonist or main character doesn’t have to be likable, but you do have to care what happens to him or her or at least how the story turns out. Likable is often shorthand to say, “I cared what happened to this fictional character.” Some call that lazy, but since I’m guilty of doing it all the time, I’ll avoid characterizing it as that. I didn’t find the protagonist Jack very likable at all. But I did care what happened, which brings us back to plot.
There were two critical mysteries in this story involving Jack. They were whether there was something more to the death of a girl in his bed than the official conclusion (an event from early in the story) and later on the question of what the truth of the situation was surrounding the FBI agent from that long ago case who contacted him. Since the second of these mysteries happens around the peak of the story I don’t think I should go into any detail other than to say that few, if any, questions were answered about the mysteries, while many more were raised. What should have been the buildup to the climax of the story ended up feeling more like mutual fake orgasms. A pointless exercise.
**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **
Which brings us back to the book at hand. Presented as literary fiction, a classification many view as the non-genre genre, often marked by a more serious tone, slower pacing, and a particular style of writing described as “elegant” or “lyrical.” Last, literary fiction focuses more on character than plot. However, the plot of Peripheral Involvement, although slow paced, feels much like a suspense or thriller novel.
Finally I’ve laid the foundation to explain my thoughts on Peripheral Involvement. If you feel like I’ve taken too long to get to the point, you can bail now, because literary fiction isn’t going to be your thing anyway. If I were judging this book as a suspense novel, where the focus is going to be more on the plot than the characters, I’d have complaints about going into way too many details, spending an inordinate amount of time in the narrator’s head, and the slow pace that is largely the consequence of both of those things. While I didn’t find the writing style especially literary, all the other attributes were there, so I can’t really quibble with classifying this book that way.
However, the focus on character more than plot in literary fiction doesn’t mean plot doesn’t matter, which I’ll come back to shortly. First, a bit about characters. Often a review will describe a main character as “likable.” Does it matter? Yes and no. The protagonist or main character doesn’t have to be likable, but you do have to care what happens to him or her or at least how the story turns out. Likable is often shorthand to say, “I cared what happened to this fictional character.” Some call that lazy, but since I’m guilty of doing it all the time, I’ll avoid characterizing it as that. I didn’t find the protagonist Jack very likable at all. But I did care what happened, which brings us back to plot.
There were two critical mysteries in this story involving Jack. They were whether there was something more to the death of a girl in his bed than the official conclusion (an event from early in the story) and later on the question of what the truth of the situation was surrounding the FBI agent from that long ago case who contacted him. Since the second of these mysteries happens around the peak of the story I don’t think I should go into any detail other than to say that few, if any, questions were answered about the mysteries, while many more were raised. What should have been the buildup to the climax of the story ended up feeling more like mutual fake orgasms. A pointless exercise.
**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **
July 16, 2014
This was a Goodreads win with a nice note included from the author. Overall, this was a decent read. A little schizophrenic, but a decent read. It starts out like a John Grisham novel. A young man on his way to law school wakes up with a naked, dead girl in his motel room. He becomes involved with the FBI after evidence comes to light that he had a hand in assassinating a Supreme Court Justice. Fast forward a few years and Jack Caufield (I did wonder if that was a nod to Holden Caulfield from The Catcher In The Rye) is now working indirectly with the company one of the FBI agents suspected of the assassination. This could have been a very Kafkaesque novel, suspicion around every corner, trusting no one. Instead Jack kind of putters through the story, basically ending up exactly where he was at the beginning of the book. When he isn't waxing philosophical about baseball, he is complaining hypocritically about the big business people that he works for. The story had a lot if plot points that were simply let unresolved. Made me wonder if a sequel was forthcoming. Overall three out of five stars.
June 30, 2014
When I first started reading, I didn't know where it was going. At first it seemed inspired by the catcher in the rye, i thought. Then it morphed and I thought we were "On the Road". I wasn't sure where it was going, or if the author would find his own voice. But soon thereafter, he certainly did. It was a page turner which I couldn't put down. A compelling journey of self framed in suspenseful, extraordinary circumstances.
I don't understand why previous reviewers are so down on a flawed/unlikeable main character. Is Jack someone we all aspire to be? certainly not. He embodies many flaws present in all of us, important aspects we should all examine in our lives. He is 3-dimensional and at the end of the day, the whole book is about his personal journey and self-realizations.
Does the author tie everything up with a neat bow on top at the end? No. THAT'S THE POINT! If that's what you are looking for, you can go somewhere else. But it leaves you with hope, and the idea that Jack may not be a lost cause. And at the end of the day, I am rooting for him.
October 7, 2014
This story had a good start for a mystery, but the protagonist was so unlikeable it was difficult to find the story believable. This character just seem to be drifting, not ever knowing what he wanted, no emotional connection to anyone, maybe this is typical type person in this generation but it didn't portray a complete picture for me. There were many areas I felt needed more editing, paragraphs that rambled on and on. All in all the story I found very interesting and a good mystery.
June 18, 2014
It was a fun read. Any reader could identify with Jack and his dilemmas even if he/she had never remotely been in Jack's situations. This covered the lifelong questions about "what's it all about?" and just letting life lead you where it will.
February 13, 2017
Bob Waldner is an attorney in New York who has written a novel in which the principal character is a disenchanted lawyer who went to Duke as an undergrad (as did the author), then to Michigan Law School (as the author did) and then ended up working in a New York firm. How much else in the character is autobiographical only the author knows (but I suspect the love of baseball fits that description). It is unlikely that the author faced the existential crisis on the eve of entering law school that Jack, his protagonist, endures. I bought this book based on a Bargain Booksie ad and a 99-cent price tag and based on a very well written blurb that caught my interest. I’m not sorry I put in the effort to read this novel, but it did not live up to its full potential.
The set-up of the story in Peripheral Involvement is engaging, clever, and the author makes us care what happens to Jack. His adventure as a 24-year-old trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life is a great yarn. Then the story jumps to fifteen years later. Jack is a partner in a New York law firm when the crisis from his past pops up again and initiates intense self-reflection for Jack that includes his analysis of the investment banking community and the unfairness of the perpetuation of the power base of the very rich in America. All this would be fair game if it fit neatly into the plot, but the problem here is that as interesting as the plot is, the resolution, such as it is, proves very unfulfilling to the reader. The key question raised in the first half of the story – one that Jack specifically asks for but is denied – is ignored in the second half, even when the character who has that knowledge and has every reason to finally tell Jack the big secret shows up. The reader is left in the dark, although the innuendo that there was a massive conspiracy remains a possibility. Despite these deficiencies, Mr. Waldner’s writing is top shelf, the characters are interesting, and the story keeps the reader interested to the end. In his next novel, hopefully, the author will have a more complete story to tell, and I’ll be waiting to read it.
The set-up of the story in Peripheral Involvement is engaging, clever, and the author makes us care what happens to Jack. His adventure as a 24-year-old trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life is a great yarn. Then the story jumps to fifteen years later. Jack is a partner in a New York law firm when the crisis from his past pops up again and initiates intense self-reflection for Jack that includes his analysis of the investment banking community and the unfairness of the perpetuation of the power base of the very rich in America. All this would be fair game if it fit neatly into the plot, but the problem here is that as interesting as the plot is, the resolution, such as it is, proves very unfulfilling to the reader. The key question raised in the first half of the story – one that Jack specifically asks for but is denied – is ignored in the second half, even when the character who has that knowledge and has every reason to finally tell Jack the big secret shows up. The reader is left in the dark, although the innuendo that there was a massive conspiracy remains a possibility. Despite these deficiencies, Mr. Waldner’s writing is top shelf, the characters are interesting, and the story keeps the reader interested to the end. In his next novel, hopefully, the author will have a more complete story to tell, and I’ll be waiting to read it.
September 8, 2015
I received this book as a first reads giveaway via Goodreads.
This book had so much potential but overall I was disappointed. It took me sometime to get into the story only to have it morph from a crime thriller to a philosophical treatise to a sports almanac. These deviations bored me, especially the lengthy baseball game tangents. I didn't like or dislike the main character but I didn't find him overly interesting either. Events around him that should have created tension just fizzled out often unresolved/barely acknowledged. SPOILERS.
The thing that annoyed me the most: How did a main character who was supposed to be so darn intelligent believe the worst when it came to Parker, a man he'd considered a total professional during his first encounter, but not realise 'the FBI' 2.0. weren't exactly all they seemed. I wanted to pull jack out of the book and yell 'you are supposed to be smart, why aren't you more suspicious??!!!!' I'm so frustrated by this novel as it had a great blurb and elements that could have made for a good thriller but instead I have spent several hours reading this only to find myself really unsatisfied.
This book had so much potential but overall I was disappointed. It took me sometime to get into the story only to have it morph from a crime thriller to a philosophical treatise to a sports almanac. These deviations bored me, especially the lengthy baseball game tangents. I didn't like or dislike the main character but I didn't find him overly interesting either. Events around him that should have created tension just fizzled out often unresolved/barely acknowledged. SPOILERS.
The thing that annoyed me the most: How did a main character who was supposed to be so darn intelligent believe the worst when it came to Parker, a man he'd considered a total professional during his first encounter, but not realise 'the FBI' 2.0. weren't exactly all they seemed. I wanted to pull jack out of the book and yell 'you are supposed to be smart, why aren't you more suspicious??!!!!' I'm so frustrated by this novel as it had a great blurb and elements that could have made for a good thriller but instead I have spent several hours reading this only to find myself really unsatisfied.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 3, 2015
First of all, I rarely read Fiction. I was fortunate enough to receive this pre-release.
I found this book very anti-climatic. There are build ups which make you read on and on, waiting and wanting to hear so badly about what happens to the characters and then... Nothing. I found myself frustrated by the end not even wanting to finish this book because it seemed that every character Jack runs into, (and story), would gradually just end. The frustrating part was that the characters along with what was building up to be a dramatic and shocking ending, would just end because it was out of the characters control.
I found this book very anti-climatic. There are build ups which make you read on and on, waiting and wanting to hear so badly about what happens to the characters and then... Nothing. I found myself frustrated by the end not even wanting to finish this book because it seemed that every character Jack runs into, (and story), would gradually just end. The frustrating part was that the characters along with what was building up to be a dramatic and shocking ending, would just end because it was out of the characters control.
May 6, 2014
Jack Caufield is quite a guy. He’s a bit like James Thurber’s fictional character, Walter Mitty, except Jack’s not dreaming up his capers. He’s not dreaming when the FBI hunts him down, and he certainly isn't dreaming when he wakes up next to a dead chick, naked at that. A huge baseball enthusiast, Jack’s also a boundless thinker – after the fact, who keeps the reader on edge wondering - where's he off to next?
Self-published new author, Bob Waldner, does a fine job of spinning the tale about Jack and his misadventures. Peripheral Involvement gets an overall A+.
Self-published new author, Bob Waldner, does a fine job of spinning the tale about Jack and his misadventures. Peripheral Involvement gets an overall A+.
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July 27, 2015Involvement
While I am sure a lot of people enjoyed this book, I did not. The story line I understand just too many words to get the point across. Just not my kind of book but others love it...
While I am sure a lot of people enjoyed this book, I did not. The story line I understand just too many words to get the point across. Just not my kind of book but others love it...
July 27, 2015
Ugh, I don't know why I read these kind of books. No matter what it doesn't make sense to me. I applaud all of you who enjoy these kind of stories. Not for me...
August 22, 2021
Awesome Indies Book Awards is pleased to include PERIPHERAL INVOLVEMENT by BOB WALDNER in the library of Awesome Indies'
Badge of Approval
recipients.
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