Affluenza

by David LaBounty

Charles Dash has everything a young insurance executive rising through the ranks of Midwestern Accident and Life can hope for-a beautiful wife, a white Mustang, a townhouse, a tape deck, satin sheets, and contemporary leather furniture. As Dash climbs the corporate ladder, his superiors soon recognize his brutal skill set: denying customer claims with a ruthlessness they had seldom seen. Midwestern rewards Dash with promotions. Banks reward him with credit cards. Soon Dash finds his spending spiraling out of control. He lives paycheck to paycheck to support his suburban lifestyle of golf on weekends, owning the first SUV in his neighborhood of luxurious McMansions, and a growing penchant for prostitutes. He applies for-and banks are more than willing to give him-more credit cards. Ensnared in the vicious cycle of spending, he finally has to remortgage his house, but soon, even that isn't enough. Broke and desperate, Dash decides to wage a violent one-man war against the credit card companies. His spree of destruction leads him to a financial solvency that comes with a very heavy price-but it is a price he is more than willing to pay. He will do anything to keep his lifestyle intact. Affluenza, the third novel by Michigan author David LaBounty, is a scathing critique of credit card culture, a tale of consumerism, vanity, debt, and sexual addiction torn from today's headlines. Relevant to these troubled times, Affluenza is a dire warning to those who choose to spend their way to the American Dream.

Genres: Fiction

148 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2009

About the author

Poet and novelist, David LaBounty lives in suburban Detroit. He is the author of Affluenza, The Trinity and The Perfect Revolution (all from Silverthought Press) and has had over a hundred poems published in various journals.

Reviews

[Yvette Ward-Horner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe you like yourself.
Maybe you don't.
Maybe you're asking yourself that very question right now as my words jar your curiosity.
But don't answer. Not now. Wait.

So opens David LaBounty's dark novel, Affluenza, and right away you get a sense of what you're in for. The person speaking to you is Charles Dash and, while he may be a certifiable sociopath, he is also frighteningly reminiscent of the average consumer zombie. He buys, buy, buys, everything he wants, maxing out all his high-limit credit cards and using the equity in his supersized house as an ATM. He can't drive a car that's more than three years old. He has to outdo the neighbors. His kids stare blankly at an endlessly blaring TV as he finds prostitutes to stand in for his indifferent wife. She shops too, and he pays for it.

At some point, the inevitable happens and the credit runs out. The ARM mortgage adjusts. The minimum payments on the credit cards increase. Charles Dash can no longer manage to hold together the illusion of a prosperous life. And that's when the violence begins.

I didn't relate to much in this book on a personal level because I abandoned the "Affluenza" type of lifestyle a long time ago. What makes this book worth reading is the story – it's well done and compelling and draws you along from page to page. Charles Dash is a fully realized character and even pitiable at times. You can't help wanting to know what will happen to him. What makes the book valuable is the way it documents this era of disconnected spending, in a memorable way. If we manage to survive global climate change, as a species and as a culture, this is a book that I think (hope!) would be enlightening to future generations. It would tell them a lot about people of the 80s, 90s, and 00s. Yes, Charles Dash engages in acts of extreme violence and, for that reason, is not completely typical of the average American. But his violence is the violence of our day.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Crude, Edgy and Immature. But since the author seemed to be going for the "ramblings of a nearly insane man" type narrative, I suppose he can consider this a win. Personally, though, the story didn't grab me. It was written at a grade school level which made it both easy to read and difficult to read. While the pages flew by, some of the sentences didn't make sense and the story overall was choppy, but again, the way a troubled person thinks, so a win???

[Roxane · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://www.pankmagazine.com/pankblog/...

[Kenneth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good read, but also shocking. I never expected the twists and turns this book took. It was a little depressing about getting caught in the materialism of middle America and deep into debt only to find one in a desperate situation with a seemingly no way to get out. Well written.

Charles Dash has everything a young insurance executive rising through the ranks of Midwestern Accident and Life can hope for-a beautiful wife, a white Mustang, a townhouse, a tape deck, satin sheets, and contemporary leather furniture. As Dash climbs the corporate ladder, his superiors soon recognize his brutal skill set: denying customer claims with a ruthlessness they had seldom seen. Midwestern rewards Dash with promotions. Banks reward him with credit cards. Soon Dash finds his spending spiraling out of control. He lives paycheck to paycheck to support his suburban lifestyle of golf on weekends, owning the first SUV in his neighborhood of luxurious McMansions, and a growing penchant for prostitutes. He applies for-and banks are more than willing to give him-more credit cards. Ensnared in the vicious cycle of spending, he finally has to remortgage his house, but soon, even that isn't enough. Broke and desperate, Dash decides to wage a violent one-man war against the credit card companies. His spree of destruction leads him to a financial solvency that comes with a very heavy price-but it is a price he is more than willing to pay. He will do anything to keep his lifestyle intact. Affluenza, the third novel by Michigan author David LaBounty, is a scathing critique of credit card culture, a tale of consumerism, vanity, debt, and sexual addiction torn from today's headlines. Relevant to these troubled times, Affluenza is a dire warning to those who choose to spend their way to the American Dream.

[L.T. Fawkes · Rating 4 out of 5]

LaBounty breaks a lot of rules in this dark novel. For one thing, he ignores the rule about starting right into the action. I almost quit reading after several pages of philosophizing and explanation. For another, he does a lot of "telling" instead of "showing".

This book is a fine example of why ebooks are so cool. Had an editor at a major house laid hands on this book, and not rejected it outright, he/she probably would have made LaBounty do a lot of revising. I'm glad that didn't happen, because LaBounty ended up with an unusual, noir, and thought-provoking book here.

This is a very strange and disturbing indictment of the modern banking system. After reading it, you may continue to use your credit cards, but you'll feel a little less cavalier about it.

[Jeffrey Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

If there were two words that best describes David LaBounty's compelling expose of middle America affluence, they would be dark and disturbing. Just as David Lynch pulled back the veneer of small town America in Blue Velvet to reveal its evil, dark underpinnings, so does LaBounty in Affluenza. Greed and decadence abound as LaBounty takes us into the troubled, twisted soul of a man who will stop at nothing to have his version of the American Dream. The book reads like a confessional; the narrator baring his soul but it is too late for his salvation.This book is not for the faint of heart. It it is primordial in the blackest depths of one's troubled soul. Proceed with caution. This is the new American Tragedy.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story puts the reader in the mind of an addict. His drug of choice is something every one of us has used and continues to use. It is all too easy to identify ourselves with his drug of choice and the inevitable downward spiral is all too familiar as well; you, or someone close to you is already sliding down this slippery slope with no end in sight.

I really enjoyed the story up to the point when the author took a turn that broke too far from logic. (A drug user does not go out and kill other drug users to punish the pushers who got him hooked in the first place.) I really wish the author would have spend a little more time coming up with a more realistic ending to the story rather than settling for an easy unrealistic ending.

[Laura Horton · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the least likable protagonists I've ever seen! I am a person who in my younger days ran up credit card debt of $150,000 so I can identify with some of Dash's feelings tho I never went through repos, foreclosures, etc. I did get credit limits raised as I maxed out at $30,000 then $40,000 on the card. Dash's psychopath's way out was a bit unbelievable. Ultimately it was hard to care about Dash, his wife or his children, who were in written as no more than background scenery anyway.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This, first nd foremost, is a dark book. If you are someone who thinks of the financial institutions in the USA as actively being "the man" who is trying to hold down the average American. It is also a good look into how hollow a typical life can e without meaning invested in it.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It really made me think about owning things. Shopping, buying, hording.

[Jonell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not loving it so far......Stopped reading it. Just too poorly written to bear.

[Myrna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting, gripping story ... did not like the rough language.