Washington Post Reads discussion

What did you think of the ending? Were you surprised? Upset? Did you like the rapid-fire character endings?

Feel free to discuss anything else from the book here as well.

I listened to this book rather than reading it and thoroughly enjoyed it. The reader did a great job of distinguishing the different characters so that it was very easy to follow the different voices and different time periods.
I will say that I didn't enjoy some characters stories as much as others ( The Early Pat storyline, for example) , and thought some descriptions went on longer than needed but in the end I did appreciate it all as a whole and have thought alot about it since I finished it a few days ago. I'm not sure I would have appreciated some of the longer-winded areas ( The Donner Pitch, for example) if I was reading it vs listening to it.
My favorite part, Richard Burton...listening to his personality being read...very well done, sad, funny...too many emotions to describe here.
The ending of the book worked for me and once I thought about it wasn't surprised that it wound up as it did (probably would have needed another 100 pages to finish it off differently!) and glad the author included some of the non-main characters in his ending, such as the cave painter, to bring it all together.

Overall, the ending worked for me. The very last segment with Dee and Pasquale is great, the trail is a nice way to end the whole thing. The wrap-up prior to that seemed a bit dense however – the style of running all the characters and moments together felt just a bit too compressed – there wasn't room to breathe and I think there should have been. I would have liked a different cadence at the end, a few reflective pauses.

There were moments in this book where I was fully vested. Yet, certain scenes pulled me back. Not that the writing wasn't uniformly good, but just choices that didn't really work for me. Case in point, the play. Is it just me or did that seem like every bad, self-indulgent play that's ever been staged? The audience members (especially Claire) are so spellbound, so caught up in Pat's brilliance, feeling this connection to his father's greatness. Yet, I didn't get it – Pat was basically summing up these typical, easy failures of his and without a whole lot of dialogue – his responses to Lydia's monologue are brief, mostly “Lydia, please”, until the moment of truth when he tosses off a one-liner for laughs - “So... I guess a threesome's out of the question.” And this is followed by a whole passage about how powerful it was, about what a force Pat is onstage, this coming both from Claire and Michael, the veteran producer who's seen it all. And I'm left wondering, how did the author intend this? Was it really suppose to to invoke this moment of truth where we finally see Pat's lost potential, now realized? I guess at this point in a book, I don't want to be stopping and asking for answers. By now, I want everything to be coming together, for it all to make sense.

For the most part, Jess Walter pulls these moments off throughout the story – these kind of high wire act moments when all these disparate elements come together and work. Still, there were a few too many parts that felt like roadblocks. Ultimately, a good book that didn't fully succeed from my own entirely subjective view.

I agree with David's comments above - I really liked the part with Dee and Pasquale at the end but found the rapid fire wrap-up of all the other minor stories made the overall effect of the Dee/Pasquale reunion seem less realistic somehow. A few of the wrap-ups were quite moving, however - showing the thoughts of the prostitute in the hotel as Alvis is walking away, for example.

It seems appropriate that Pat has discovered a talent for acting, but also that he's lucky to have pulled himself together, considering his past.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, my first by Jess Walter. I will definitely check out more of his books. The Financial Lives of the Poets sounds funny and fascinating. I love the way he blends high-toned literary with screwball humor. What a concept, what a writer!

I love how everything in this book comes back to the stories we tell ourselves and others -- some of which are true and some of which are not. Walter seems to suggest we can rewrite our own tales. Michael Deane certainly attempts this in trying to make good to Dee Moray after so many years. No surprise he fails, notorious opportunist that he is! Pasquale attempts to resuscitate the story he wished his life had been, with Dee in post-war Italy; and we can assume he somewhat succeeds. Though of course we have no idea how far his fantasy tale progressed; we know only that he and Dee were reunited as friends and went on a hike. Pat gets to rewrite his story in real-life, transformative terms in getting clean and sober; and so does Claire, in getting her dream-man to address his porn addiction.

Ironic and sad it is that the fairy tale Pasquale told Dee about the German soldier-painter was so off-its-mark! Another bit of irony is in the truth behind the fantasy Alvis Bender told himself in his one and only chapter -- that the beautiful Italian peasant girl had learned the art of hand jobs as a way of preventing rape! Hope this doesn't offend anyone, but I found the revelation that she (most likely) was always a prostitute hilarious! I actually went back and re-read Alvis's one and only chapter to find the tell-tale clue. After the sexual encounter, he gives Maria all of his cigarettes and money! How ingenious Walter is in making the point that the tales we tell ourselves often glaze over crucial telling points! MARVELOUS!

Rare is it to come across a book that gives so much -- Historical reference, humor, relatable characters with real-life flaws. So often we hear of the post-WWII years in terms of rescued concentration camp victims and bombed out cities -- not to subtract anything from that, but it never occurred to me to think of Italy as war-scarred, its people equally terrified of both Germans AND the rescuer Americans, until reading this novel. Kudos to Jess Walter for a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Rachel wrote: "I agree with David's comments above - I really liked the part with Dee and Pasquale at the end but found the rapid fire wrap-up of all the other minor stories made the overall effect of the Dee/Pas..."

I very much enjoyed the wrap-up at the end. It encompassed so much without becoming murky. As a writer, I like the stream-of-consciousness, unedited quality of it, and the way it solidified the underlying theme of the stories we tell ourselves. The fact that the German soldier-painter's tragic story was so off-mark from the one posited by romantic, idealistic Pasquale lends a real-life, not-all-endings-are-happy feel to the ending of the book as a whole. The fact that we're left hanging on the story of Dee and Pasquale reminds us that Walter's crazy romp through war-torn Italy and celebrity-obsessed Hollywood is true-to-life, indeed!

David wrote: "Overall, the ending worked for me. The very last segment with Dee and Pasquale is great, the trail is a nice way to end the whole thing. The wrap-up prior to that seemed a bit dense however – the s..."

I tend to agree with you on the play. It was self-indulgent and, in the real world, it is not a play I'd have enjoyed. I think it blends well with the overall underlying theme of the stories we tell ourselves, though. Pat's story, as written by Lydia, is one of the most poignant and realistic, unlike Michael Deane's failed attempt to re-write his own tragedy by making right on the damage he'd done years before to Dee. And I like Pat's turnaround. He is painted very realistically throughout: tragically addicted and self-indulgent at first, rehabilitated but still struggling with temptation at last.

I think you'll love "Financial Lives of Poets" -- very witty novel.

Margo - Those are such wonderfully articulated takes on the book. I also think I'll check out "Financial Lives...".

David wrote: "Margo - Those are such wonderfully articulated takes on the book. I also think I'll check out "Financial Lives..."."

I can't wait to read more from this very-gifted writer, David. P.S., I have a book out if you'd care to check it out. Titled THESE DAYS, it's a nostalgic look at old vs. new burlesque and a young girl's experiences coming of age at the tail-end of a glittery time. Look for it under my author profile. Thanks.

I will definitely check it out Margo, thanks. I have one on my author profile as well, COMA DOG, an unlikely Hollywood redemption story. Contact me if you'd like a PDF. That goes for anyone else as well - always happy to share with fellow readers/writers.

I enjoyed reading the book as a summer indulgence, (it’s not normally my favorite genre) but I have to say I enjoy Margo's comments on the book as much (maybe more) as my reading of the story. I hadn't given much thought to the summation Margo asserts, "I love how everything in this book comes back to the stories we tell ourselves and others -- some of which are true and some of which are not”. But she’s absolutely right. For me, the book was such a train wreck of dysfunctional lives that it began to become monotonous in places. Now when I think back on the reading through the lens of Margo’s briefly summated comment I see the characters a little differently… I may actually be up for another Jess Walter read.

I second what Debbie said, Margo's comments have been a pleasure to read.