Privileges by Jonathan Dee

Do you ever read books that are well written but end with a whimper? Privileges was like that IMO. It is similar to Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, but not as good, in part because the four characters (Cynthia and Adam and their children Jonas and April) all are abandoned as the book ends, as though the author got sick of writing about them or else didn't know where to go with their lives after a certain point.

The story opens with the wedding of Cynthia and Adam. It is in Pittsburgh because Cynthia's mother lives there with her second husband, a nice guy who spends "$38,000" for the wedding of his stepdaughter whom he barely knows and who barely acknowledges him. It ends when Adam and Cynthia's children are in their late teens, so it covers about 20 years. I liked the characterization and the vignettes of their lives. They live in Manhattan, moving to more spacious and impressive buildings as they get wealthier. There was the fascination of reading about Adam's rise in the financial world; he was a genius at making money and a sweet guy. There are cliches in this novel but also nuance, especially in the relationship of Adam and Cynthia, or maybe not exactly nuance, but what happens to modern couples and often becomes tedious in so many contemporary novels doesn't happen in this one. I wonder what the author really wanted to say with this story and why he didn't stay the course. Or maybe that was somehow his point...

This family becomes very very rich, and we see again what money can do for the common good, but not in any compelling way, nor in way motivated by true compassion and empathy. It was rather that this is what highly financially privileged folk often do with their excess millions. Foundations, charities, money-raising social events, boards and board meetings, while not really wishing or trying to understand poverty and the worlds of deprivation. So ultimately, for me, this was a strange book, a bit disappointing, although interesting and entertaining.

Most mysterious was the character of Cynthia who seems to be such a bitch most of the time but not with her husband and their kids. At first I thought she would disavow the money that Adam keeps accumulating, but she doesn't. She and Adam indulge April and Jonas but are loving parents. The kids go in different directions as they get older, and I was wondering what would happen to them in the world. We get a glimpse, but only a glimpse, and then the story ends.

I always scan the back cover reviews and this book had Richard Ford, Elizabeth Strout, Tom Perrotta, Jay McInerney and Jonathan Franzen saying things like: "..incredibly readable...pleasure to read....elegant stylist....important and compelling work....cunning, seductive novel...."