=”">
AN ADDICTIVE TALE OF BURIED DEPRAVITY—AND A BURNING NATIONAL OBSESSION—FROM “THE RARE WRITER WHO CAN ILLUMINATE THE SECRETS OF MONEY AND LOVE WITH EQUAL AUTHORITY” TOM PERROTTA
“Amidon nails it…if there’s anyone writing about them now with the clarity, insight and honesty that he brings to the task, I’m unaware of it. “Human Capital” is terrific.” Jonathan Yardley Washington Post
“The rich really are very different than you and me, and that only makes them more difficult to write about, at least without being snide, patronizing, or reverse-snobby. Amidon avoids all these pitfalls in this truly excellent novel. He’s proven himself to be something above a writer who bears watching, he’s a writer who bears following. By all means, follow him.” Michael Schaub Bookslut
“Amidon generates heart-thumping suspense from the crises of ordinary people trying to earn a living and take care of their children. Indeed, it’s the awful plausibility of the plot that make this story so tense and involving…Even the coolest reader won’t be able to resist racing through this novel, wondering, “What if I were him? What if I were her? What would I do?” Ron Charles Christian Science Monitor
“What appears at first to be a quiet portrait of suburbia turns out to be a brilliant examination of the undertow of sadness and desperation that tugs at the American dream.” Simon Baker New Statesman
“Amidon has achieved the rare alchemy of creating a novel charged with suspense from the lives of ordinary suburban families; it’s also an unflinching social commentary that has the potential to endure as a clear and literate portrait of its time.” Stephanie Merritt The Observer
“impressive…Amidon’s absorbing novel is distinguished above all by its taut, compelling plot, one hinged by intriguing moral ambiguities.” Adam Lively Sunday Times
“Set on the cusp of the 21st century, ”Human Capital” unfolds like a 19th-century novel, a well-made and densely populated tale that plunges suspensefully toward a fated outcome. Also like its Victorian forebears, it dares to figure openly the great American unmentionable — social class.” Amanda Heller Boston Globe
Francesco Cundari- Left Wing Italy
TOP FIVE BOOKS OF THE YEAR – Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post
July 11, 2009 at 1:03 pm
I just wanted to let Mr. Amidon know that I put Human Capital down halfway through page 146 following the line about registering Republican to make one a ‘total jerk’. I found that comment so utterly offensive that I could not continue reading the book. He is the ‘total jerk’!