The Darlings [NOOK Book]

Absolutely LOVED The Darlings!!

The Darlings is an incredible book - my favorite read in years!! I cannot recommend it enough. The characters were rich and complex. The narrative was wonderful; once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

The Darlings is a very timely story about the rich and powerful

The Darlings is a very timely story about the rich and powerful at the height of a financial crisis. The upper crust have their problems too as they are impacted with loss, scandal and politics. It’s a different slant on the type of suffering of the super wealthy versus the suffering of the “little guy”. This is a terrifying story of affluence gone wrong and the downward spiral that it causes to all attached parties. This isn’t for the faint of heart.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

cannot recommend

A waste of my time, did not care about these people, hard to keep track of who was who. Read to about half way point, then gave up, was very disappointed, and once again, can not alway depemd on reviews.

1 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

My Vote

Jaysoar

My vote

Shadenight she sacrficed her life for her leader . Its not about the loyalist . Its about the self sacrfices people make .

To vote

In the title box, put my vote; in the reveiw box put your vote for good cat.

My vote

The Enclave. :)

My vote

Glimmer or Sunleaf

L

LeopardHeart AngelGrey

Paul Ross is married to Merrill Darling, whose daddy just happen

Paul Ross is married to Merrill Darling, whose daddy just happens to be Carter Darling a billionaire financier. When Paul loses his job his wife persuades him to take a position in her dad's company as the head of the legal team at Carter's hedge fund. 




When an unexpected suicide of a dear friend of the Darlings puts a spot light on the hedge fund and a regulatory investigation begins. An old friend from the SEC meets with Paul with a chance to turn on the Darlings or go down with the ship. 




The Darlings is an energized novel filled with characters, New York high society, and reminiscent of the 2008 financial crisis. 




For me, this wasn't a book I could just sit down with and read right through. First there are so many characters to get straight and for awhile you don't see how one fits to the others. Once the story gets moving you really get a strong sense of who Paul is. I personally really liked him. And you felt for him. The more you read the more you will want to read! I really wasn't sure what was going to happen and like I said you really aren't sure who some of these people are and how they are going to play into the story line. But then they do...the big AHA moments start to happen. 




I really thought The Darlings gave a really unique look at the Wall Street types we are always hearing about in the news. I guess you kind of expect them to have these amazing lives, but for me their lives seemed to be lacking. But don't confuse that with the book! I very much recommend The Darlings by Cristina Alger and it didn't lack anything!

This book is like a puzzle, different characters are introduced

This book is like a puzzle, different characters are introduced and you don’t know how all the pieces come together, but they do come together and very compellingly. The time stamps before the chapters keep the excitement going.
You experience with the Darling family what should’ve been a festive Thanksgiving weekend and instead you live the nightmare of how quickly your whole world can turn upside down.
You meet many different characters and you have sympathy for them and how they got to this point.  It really gives you the inside view of the rich and famous of the financial world. 
It makes sense that Bravo and Fox Television are developing the novel into a TV series; it will be very intriguing and I’m eager to see it come to life.
The author was very knowledgeable in the financial world. All the characters were very real and when they were introduced you got a real feel of who they are and what makes them tick.
 I’m looking forward to  reading this continued series, it's great writing.  

Great read!  

Great read!  

This is a work of non-fiction, not fiction. It's basically iden

This is a work of non-fiction, not fiction. It's basically identical to the story of Bernie Madoff, down to his East 64th Street address in Manhattan and Lily Pond Lane in East Hampton. His son-in-law Paul is basically the story of his sons, Mark and Andrew. Read about half and I'm done. It's yet another book about a Ponzi scheme. I can even figure out the referrals to real life characters -- including the shady accountant in Westchester, the law firm which resembles Irving Picard's firm and those at the SEC. Nothing fiction about this book!

Started out well....

The Darlings held my attention through the first half, primarily because the descriptions and back stories on the characters were very good. But the second half went downhill quickly. I was just plowing through to get it over with. And the end of the story was incredibly anticlimatic and disappointing.

I read this novel expecting it to be a take on the Bernie Madoff

I read this novel expecting it to be a take on the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. To a certain extent it was, being about a family whose work and family lives were entangled in a financial scandal. Carter Darling employed both of his sons-in-laws, one of whom was just along for the ride and one, Paul, who just came aboard after losing his job as an attorney at the beginning of the recession.

Not many of the wealthy characters are very likable in this book, except for Paul and Merrill. Although Carter came from a working-class background, he was now one of the 1%ers. He spoiled his wife and daughters, and lived a lifestyle to which most people cannot relate.

While reading this book, I thought that there were too many tangential characters. They didn't seem to be moving the story along, I didn't know why they were there. By the end of the story, Alger had put all of the pieces of the puzzle together so cleverly I had to admire her skill. Every character leads to something important.

I also enjoyed her descriptions of characters, like this one:
"Theresa Frankel was a middle-aged woman who looked as though she resided permanently at the intersection of boredom and disinterest."
One sentence and you knew immediately who Teresa was.

The Darlings is a well-crafted story, and even if you don't like most of the characters, you'll want to see where this story is going. And Alger throws in a twist at the end that is a game-changer.

I am not sure how I felt about this book. It marginally kept my

I am not sure how I felt about this book. It marginally kept my interest, but I found the characters shallow, unlikable, and not clearly delineated or developed. At times I had to back-check through the chapters to remind myself of various character relationships. At times, it seemed overly wordy and certain plot lines seemed unnecessary and did nothing to advance the plot line. . Towards the end of the book, I found it easier to quickly scan whole paragraphs, rather than plow through irrelevant details and descriptions. I had no curiosity about how the book concluded ,but for some reason persevered to the end. I do think the author has talent , but can not whole-heartedly recommend this book.

The Darlings is a very interesting read, and a look into the hig

The Darlings is a very interesting read, and a look into the high society of New York. We learn about hedge funds and derivatives and the latest fashions. The author's work experience gives her the background into the legal and investment issues, I don't know about her position in society! One might think Madoff in reading this novel, but it would be a short-sighted thought, as the story is really on its won without Madoff.

Check it out

The Darlings by Christina Alger is about a family, a husband and wife and their two daughters and their husbands. The father and his two sons-in-law work for the Delphic Hedge Fund, a fund of funds which the father owns. The novel is set in the post September, 2008 world of New York financial institutions with flashbacks to the era pre-Lehman collapse. Even after the 2008 collapse of the markets, the Darlings live a very affluent, even opulent, life style. By page sixty-two, a Bernie Madoff type character with whom Delphic has invested jumps off the Tappan Zee Bridge, and the Darlings’ world falls into chaos.
The rest of the novel concerns the effects the financial collapse of Delphic has on each of the family members.

Good Read

Read a review of The Darlings and it sounded good. I really enjoyed it and found it hard to put down. Reminiscent of the Bernie Madoff story. Great ending!

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Recommended

Fast read; interesting take on the bank crisis of a few years back and the mindset of the people who were committing the crimes.