A Young Man's Guide to Late Capitalism

December 6, 2010
Mountford's choppy debut features crudely drawn characters maneuvering against a backdrop of compelling fictionalized reportage. At the end of 2005, Gabriel de Boya, once an idealistic journalist, is living in Bolivia and working as a extravagantly compensated scout for a hedge fund, the Calloway Group, which is concerned about president-elect Evo Morales's plans for the country's oil and gas industries. Gabriel's attempts to exploit information about Morales's plans become complicated by a burgeoning romance with Morales's press secretary and by his divergence from his own earlier principles and his family's left-wing legacy. The Bolivian setting is colorful and engaging, as are the financial maneuverings, but the moral conflicts practically flash in neon, while minor characters are hobbled by convoluted or implausible backstories (Gabriel's mother, for example, before becoming a respected academic, fled Chile for the Soviet Union, and then defected to the United States; elsewhere, a Buddhist monk turned billionaire mining mogul resembles an "over-the-top supervillain in a James Bond movie"). Most problematic, though, is Gabriel, whose fate of embodying so many conflicts and contradictions leaves him feeling more like a construct than a person.

April 1, 2011

In Mountford's debut, set in mid-last-decade Bolivia, a young man posing as a freelance journalist tries to unearth insider information for a hedge fund while negotiating political and financial intricacies (nimbly) and moral shoals (less so).

Ivy-educated 20-something Gabriel de Boya has opted out of penny-ante financial journalism for a high-stakes, high-stress, preposterously well-paid gig as a rapacious hedge fund's man in Bolivia. He knows he's being tested. If he doesn't demonstrate his value quickly and dramatically, he'll be fired. So when a left-wing indigenous candidate, Evo Morales, is elected president, Gabriel sees and seizes an opportunity; despite growing admiration for Bolivia and real affection for his new girlfriend, Morales' press liaison, Lenka, he'll exploit the romance to learn how seriously to take the president-elect's rhetoric about forcibly nationalizing industry, specifically gas companies. Depending on how his bold and tricky plan works, this stratagem may make Gabriel millions or land him in jail. Both of the book's settings—desperately poor but proud La Paz, the world's highest-altitude capital, and the world of go-go high finance, a realm about which Mountford clearly knows his stuff—are well rendered. The author is especially good at conveying the visceral and intellectual thrills of stock speculation/manipulation. But the human backdrop gets short shrift; minor characters (which would be everyone except Gabriel) often seem contrived, stereotypical and two-dimensional. That lapse has repercussions for the rest of the novel, making it seem more like an apologia for Gabriel's greed and narcissism than a gimlet-eyed exploration of a young man's questionable choices. Gabriel brilliantly games the financial system, but he's less successful at gaming the moral calculus. 

A smart, intricate, fast-paced—but flawed—debut by a skilled writer.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

March 1, 2011

This first novel follows the struggles of a man trying to hold on to the remnants of his youthful idealism as he is increasingly tempted by the pursuit of a quick fortune. Gabriel Francisco de Boya has been sent to Bolivia in 2005 by his new employer, the Calloway Group. To keep his well-paying job, he must quickly secure sensitive--and possibly lucrative--information for the rapacious hedge fund managers. His success depends on his ability to determine the intentions of incoming president Evo Morales regarding the country's natural gas deposits. Will Morales make good on his campaign promise to nationalize the gas reserves? At this point Gabriel meets Lenka, Morales's beautiful young press secretary, who conveniently falls in love with him. VERDICT While certain plot elements are somewhat improbable, the novel holds the reader's interest to the end. Mountford provides an illuminating look at Gabriel's moral struggles and the complex ways capitalism can impact a developing nation, but his affectionate portrayal of Bolivia is probably the book's strongest point. [Author tour.]--Douglas Southard, CRA International, Boston

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2011
Working undercover in Bolivia for an aggressive hedge fundthe Calloway GroupGabriel, a young man looking to make it rich, must continually work to keep those who are closest to him from knowing the true nature of his work. Under the guise of a freelance journalist, Gabriel tries to dig up information on the controversial Evo Morales, who is running to become the next Bolivian president and daily gaining in popularity. Gabriels work flies in the face of both his mother, a survivor of Pinochets Chile, and his new love interest, Fiona, who works for the media and deftly wields her sexuality in both her public and private life in a way that simultaneously repulses and entices Gabriel. While Gabriel originally joined the Calloway Group to make enough money to retire by age 40, he begins to question his bloated salary in the face of the poverty around him. This is a solid read that is both adventurous and thought-provoking on the themes of racial identity, South American politics, and wealth.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)