a questionable life

September 29, 2009
In his debut novel, Lively combines his background as a bank executive and motivational speaker to deliver what reads like a self-help book disguised as fiction. Tenacious Philadelphia banker Jack Oliver has always put career before everything else-family, colleagues and friends-until his employer, Philadelphia Trust & Guaranty, is purchased by a mega-chain, knocking Jack to the bottom of ladder. The stress lands him in the hospital, where he realizes his wife and two children have all but abandoned him, and his mistress only loves his power. A mutual friend introduces Jack to Benjamin Price, the old-fashioned president of a small Virginia bank, who not only offers Jack a fresh career start but helps him re-evaluate his life by forcing him to question what he holds dear. Each of 44 chapters open with a question ("Where Have You Been?") and a trite quote ("We lose what we fail to use"), and Oliver's woe-is-me narration quickly wears thin. Lively relies on predictable conventions, but does spin a good story; especially vibrant are tense scenes of corporate greed and deceit.