Note: clearing old books from before 2019

Did not have time to read this book - still on my TBR. Thank you for the opportunity and my apologies for not getting to it.

I cant wait for this movie. absolutely an iconic story and important for everyone to read! And what a cover...absolutely breathtaking

After so many successful me have fallen from grace one wonders about the women and families left behind. This book covered an all to common story and was somewhat predictable. While sympathy is absent for the spouse of a fallen man,, "She should have known" echoes and then this book gives insight into a relationship where the woman might just be innocent as I believe they often are. I found the novel to be a bit too cookie cutter and could have been more engaged.

Traveling With T’s Thoughts:

What always amazes me about Randy’s writing is that she creates a character that I absolutely loathe- someone you wish a million papercuts on and yet, I still want to keep reading because I HAVE to know how the book ends. I loved Accidents of Marriage for this reason!



Unless you’ve been living under a rock- you’ll recognize that this book is based on the Bernie Madoff scandal. But this book is so much more. Yes, it tells some in the how a Ponzi scheme can happen, how people are greedy for money and power, but this book also focuses on the people the Ponzi scheme hurts- the family of the schemer. Because they are the ones having to deal with the press. Hear the hurtful comments on the streets. Being snubbed. Prison is no cake walk, but being in the public- knowing that everyone you see on the street is basically plotting your death- is a lot harder on the spirit.



What I liked:

The cover. GORGEOUS.

Jake. Listen, I loathed Jake- I really did, but I also liked him as a character because even when he was doing shitty things- he also did care for his family. He just loved himself a whole lotttttttttttttttttt more.

Phoebe’s mom. Yep, she could be a bit of pain at times. But she was trying to get Phoebe on the right track. To keep her head outta the sand. To love her husband, but to also know that there is nothing wrong with taking care of yourself for a rainy day or when you discover that your husband has a Ponzi scheme going on for YEARS…..



Bottom line: I think it’s easy to say, to always wonder “Did the wife know?” I mean, I’m not a finance genius by any means, but when you’re constantly getting returns that are just blowing everyone else outta the water…. well….. But I think that Randy Susan Meyer’s wove a great tale of not a woman who knew, or even suspected…. But a woman who loved her husband so much, thought of him as such a hero that she could not even begin to fathom that he would cheat her. Recommended!



*This book was sent to Traveling With T for review consideration. All thoughts and opinions are mine alone.*

**The Widow of Wall Street was an April #FuturisticFriday selection from Traveling With T.**

An interesting story reminiscent of the Bernie Madoff scandal. I enjoyed seeing things from the wife's point of view and how the aftermath of Jake's schemes affected the family.

The summary above gives away nothing - Meyers opens the book with Phoebe visiting Jake in prison. The question then is not what will happen but how have these two people come to this point in their lives.

Meyers has clearly built her novel around the story of Bernie Madoff, the man convicted of the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. Like Madoff, Jake builds up his own company from nothing, seemingly better at working the stock market better than anyone else. But Jake's secret lies in the private piece of his company that pulls in the big money. Money that is essential to keep everything afloat because, as it turns out, Jake is spending that money instead of investing it for his clients. To keep the money coming in, Jake uses Phoebe to help win over new people. One can't help but wonder if Madoff did the same thing with his wife, Ruth.

When Madoff's scheme came to light, it was not clear exactly how much Ruth knew about what was really going on. It seemed impossible to me at the time that she could have been clueless. But the older I get, the more I believe that, in a marriage, spouses tend to turn over certain aspects of their lives to the spouse who is best suited to that piece. In The Widow of Wall Street, Meyer wants readers to believe that Phoebe was clueless about how the financial markets work (and, let's be honest, most of us really don't understand them) and that she believed that their rich lifestyle was the just reward of Jake's success.

The question is, how could a woman as smart as Phoebe, stay with a man like Jake, whose behavior becomes increasingly erratic as the stakes increase? How could she stand by him when it all comes crashing down. Meyers has that covered in a way that is very believable, from the initial reason they come together and the reasons she stays with him.

So of the writing seemed a little stilted to me. But there were also passages that really spoke to me, including this one that reminded me of going through my mother-in-law's things when she passed.
"Death taught you that souls lived in the ephemera once surrounding the ones you loved. Families fighting over ancient decks of cards and leaking teapots struggled to be keepers of the past. Now she understood. Possessions mattered because they held your history."
This book works for me in no small part because it explores, in a fictional way, the Madoff story. Meyers gives readers a look into what life might have been like for Madoff, his wife and their families and friends after it all came crashing down. What was life like when everything you own is suddenly under government control, including the things your mother handed down to you? What's it like for the children of a man that did these terrible things who also have to live with people wondering how much they knew? What's it like to have to face family who've been hurt by your husband? What's it like to be under siege by the media, to be considered a pariah wherever you go, to be torn by your loyalties? And what's it like to go from having the best of everything to having almost nothing? It's in the aftermath of Jake's downfall that this book really shone for me.

As with all of Meyer's books, this one would make a good book club selection with themes of loyalty, marriage, family ties, parental relationships, grief, corruption, ethics, fidelity, and multiculturalism.

4.5 stars (rounded up to 5 stars)

Outstanding! What a HEFTY piece of women’s fiction this is.

The tale is spun over 5 decades. We learn in chapter one that Jake Pierce, a high echelon broker, ends up in prison for fraud in his mid 60s, 45 years or so after marrying 18-year-old Phoebe. This is their story.

I must say the first half of the book was slow in places. This was not helped by the fact that I had really mixed feelings about Jake, with more bad than good vibes. During that time frame I had not made up my mind about Phoebe. I don’t care how nice someone is; when they spend $20,000 on something I would spend $20 on, there is a disconnect.
But then, approximately midway through the book, the story suddenly reeled me in like a prize-winning fisherman—hook, line and sinker.

The themes of this story are numerous and are handled extremely well. What is real love? What is family? How well do you know your family? How does one carry on when struck by major blow after major blow? We see deception galore, we see people put in positions where decisions are almost impossible to make and there is seemingly no way out, we see how people rise or fall when faced with tragic circumstances. And that’s only some of it. Again, the novel is meaty and a real thinker. I will remember this one for a long time.

Let me not fail to mention that a total noninterest in financial matters should not deter anyone from reading this book. Ms. Meyers does a phenomenal job in making that part of the book not only understandable, but engrossing. I’m sure this took intense research on her part and explains to me what she was doing between the time Accidents of Marriage (which I loved) was published in 2014 and this one came out. The wait was worth it. Kudos, Ms. Meyers, not only for learning your stuff, but for keeping it from being boring.

I never like to go into any detail about the plot in my reviews as I am a “go in as cold as possible on all books” type of reader. I do however want to emphasize the brilliant job the author did on the characterization of Phoebe. Her struggles to deal with her situation and to try to salvage her life throughout the second half of the book were written beautifully, profoundly, and poignantly. This is what pushed my 4.5 rating to 5 stars.

Randy Susan Meyers has written a couple of older books that I have yet to read. They are now holding two spots on my very selective TBR. I strongly recommend The Widow of Wall Street for anyone looking for a strongly written and powerful story.

Thank you Net Galley, Atria Books, and Ms. Randy Susan Meyers for an e-copy of this novel. The opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.

A fascinating, fast paced story compared to the Bernie Madoff scandal. From the wife's point of view, shows how she is facing important decisions once exposed to her husband's lies. I enjoyed the description of characters and the depth shown by their background story. This book exemplifies how greed, deceit, and selfishness can ruin a family.

"Trust but verify." ~ 42%

Why, oh why, did it take me so long to write this review? Well I wanted to be sure it was worthy of a full 5-heart rating. I wanted to be sure the story and characters stuck with me. Ensure the author's writing really was excellent. And finally, I have a solid rating. Kudos to Randy Susan Meyers for delivering another page-turning must-read!

Love is blind and Phoebe is wearing rose-tinted sunglasses too. Her foolish loyalty, like so many women in the real world, may be her downfall. Phoebe stood alongside Jake since they met as teenagers and well into adulthood as he built a financial dynasty on Wall Street. Yet she had no clue about his elaborate Ponzi scheme and deception. As Jake's billion-dollar crime is uncovered, all eyes are on Phoebe. Did she know? Did she help all along? Is her life a fraud? Even their children have distanced themselves from Jake, so why is Phoebe still by his side from the penthouse to prison?

"Hate the sin and still love the sinner." ~ 75%

Beware of the consequences of your actions. One decision not only affects you but the lives of loved ones too. In The Widow of Wall Street, Phoebe shows readers the struggle to survive and remain loyal. The conscious effort to not abandon someone who clearly did wrong is a central theme. How ride-or-die does a chick have to be? All of these emotions are well written in this new novel.

"Are we re-experiencing 1929?" ~ 53%

The Widow of Wall Street is recommended for bookhearts that watched the CBS web show, The Good Fight, and are familiar with Bernie Madoff. No movie can capture what really happened in the real life Ponzi scheme but this novel sure came close. Ain't fiction grand?

The Widow of Wall Street is now available. Read it to see why it is easily one of the best books of 2017!

LiteraryMarie

I wasn't sure how Wall Street/Ponzi scheme aspect of the book was going to work for me. However, I have read a couple of other books from Randy Susan Meyers and really liked them.

So I figured I would go for it and I'm really happy I did.

November 2009

"Phoebe never hated her husband more than when she visited him in prison"

Told from Phoebe's point of view. The trip to prison is eleven hours by cab, bus, and train. Visits are hard. So many things are off-limits and can't be talked about. Things like the kids, lack of money, his fall from grace. This makes conversation difficult. But Phoebe makes the trip. She even dresses to please him. He feels she should represent him well - EVEN THOUGH HE'S IN PRISON. (I do believe I yelled that part out loud).

Jake had the audacity to ask (well whine really)....

"Why won't you stay longer? Other wives come Saturday and Sunday, not for a measly few hours"

She spent her life pleasing Jake, and look at how he returned the favor? He betrayed everyone...including her. In some ways he's safer in prison. It's Phoebe who has to walk down the street with people glaring at her or worse. She is the one the reporters hound and follow....NOT Jake. Phoebe is the one getting threatening emails and phone calls....NOT Jake. But she doesn't know how to break the habit. How to abandon him. He only has her to lean on, she's his security but he's her prison...

"Jake was as much brother, father, and sometimes even child, as he was her husband".

The book is broken into six parts that take place over the span of about fifty years. We hear mostly from Phoebe but there are parts from Jake's perspective as well.

The early years begin in 1960. Fifteen-year-old Phoebe is young and restless. When she starts dating eighteen-year-old Jake, her mother thinks she's getting too serious too quickly. But there's no slowing down Jake and Phoebe. Jake has big plans. Plans to conquer the world. Phoebe believes him capable of anything.

Red flags, a few years later. Their relationship still going strong but Jake wants Phoebe all to himself. She's in University but Jake wants her to skip classes, go to parties with him...prove her loyalty. The two sides of Jake. The charmer, protecting her but needing her at the same time. But the other side, a man who didn't take it well when he didn't get his way. Half the time she wants to break up with him. His ambition starts to bother her. He needs constant admiration and attention. It's exhausting. She likes College and learning and wants more.

It's a pivotal time in Phoebe's life. New experiences, new people...and plates of delicious Blintzes. Then something happens that changes the course of all their lives. Now Phoebe needs rescuing and Jake is there. She tells herself she'll never doubt him again.

Jake grows his dynasty. Children come and Phoebe remains her husband's biggest supporter. Phoebe is close with her kids. Katie is very open with Phoebe but keeps things from Jake. Noah turns himself inside out trying to impress his father. The best athlete, the best student, but suffers from anxiety for which Jake prescribes RUNNING because no one in HIS family will ever see a therapist.

As Jake's success grows, Phoebe seems to grow smaller. A good mother, but always Jake's wife. She is his biggest asset. She works the parties for him. Talking to everyone, getting them interested. All the while having no idea what things are going on behind her back.

She has suspicions but doesn't delve too deep...

One place that Phoebe is completely happy is at the not for profit, Mira House, where she has volunteered off and on over the years. It is her refuge - a place of her own. She loves the women there and they have plans. The "Cupcake Project" to help women from all walks of life.

But will Jake get his hands in that too?

Reading Jake's point of view made me see red at times. Did I ever want to throttle him! When he would say something egotistical or demeaning to his wife or when he would say something that he thought his son needed to hear in order to "toughen him up". Jake talks about how much he loves Phoebe but so much talk is around her looks. How proud he was that his wife turned heads. But he would belittle Phoebe by making a comment about what she should eat. Or his thoughts about her size when she was pregnant? He hated seeing her body stretched out. His mother "let herself go" and he'd be damned if he'd ever "let a fat wife bring him down". (My daughter has stopped checking when she hears me yelling at my books).

But there were also times that I felt his love for Phoebe and his kids. He wanted to make them proud of him.

I can't imagine how exhausting it would be to make sure everything is perfect ALL the time. Nothing out-of-place. Even having someone tell you what perfume to wear. All the hard work to stay in shape.... trying to fight the normal aging process.

But there are some good times too.

What happens when it all comes crashing down? Will Phoebe get it together and do what's best for her? But what is best for her?

I really enjoyed this book and I had a very hard time putting it down. It's about Money, greed, love, lies, secrets, and betrayal and more! I had worried that the book would have a lot of financial talk. The author's descriptions helped me understand enough to keep up but didn't go overboard. I was completely entertained and invested in this family and their lives.

Highly Recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley, Randy Susan Meyers, and Atria Books for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Like many readers, I love a good story about a marriage from the dating years to young family to the older years. I loved how this story started with present day and the situation they are in and then right from there you go back to their first years together and you see it build.

I am a Randy Susan Meyers fan, so when I heard this book was coming out I was on board from the beginning. I know there have been a few books that take the ponzi scheme plot point and hear from the wife's perspective, but I am fine with reading it again! I haven't read them all, but this one seemed more than the two that I have read because it was honestly about the building and then crumbling of a marriage.

The one thing that I just didn't love about this one was the chapters from Jake's perspective. Don't get me wrong I LOVE a dual narrative where you get multiple points of view, but for some reason I just didn't care to hear the story from his view point. I cared about him as a character in relation to Phoebe, but hearing his side of the story was just ehh ok.

After reading this book I definitely want to push the two books in Meyers backlist up my TBR pile, it reminded me how much I love she builds a story with fantastic characters.

This book brought up a lot of feelings in me. A LOT of anger, a little sympathy (but not much, to be honest), some jealousy...I found some of it to be a little unbelievable. I don't have a lot of knowledge on how the justice/prison system works, but I feel like Jake wouldn't have been in the same prison population as rapists and murderers. I had to suspend some disbelief with that. I found myself constantly wanting to punch Phoebe in the face. I'm a pacifist, so that's saying a lot. I absolutely could not understand why she put up with all of Jake's crap until it was basically spelled out for me...she felt guilty for getting pregnant with another guy's baby. Jake "saved" her. She "owed" him. I'm so glad she finally got over that. I was worried for quite a while that she was going to "stand by her man." Thank Gaia she came to her senses. Great book. I've chosen this as the next selection for the book club I belong to. Can't wait till her next book comes out.

Phoebe and Jake have been together for decades. They dated as kids and grew into adulthood together. The early days of their marriage were tough, but Jake worked hard to build his investment firm into one of the most prosperous firms in New York City. Phoebe raises their two children and runs her pet project, a cupcake shop where she donates all of the profits to charity. Their life is a privileged one and Phoebe knows it. Her world is shattered when she learns that Jake's successful firm is built on decades of lies. Jake's Ponzi scheme has had an impact on the lives of everyone they know. In fact, it was their kids that turned him into the feds. They beg Phoebe to leave Jake and denounce his actions, but life with Jake is all she knows. She stays by his side through everything; including all of the legal aspects, all of the media scrutiny, everything. Even though she paid the high cost of a relationship with her children and grandchildren she stayed with the man who stole millions of dollars from their friends and family. Will Phoebe even stay with him after he goes to prison? Will she stay with him even when Jake's mistress writes a tell-all book?

The Widow of Wall Street was told in the alternating viewpoints of Jake and Phoebe. I usually like to see both sides of a story like this but there were many times in this book where Jake's staggering arrogance nearly did me in. We see their relationship evolve over the decades and it was not always the healthiest of relationships - especially when Jake was having his affairs. The way he covered it up with Phoebe was a little bit of genius but still made me think he was an arrogant jerk. While I was engaged with the book and the characters it wasn't until after Jake's secret is revealed that I became invested in the characters - specifically Phoebe. The change in her was so pronounced and so profound that the very end brought tears to my eyes. She finally stands up for herself and forces him to realize that she is more than just his wife.

Bottom line - The Widow of Wall Street is a book about a tale that has become familiar to us all. The wife of a powerful, wealthy man discovers that he husband is not the man she thought he was. What makes The Widow of Wall Street different from all of the other tales out there is the way the author developed Phoebe as a wife, mother, and independent woman. Such a great read.


Details:

The Widow of Wall Street by Randy Susan Meyers
On Facebook
Pages: 352
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: 4/11/2017
Buy it Here!

This was a decent read, though a little long and repetitious in spots, on the all too familiar theme of power, money, and it's ability to corrupt.

great read, really got sucked into Phoebe's point of view and felt like the details were really well researched

THE WIDOW OF WALL STREET by Randy Susan Meyers details the development and ultimate consequences of a Ponzi scheme. To be honest, I really liked the beginning of this novel and then it started to repeat itself seemingly incessantly (about how Jake would be certain to pay back loans and make good on other irregularities in his investment business) and I was simply not so interested. What he did was wrong and not even based on any clear motivation. More interesting was wife Phoebe's reaction to Jake's betrayal, but it took a long time to really understand or feel empathy for her, also.

While I do not think that this title will have much appeal for our students, it could work for adult book groups since there are clearly some moral issues to discuss and a spousal relationship to explore (perhaps in tandem with Ada Calhoun's recent New York Times article "To Stay Married, Embrace Change"). Other reviewers have been generally more positive (Kirkus called THE WIDOW OF WALL STREET "compelling... an engrossing emotional journey") so if the financial industry is of interest to you, pick up a copy and let me know what you think.

Live link in post:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/style/modern-love-to-stay-married-embrace-change.html

If I hadn’t spent the last week with my grandson in Florida, I would have torn through this story a heck of a lot faster. Just don’t want you to think it took me a while to read it because it wasn’t good, just the opposite! When Randy Susan Meyers writes, you read.

Phoebe and Jake have been together since teens. He has always been this go-getter that wanted more and more. His Wall Street investment firm does well even when others don’t. How is that possible? When his Ponzi scheme falls apart, the fallout is tremendous for everyone. Phoebe’s children want her to not have anything to do with Jake. She feels some obligation to this man that she has been married to for so long. She hurts for all of the people who lost their life savings, especially her family and friends. She has become a prison wife, bringing him coins for the machines, dressing in a certain way. Phoebe has lost track of Phoebe somewhere along the way. Can she find herself again?

Oh, how I wanted to shake Phoebe a few times. Well, maybe more than a few times. I have always wondered how the wives feel when their husband is accused of something so horrible. Do they know? Do they choose to ignore that something isn’t right? It is spelled out so beautifully in this book. Phoebe had something in her past that made her feel that she had to do whatever it took to make it work. Jake was a piece of work and it was hard to see anything redeemable in him and maybe there just wasn’t. Maybe it takes that kind of man to do what he did. None of us know just what we would do in this kind of situation but this book gives you a great look into the family of a criminal and the devastation they cause. Another great read from Randy Susan Meyers and I highly recommend it.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and Atria in exchange for an honest review.

I'll be honest, Wall Street and any kind of investments/stock trade goes totally over my head. When I first picked up The Widow of Wall Street, I was a little scared that I wouldn't understand it. I soon found that wasn't the case at all as this novel is more about relationships and family than it is about Wall Street. After doing a little background research, it seems as though the novel is based on the true story of Bernie Madoff and his life. I found that quite interesting because I read it as a fictional story.

Throughout the novel, the reader follows the Pierce's from their teen years to their later adult years. We learn so much about each of the character's personalities and I found myself constantly nervous around Jake. He seemed like he was always on edge and would crack at any moment. Phoebe, on the other hand was strong willed and kind hearted, but she allowed herself to be pushed and pulled in whatever direction Jake pleased.

I always enjoy when novels share what it is like in the lives of the rich and famous. It is a lifestyle that a very small percentage of people get to enjoy. Jake and Phoebe lived and extravagant life that most of us couldn't even imagine. At one point, Phoebe mentioned that she felt she couldn't spend money fast enough. Even though Phoebe had more money than she knew what to do with, she seemed to remain grounded. She helped those in need and wanted to give back to her community. This made me care for Phoebe and her character, and it made Jake's money hungry attitude appear even more arrogant and selfish.

I quickly found myself sucked in to the powerful world Meyers created and I loved the constant fear of not knowing when everything was going to blow up, as we all knew it would. I wasn't expecting to feel heartbreak in this novel, but I longed for Phoebe to rise from the ashes and leave Jake behind. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed stepping out of my comfort zone and would definitely recommend The Widow of Wall Street.

This will go live on my blog on May 1. Kellyvision.wordpress.com

Phoebe and Jake have it all: a ton of money, healthy and happy grown kids, adorable grandkids. And then it turns out it's all a lie---Jake's investment acumen is really a Ponzi scheme. When it comes to light, he loses everything and Phoebe is caught in the middle. She's just as disgusted and horrified as her children but she also can't quite bring herself to completely forsake Jake.

This story shows us their whole marriage, which makes it easier to understand why Phoebe would stay. (Although Jake also seems like a jerk for much of the time anyway.)

As you can imagine, this seems not unlike the Bernie Madoff story and it gives me so much sympathy for his family. It feels so plausible (which I think is one of Randy Susan Meyers' strengths: amazing, ripped-from-the-headlines novels that are compelling but also well-written).

Hopefully you're already a huge fan but if not, this book will do it. Highly recommended.

Phoebe fell in love with Jake Pierce when she was just 15. A few years older than her, Jake is a handsome, confident young man with high ambition.

After their marriage, Jake starts Jake Pierce Equity, or JPE, which is a financial investment firm. He hires people he has known from school and some family members. He also has what he calls the Club which supposedly is open to special people for investment. He has Phoebe touting it to her friends acting like it’s no big thing but people are making tons of money by investing in the Club. People line up to give Jake their money.

Over the years, they have two children and Jake becomes more and more successful, juggling his clients. He is a driven man who is also very demanding. But he is hiding a big secret: the Club is just a Ponzi scheme where he is "constantly borrowing from Peter to pay Paul.”

Phoebe likes to help with a place called Mira House which helps immigrant women learn new skills. Now, Phoebe and several of these women want to open a nonprofit company called Cupcake Project that makes and sells cupcakes in a cafe atmosphere. Jake agrees to help her fund the startup.

But soon Jake’s snide remarks and mean ways start to chip away at Phoebe’ confidence. Even with his bravado attitude, Jake is scared that it all might come crashing down and he often wakes in the night with a pounding heart.

Will he be able to continue carrying this off or will his world eventually explode?

This was a great story that shows how a combination of arrogance and greed can lead to an addition. The book delves into the lives of the family members and how Jake’s scheme affects all of them.

Copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.