As of this writing, it’s been a few weeks since I finished this book, and I’m still not sure how I feel about it.
It did suck me in enough that I never felt like I was struggling to get through the 600+ pages that comprise this book, and that is a feat.
The character at the center of it all, Campbell Flynn is the one who perplexes me because he seems so miserable without a reason for being so miserable.
When we first meet him, he’s just published an article that appears to call out the left-wing progressives for paying lip service to progressive policies without actually doing anything to address the injustices they love to talk about so much.
I found it frustrating that we never get to see this article. People love him for it and people hate him for it, which is bound to be the case no matter what you say these days. But I can’t get a grasp on who he is as a person if I don’t know what he believes.
All O’Hagan tells us is that Flynn “tells it like it is,” and there are people who don’t want to hear it. But everyone claims to do that. It’s just a matter of telling it the way you see it. But O’Hagan doesn’t want to tell us Campbell really believes, and maybe that’s the point.
Despite the article, Campbell makes a point of holding his true beliefs close to the chest.
He’s recently finished a book called “Why Men Cry in Their Cars” that he’s counting on to get him out of his inexplicable financial troubles, but he doesn’t want to attach his name to it.
Again, we’re never told what’s in the book, but there are plenty of hints that it’s highly controversial. His publisher warns him that it could easily be “taken the wrong way,” and sure enough, it goes south and they have to pull the book off shelves thanks to a scandal I won’t get into.
It’s worth noting that, while Campbell claims to stand up for the underserved, he’s very well connected. His sister-in-law is married to a duke, who of course is BFFs with the queen herself.
Campbell loves to look down on his sister’s brother-in-law when he complains about the expenses of maintaining his multiple vast estates, but he never encourages him to do anything charitable with his money.
And Campbell is no better than his brother-in-law because he has multiple jobs and multiple homes, but is constantly stressed out about not having enough money.
Also like his brother-in-law, Campbell never does anything charitable with his money until a student hacks his accounts and makes donations for him. He doesn’t even pay his taxes.
He’s no better than the progressives he complains about in his article. He’s all talk and superiority and no action.
And as much as he loves to look down on the duke, he’s not above paying homage to his wealthy mother-in-law in the hopes that she’ll leave him most of her fortune when she dies.
While he’s busy hobnobbing amongst the elite, claiming to look down on them while desperately wanting to be one of them, his sister is an MP of the Labour Party, actually trying to accomplish things that could result in real change for the people who need it, and isn’t that always the way? Men complain about the state of the world while the women get down to work.
Although the book revolves around Campbell, he’s not the only significant character here. There’s also his student who manipulates and steals from Campbell while claiming to enlighten him. Campbell isn’t dumb enough to be blind to what’s really going on there, but his selfhatred is so strong he doesn’t feel capable of doing anything about it.
To a certain extent, I can get behind the student, although I don’t think I like him. He does steal from the rich to give to the poor, but he also steals just to give to himself. He also gets Campbell to invest heavily in crypto and I’m not sure if he honestly believes in crypto, or if it’s just another way for him to scam the rich into being less rich.
We also meet a young gay man who made the illegal crossing from Poland into England to start a new life. But the people who brought him keep his phone and passport so they can use him for slave labor.
We meet his boss, who feels no qualms about dealing drugs and human trafficking to make money.
We meet the head of those illegal operations who insists he did nothing wrong. He gave jobs to thousands of people who were willing to work to get a new lease on life.
It turns out the duke is even involved, though he manages to distance himself enough that he feels confident he can bounce back, and he’s probably right.
This book reminded me a lot of The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida in that way. You can work your ass off to try and make things right, but the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor no matter what you do.