Baby Got Books

The Privileges

The Privileges by Jonathan Dee first hit my radar screen when Jonathan Franzen recommended it at the Keynote Address of the Decatur Book Festival. It took a little while, but the book finally made it on to my reading pile. Interestingly, the first word that popped in my head to describe the novel was “Franzen-esque”.

It has become something of a given that novels about the wealthy will feature people who are deeply unhappy, morally bankrupt, and socially barren. The third act of these novels of American wealth usually involve some sort of tragic consequences. Jonathan Dee explodes these expectations at almost every turn of The Privileges. The cracking of the patrician facade seems certain but never materializes. In fact, the facade is actually very real.

The story begins at Cynthia and Adam Morey’s wedding. They are the first in their circle of friends to get married – by years. They are happily married and determined to be successful. Success means leaving their humble past in their wake – friends and family included. Success also means constructing a white collar crime syndicate even though you are already fabulously wealthy with an incredible job in order to show that you are smarter than everyone else and not beholden to a “boss”. Success means lovingly raising kids who have a tenuous grasp, at best, of the real world. This is all Franzen-esque territory. What’s missing are the consequences.

Around each narrative corner, the reader waits for the other shoe to drop. And waits some more. The comeuppance, the too public arrest on the school house steps, the “big life-changing moment” that promises to shake this family into self-awareness of the grim reality of their lives never comes. Or, more correctly, it almost never comes.

The couple’s son Jonas seems determined to experience the real world by choosing to slum his way through through the University of Chicago. He chooses to buy a modest condo rather than live in the elite penthouse that is his birthright. He also dates an older student from an average background rather than starlets or heiresses. He chooses art history as a major rather than business. An art project offers the promise of something authentic. Instead it provides the “big life-changing moment” that forces to Jonas to come to grips with his family’s status and wealth – and completely not in the way that you would anticipate.

Besides “Franzen-esque” the word that comes to mind to describe this novel is subversive. Jonathan Dee is not going to tell you what you want or expect to hear. He’s going to tell you the truth. The rich are different. The rules that apply to you do not apply to the wealthy. If the rich are unhappy, they are no unhappier than anyone else. If you are waiting for cosmic justice to fell the mighty and take them to account for their crimes, you are probably going to be deeply disappointed. That’s a lot of social truth to pack into just under 250 pages. Come to think of it, maybe “Franzen-esque” doesn’t really apply here after all.

Books, Fiction, Review | Tim | January 20, 2011 8:45 am

2 Comments

By Shaft, January 20, 2011 @ 7:22 pm

As the father of the Oak Grove Elementary School Spelling Bee Champion (and on a personal note, the Palm Avenue Elementary School Champion two years running in 1979-1980), I appreciate that you misspelled the title of the book twice in different ways, both in proximity to the book cover. That takes gumption.
By Tim, January 20, 2011 @ 9:07 pm

Thanks for the heads up. I’m still recovering from the snowpocalypse…