Novel about the 1%

Let's write a novel about a family from the 1% - from their point of view. Why not, in a way? Surprisingly, I realized the idea does not sound that exciting, weighted by all the yuppies novel from the 80s à-la-McInnerney & the general unease about writing on rich-kid issues. Well, who cares about them, would you be tempted to say? And in a way, the novel's plot can bring this who-cares aftertaste, unfolding the story of wealth rise from the finance guy with a little help of illegal insider tricks. Scenes are nice to read, humor & clever details are on the boat, but nothing highly surprising jumps to the reader's eyes: they get married, they get kids, he makes a lot of money working for a senior partner who trust him, the daughter becomes a superficial party girl, they open a charity... So on, so on, so on. Needless to say, the main couple is extremely handsome & fit...

The book interest would come from scale adjustment. The plot movements, say chapter to chapter, are not that thrilling, but the detail-scale and the book scale gives more value to the project. The detail scale is well crafted, well voiced, and highly contemporary, the small detail that rings a bell although, some of the talents of Dee's writing. Fucking your boyfriend at the hotel fitness center in order to fulfill one of his fantasies. A cynical finance employee who steals a watch in a top-notch party as retaliation for contempt. An art teacher focussed on art brut. An upper-class woman describing the failed attempts to get pregnant. No boredom in all this, a real sense to a carving.

But the book scale might be more mysterious & more fascinating in its own way. Open for analysis at least. The reason why he plot steps flow almost too seamlessly might come from the 1%-power itself. A friend from the daughter has troubles with her parents divorce? Let's invite her at our place for a week. Work tension gets slightly too intense? Let's work out even more. Stock option investigations might discover the million-dollar insider scheme that has been going on for years? Let's change job & start large-scale charity business. Nothing is impossible with money, nothing is impossible if you're inside the right part of the society - to the extreme consequence that novels need to jump from one high-stake issue to another without caring too much about the consequences, simply because the wealthy characters don't need to care much about the consequences. Certainly one the message from the book, or simply some writer challenge: he invents some high-stake issue, gives some details, then soon invent the solution that makes it almost harmless. So on, so on, raising the bar a little more, so on, so on, until it cannot go higher, until reaching the limit issue, the-issues-that-even-the-rich-cannot-dodge.

What are they, according to the novel? Nothing fancy: dealing with your father's death, dealing with accidents, dealing with incurable insanity. In a way, such limit-issue scenes are predictable, some kind of restriction to the book's project. Step n of the issues-for-the-rich ladder is deceptive. But the novel sparks & its clever movement from step 1 to step n-1 makes it a clever read to explore.