How the Other Half Lives (or, you know, Murders People)
December 12, 2012 8:50 PM Subscribe
Recommendations for fiction about the rich and all their trappings, imposters within that world, or stories where the mighty fell and then rose again?
I love books that allow the reader to peer into the glamor and maybe the seedy underbelly of the rich, but especially books where an imposter has infiltrated their ranks. Examples I've loved: Patricia Highsmith's Ripley series and Donna Tartt's A Secret History. Also a sucker for any writer that will go to great lengths to impress upon me how grand and lavish something is. Any suggestions for any (or any combination) of the above, MeFites?
I love books that allow the reader to peer into the glamor and maybe the seedy underbelly of the rich, but especially books where an imposter has infiltrated their ranks. Examples I've loved: Patricia Highsmith's Ripley series and Donna Tartt's A Secret History. Also a sucker for any writer that will go to great lengths to impress upon me how grand and lavish something is. Any suggestions for any (or any combination) of the above, MeFites?
Not a book, but Six Degrees of Separation [wiki; spoilers] delved into this brilliantly if chillingly.
All of the other suggestions I came in with when you already had one (A Secret History) listed, but I'll try to remember!
posted by batmonkey at 8:55 PM on December 12, 2012
All of the other suggestions I came in with when you already had one (A Secret History) listed, but I'll try to remember!
posted by batmonkey at 8:55 PM on December 12, 2012
The Day of the Locust, Nathanael West
posted by chloe.gelsomino at 8:56 PM on December 12, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by chloe.gelsomino at 8:56 PM on December 12, 2012 [1 favorite]
Tom Wolfe's The Bonfire of the Vanities.
Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence.
posted by gnomeloaf at 9:06 PM on December 12, 2012 [3 favorites]
Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence.
posted by gnomeloaf at 9:06 PM on December 12, 2012 [3 favorites]
Edith Wharton's The Custom of the Country
Du Maurier's Rebecca
Anthony Trollope's The Eustace Diamonds
posted by Mchelly at 9:13 PM on December 12, 2012 [2 favorites]
Du Maurier's Rebecca
Anthony Trollope's The Eustace Diamonds
posted by Mchelly at 9:13 PM on December 12, 2012 [2 favorites]
I enjoyed The Devil in the Junior League, which is very light reading.
Historical YA, I liked The Luxe series (there are four novels), which is set in 1899 NYC and is like Edith Wharton meets Gossip Girl. Also very light and frothy.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:15 PM on December 12, 2012
Historical YA, I liked The Luxe series (there are four novels), which is set in 1899 NYC and is like Edith Wharton meets Gossip Girl. Also very light and frothy.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 9:15 PM on December 12, 2012
Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney
posted by sevenofspades at 9:21 PM on December 12, 2012
posted by sevenofspades at 9:21 PM on December 12, 2012
Barry Lyndon
posted by casaubon at 10:55 PM on December 12, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by casaubon at 10:55 PM on December 12, 2012 [2 favorites]
Marisha Pessl's Special Topics in Calamity Physics is often compared to The Secret History.
A smart young thing of lower-class background sneaking themselves into the amoral world of the obscenely wealthy was a huge theme in 1980's blockbusters. If you feel like something a little lurid, check out almost anything by Jackie Collins, Sidney Sheldon or William J. Coughlin.
posted by Georgina at 11:20 PM on December 12, 2012
A smart young thing of lower-class background sneaking themselves into the amoral world of the obscenely wealthy was a huge theme in 1980's blockbusters. If you feel like something a little lurid, check out almost anything by Jackie Collins, Sidney Sheldon or William J. Coughlin.
posted by Georgina at 11:20 PM on December 12, 2012
Best answer: Vanity Fair is the OG here. The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells and The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton are also classics. And Lost Illusions by Balzac.
posted by Sidhedevil at 11:37 PM on December 12, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by Sidhedevil at 11:37 PM on December 12, 2012 [2 favorites]
-Metropolitan is about debutante season in NYC in the 80s.
-Born Rich is a documentary, but it's by an heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune about his social circle of friends who have grown up together all knowing they would inherit massive fortunes, and what that's like.
-Snobs by Julian Fellowes of Downton Abbey fame
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 1:07 AM on December 13, 2012
-Born Rich is a documentary, but it's by an heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune about his social circle of friends who have grown up together all knowing they would inherit massive fortunes, and what that's like.
-Snobs by Julian Fellowes of Downton Abbey fame
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 1:07 AM on December 13, 2012
The Count of Monte Cristo, The Man in the Iron Mask and The Prince and the Pauper.
posted by zanni at 2:05 AM on December 13, 2012
posted by zanni at 2:05 AM on December 13, 2012
I just finished Tom Wolfe's latest, Back to Blood - highly recommend it. There's a lot going on , but the main plot involves a young Cuban-American cop in Miami investigating a Russian oligarch who is alleged to have donated counterfeit art worth 70 million to a new gallery.
posted by mannequito at 2:31 AM on December 13, 2012
posted by mannequito at 2:31 AM on December 13, 2012
Lit-lite? anything by Dominick Dunne.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 2:40 AM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by TWinbrook8 at 2:40 AM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst, about a young graduate who moves into the house of well-to-do, connected West Londoners. He eventually dates a man who works for the council so there's a lot of class tension there. Also, Jonathan Coe's book, What A Carve Up (The Winshaw Legacy in the US) features a grotesquely greedy and priviledged wealthy family as the protagonists.
Not quite 'rich', but the 'poor girl' attending a posh boarding/private school is a common trope. Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld had this as the premise.
posted by mippy at 4:56 AM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]
Not quite 'rich', but the 'poor girl' attending a posh boarding/private school is a common trope. Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld had this as the premise.
posted by mippy at 4:56 AM on December 13, 2012 [1 favorite]
Cousin Bette, there's a good movie with Hugh Laurie, Jessica Lange and Elizabeth Shue, if you want to see that before you tackle the novel.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 6:09 AM on December 13, 2012
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 6:09 AM on December 13, 2012
Brat Farrar would work, I think. You can even read it free online here. (As a bonus, the 1986 tv version is on Youtube. )
posted by gudrun at 6:15 AM on December 13, 2012
posted by gudrun at 6:15 AM on December 13, 2012
An older example, written for teens, is Daddy Long-Legs.
posted by peacheater at 6:20 AM on December 13, 2012
posted by peacheater at 6:20 AM on December 13, 2012
The Darlings, by Cristina Alger - about a super-rich family who end up in the middle of a financial scandal (think Bernie Madoff).
posted by lyssabee at 6:34 AM on December 13, 2012
posted by lyssabee at 6:34 AM on December 13, 2012
Most of Piers Paul Read's books are about wealth, class and adultery. What makes him neat is that he is pretty obviously upper class and wealthy himself but also Catholic and (I think) Communist in the UK. So he is an insider and an outsider.
posted by BibiRose at 8:41 AM on December 13, 2012
posted by BibiRose at 8:41 AM on December 13, 2012
-White Mischief, about bored British aristos is Kenya during the 1940s. Luxury, decadence, adultery, murder, all the classic stuff that says Rich, white folks ruling Africa. ;-)
-The Cat's Meow, about a shootiong aboard William Randolph Hearst's yacht in 1924. Luxury, decadence, adultery, murder, all the classic stuff that says Rich, white folks dancing a champagne-soaked "Charleston" towards the Great Depression & WWII"
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 9:00 AM on December 13, 2012
-The Cat's Meow, about a shootiong aboard William Randolph Hearst's yacht in 1924. Luxury, decadence, adultery, murder, all the classic stuff that says Rich, white folks dancing a champagne-soaked "Charleston" towards the Great Depression & WWII"
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 9:00 AM on December 13, 2012
What's Bred in the Bone, by Robertson Davies. Less with the murdering, but rich kid growing up, art forgery, and various shenanigans.
posted by sparklemotion at 9:34 AM on December 13, 2012
posted by sparklemotion at 9:34 AM on December 13, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by musofire at 8:52 PM on December 12, 2012 [1 favorite]