Belfort, Jordan. The Wolf of Wall Street. New York, New York. Bantam Dell: 2008.
Reason, Type & Setting:
I choose this book because I heard a big movie was coming out on it and I thought if it’s good enough to be a movie it must a good book. Also, everyone knows you read the book before seeing the movie. I’m not sure how to classify this book but it is about a scheming stock broker who conned people out of money, only to spend it on drugs, prostitutes and parties. It takes place in Long Island, New York in the 1990’s.
Content:
This book is more of a memoir because the author, Jordan Belfort, isn’t much a book writer but he just wrote what happened in this period of his life. Jordan started off as a natural salesmen, selling seafood and meat in his own store, but it didn’t last long. In 1987, Jordan changed his style and started working for a brokerage firm. From that he learned what he needed to be a stockbroker and two years later opened his own company called Stratton Oakmont. Stratton Oakmont was a brokerage firm that he ran with his partner, Danny Porush. Together they convinced vulnerable clients to buy these horrible stocks while upselling them making the client feel as if they are buying something great. Once enough people had bought into the stocks, the prices would rise significantly and then Jordan and Danny could sell their shares that they bought for pennies. Once in the riches, they would bathe in their money, buying yachts, mansions, cars, and drugs. Quaaludes was Jordans drug of choice, which he became very addicted to. These drugs led him into crashing his helicopter, his yacht and the breakup of his marriage. He didn’t hold back, taking his fun to the office where the sex and drugs were popular among his workplace. They even paid the secretary a large amount of money to have her head shaved. Eventually though, this all caught up to him. In 1992 he was accused of exploiting stock prices and defrauding investors. By 1994 he was out of a business and never allowed in the stock market game again. It took a while but in 2003 he was finally sentenced to 4 years in prison and a huge 110 million dollar fine.
Chapter:
Chapter 29: Desperate Measures. What struck me the most about this chapter was that he could have lost it all, he could have been sent to jail that day. He was risking his life going in to the police station. Everything was riding on this master forger, a Swiss man who he paid to make sure the evidence against him never showed up. As long as the money “belonged” to Patricia Mellor he wouldn’t be arrested. I was surprised he didn’t just take his money and run, thats what I would have done. I chose this chapter because it was his closest call to being arrested -besides of course when he actually as-, he really was a mad man, he would risk everything to only gain a little. He didn’t know when to stop, I guess thats what made him rich.
Evaluation:
I very much enjoyed the book because it had two sides to it, the business side and the party side and then combined them. The book was quite entertaining, even a bit long. The book informed me on how you can get so caught up in all the money you forget what you’re even doing. You forget that theres a reality and it will catch up to you. Jordan thought he was invincible, which I would too, with all that money and fun. I learned that it’s not all about the money. I would recommend this book to others, but it’s not the type of book that everyone will like. This book relates to the stock market nowadays, because everything's corrupt, not matter how hard you try to stop it there will always be someone cheating the system. This book teaches a good lesson and would be handy for others to read, I feel I got a lot more out of it than others would though.
Author, Context & Trivia:
The author of this book isn’t really a writer, he just wrote about his life. Although, he did release another book called “Catching the Wolf of Wall Street”. It is more of an overview of how he was caught and how he has changed his life around. I probably won’t read it because I have pretty got all the satisfaction out of reading about this mans life as I ever will.
Reason, Type & Setting:
I choose this book because I heard a big movie was coming out on it and I thought if it’s good enough to be a movie it must a good book. Also, everyone knows you read the book before seeing the movie. I’m not sure how to classify this book but it is about a scheming stock broker who conned people out of money, only to spend it on drugs, prostitutes and parties. It takes place in Long Island, New York in the 1990’s.
Content:
This book is more of a memoir because the author, Jordan Belfort, isn’t much a book writer but he just wrote what happened in this period of his life. Jordan started off as a natural salesmen, selling seafood and meat in his own store, but it didn’t last long. In 1987, Jordan changed his style and started working for a brokerage firm. From that he learned what he needed to be a stockbroker and two years later opened his own company called Stratton Oakmont. Stratton Oakmont was a brokerage firm that he ran with his partner, Danny Porush. Together they convinced vulnerable clients to buy these horrible stocks while upselling them making the client feel as if they are buying something great. Once enough people had bought into the stocks, the prices would rise significantly and then Jordan and Danny could sell their shares that they bought for pennies. Once in the riches, they would bathe in their money, buying yachts, mansions, cars, and drugs. Quaaludes was Jordans drug of choice, which he became very addicted to. These drugs led him into crashing his helicopter, his yacht and the breakup of his marriage. He didn’t hold back, taking his fun to the office where the sex and drugs were popular among his workplace. They even paid the secretary a large amount of money to have her head shaved. Eventually though, this all caught up to him. In 1992 he was accused of exploiting stock prices and defrauding investors. By 1994 he was out of a business and never allowed in the stock market game again. It took a while but in 2003 he was finally sentenced to 4 years in prison and a huge 110 million dollar fine.
Chapter:
Chapter 29: Desperate Measures. What struck me the most about this chapter was that he could have lost it all, he could have been sent to jail that day. He was risking his life going in to the police station. Everything was riding on this master forger, a Swiss man who he paid to make sure the evidence against him never showed up. As long as the money “belonged” to Patricia Mellor he wouldn’t be arrested. I was surprised he didn’t just take his money and run, thats what I would have done. I chose this chapter because it was his closest call to being arrested -besides of course when he actually as-, he really was a mad man, he would risk everything to only gain a little. He didn’t know when to stop, I guess thats what made him rich.
Evaluation:
I very much enjoyed the book because it had two sides to it, the business side and the party side and then combined them. The book was quite entertaining, even a bit long. The book informed me on how you can get so caught up in all the money you forget what you’re even doing. You forget that theres a reality and it will catch up to you. Jordan thought he was invincible, which I would too, with all that money and fun. I learned that it’s not all about the money. I would recommend this book to others, but it’s not the type of book that everyone will like. This book relates to the stock market nowadays, because everything's corrupt, not matter how hard you try to stop it there will always be someone cheating the system. This book teaches a good lesson and would be handy for others to read, I feel I got a lot more out of it than others would though.
Author, Context & Trivia:
The author of this book isn’t really a writer, he just wrote about his life. Although, he did release another book called “Catching the Wolf of Wall Street”. It is more of an overview of how he was caught and how he has changed his life around. I probably won’t read it because I have pretty got all the satisfaction out of reading about this mans life as I ever will.