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Jim Powell

Trading Futures Paperback – 28 February 2017

by Jim Powell (Author)

24 ratings

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'With his gallows humour and observational wit, Jim Powell gives us a vivid portrait of a man in meltdown.' Daily Mail

When I was small, my mother showed me how to grow a carrot from a carrot. She filled a jam jar with water, cut the top off a carrot, ran a cocktail stick horizontally through the stub and suspended it over the jar, just touching the water. In time, roots sprouted, and when they were long enough and strong enough, the plant was translated to the garden and new carrots grew. This was one of the many exciting ways in which I was prepared for adult life.

This is Matthew Oxenhay at sixty: a stranger to his wife, an embarrassment to his children, and failed former contender for the top job at his City firm. Seizing on his birthday party as an opportunity to deliver some rather crushing home truths to his assembled loved ones, it seems as though Matthew might have hit rock bottom. The truth, however, is that he has some way to go yet . . .

With forensic precision and mordant wit, Matthew unpicks the threads that bind him: a comfortable home in the suburbs, a career spent trading futures and a life that bears little resemblance to the one he imagined for himself at twenty. When he unexpectedly bumps into Anna (the one who got away), the stage is set for an epic unravelling.

Darkly funny, Trading Futures forces us to confront how change, like death, is an inevitable fact of life: feared by most, it can transform or overwhelm us. This is a brilliantly observed novel, for fans of works such as John Lanchester's Mr Phillips and On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan.

It also featured as Radio 4's Book at Bedtime.

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Product details

Publisher : Picador; Reprint edition (28 February 2017)
Language : English
Paperback : 224 pages
ISBN-10 : 1509806431
ISBN-13 : 978-1509806430
Dimensions : 12.7 x 1.52 x 19.69 cm

Customer Reviews:
24 ratings

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"What starts as a light and droll Reggie Perrin-style novel about the fall of a middle-aged everyman, a 'perfect makeweight in an identity parade' becomes surprisingly dark and intense. We see the crack-up through Matthew's eyes, which also allows for some wittily caustic observations about modern living." --Times

"Haunting, quietly brilliant . . . a rare and remarkable achievement: a novel that meshes storytelling potency with historical erudition." --Boston Globe on The Breaking of Eggs

Review

'With his gallows humour and observational wit, Jim Powell gives us a vivid portrait of a man in meltdown.' (Daily Mail)

5 star		17%
4 star		36%
3 star		5%
2 star		24%
1 star		18%

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HarmonyPoint

Starts well but descends into boring nervous breakdown madness

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 9 May 2017

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It's a long time since I have read a book which started so strongly and which became weaker and weaker and more boring as it progressed. At the start this is a wickedly funny book, written from the perspective of a washed-up former senior City chap who is now drinking too much, being rude to his wife and colleagues and despised or pitied by most people, including his two children. There are many funny moments and some terrific lines.

But then ... well, if other people's dream are always boring (and they are) that another person's nervous breakdown is ten times worse. The narrator's behaviour becomes more and more erratic - but not in an amusing way - and his thoughts more and more jumbled until the reader can barely tell what is actually happening. And it is simply tedious to read page after page about this sad man driving around, taking tablets, drinking whiskey, driving some more, stopping for cigarettes, taking another tablet ... oh, god yawn-a-roony about a self absorbed looney.

Two stars because it started well and made me laugh quite a lot. If only Powell had been able to sustain it.

Ms Gillian A Locke

Both my husband and I enjoyed this book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 April 2016

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Both my husband and I enjoyed this book, it is amusing in a different way. The ending was not at all what either of us expected.

One person found this helpful

Rachel Barker

A really good read, hope Mr

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 March 2016

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Poignant yet amusing, a wry if caustic view of how we live and our modern failings. Still the lovable, flawed main character keeps me riveted trying to work out what will happen to him – perhaps we see ourselves reflected. A really good read, hope Mr. Powell is working on his next novel – I haven’t got much left of this one.

One person found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 November 2017

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A sad story but enjoyable at the same time. Sadly in real life, not unusual today.

Adrianburke

I have to say that I was disappointed in the book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 March 2016

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I bought his book because I saw it was being serialised on BBC Radio 4. When I went to buy it I saw comparisons with Ian McEwan and John Lanchester. I have to say that I was disappointed in the book. The narration is unreliable and as it proceeds you realise that this is intentional and not simply bad writing. But the impression that this book is over-hyped and not actually that great continued with me until I was midway. I didn't buy into the idea of what had happened to the narrator and I didn't feel I emotionally connected with any of the characters. This sort of book is much better done by Justin Cartwright. I wish I could have my money back.

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Trading Futures Paperback – 28 February 2017

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