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swandaddy's review against another edition
4.0
Great setup, characters and dialogue, though loses its way in the endgame
knitreadlife's review against another edition
4.0
That was fun! Sharp and satirical observation of the modern knowledge-based workplace and contemporary relationships.
readcodelove's review against another edition
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
kimbofo's review
3.0
Elliot Perlman is one of my favourite authors. I have read and much admired his trio of novels — Three Dollars (1998), Seven Types of Ambiguity (2003) and The Street Sweeper (2012) — so was looking forward to his new novel, Maybe the Horse Will Talk, published in Australia at the end of last year. (The title refers to a children’s fable that suggests anything is possible.)
A satire about corporate greed, it’s set in Melbourne’s cut-throat legal world and addresses all kinds of relevant, contemporary issues including misogyny, sexism and sexual harassment in the workplace.
But for all its humour and clever, witty dialogue, the novel has a serious underbelly. It could, in fact, be seen as one of the first (or certainly the first I know about) that explores the #metoo movement, possibly before that became a “thing”.
To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.
A satire about corporate greed, it’s set in Melbourne’s cut-throat legal world and addresses all kinds of relevant, contemporary issues including misogyny, sexism and sexual harassment in the workplace.
But for all its humour and clever, witty dialogue, the novel has a serious underbelly. It could, in fact, be seen as one of the first (or certainly the first I know about) that explores the #metoo movement, possibly before that became a “thing”.
To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.
glockers's review against another edition
4.0
My first Perlman and not the last. Enjoyable, well paced, strong and witty dialogue and well plotted ie believable and interesting
pruemansfield56's review against another edition
2.0
The premise of this book is fantastic, it could not be more timely. The bones of the plot, a junior lawyer cleverly buying time to solve a company problem, but relly seeking good outcomes for the victims; the lawyer for the other party who is also (claims to be) a private investigator, mediator, matchmaker. Willing fathers, contemporary relationship dynamics and dilemmas, entitled men and $$$. But it was so....sooo repetitive. Around and around the same material, plot element, family issue we went. And then again. There were some good lines. I abandoned it, disappointed, about 80% through.
anotheranarchistdyke's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to LOVE this book. I'm a law student, a writer, and a feminist and this book's premise was so up my alley I thought I would be adding it to my all-time favourites. Maserov is an English teacher-turned-lawyer who allies forces with Betga, an eccentric, lawyer genius-turned-life coach to address sexual harassment in the corporate jungle. Its a satire and while I found the overall tone very funny, I found many parts of it quite trite. The dialogue, in particular, had no verisimilitude. The sentences were too long and trying too hard to be erudite that they undermined the wit and it read like a feminism 101 essay. I’m struggling to pinpoint who the target audience is for this, its too consumed with legalese for the general public to read without having to look something up every page and a half, it’s too condescendingly obvious for anyone who has even a basic understanding of feminism, and too much of a proselytisation for the male CEOs who could probably benefit from it. But with that said, it was an enjoyable read, I did laugh out loud in some parts and it was super verbose which I love. The criticism of office culture was also spot-on.
Here are some quotes I loved:
* In an attempt to save their marriage, he mounted a case for having another child which was an especially heroic offer given that he barely saw his wife anymore and hadn’t seen his libido since the previous financial year.
* ‘Yeah everyone is just so impressed with him, he thinks he’s earned the right to pepper his conversations with, “I’m a great believer in…” He’s a great believer in this. He’s a great believer in that. He made the company some money and now he’s developing ad hoc belief systems.’
* “What a talent you have for making an innocuous comment with the remote possibility of a slightly positive interpretation sound unbelievably negative and belittling.’ ‘Yes I really should be in management.’
* ‘Well for our first fact-finding audit we want to know what the second year fee earners think of hot-desking.’
‘What’s hot-desking?’
‘It’s a system of office organisation that does away with permanent workstations for employees, thereby freeing them up to sit next to different colleagues.’ ‘So people have to continually move desk?’
‘Yes, and often without warning,’ expounded Bradley Messenger enthusiastically. ‘Why would anyone want to do that?’
'Change, they get to experience change, We want to be change makers here at Freely Savage, don’t we? And that’s just for starters.’
‘Change Makers?’ Echoed Maserov unconvincingly, ignoring as best he could the never-ending corporate need to convert nouns and verbs into each other or force them into unhappy marriages in order to create the illusion they are technical terms in a learned discipline.
* It was a life that had begun in an expensive private school with its own carefully nurtured grand tradition of manicured gardens, rote learned latin, extreme orienteering, vast tracks of perfectly cut, moist, lush grass to cradle participants in various blood sports and random extra curricular outbreaks of non consensual sodomy.
Here are some quotes I loved:
* In an attempt to save their marriage, he mounted a case for having another child which was an especially heroic offer given that he barely saw his wife anymore and hadn’t seen his libido since the previous financial year.
* ‘Yeah everyone is just so impressed with him, he thinks he’s earned the right to pepper his conversations with, “I’m a great believer in…” He’s a great believer in this. He’s a great believer in that. He made the company some money and now he’s developing ad hoc belief systems.’
* “What a talent you have for making an innocuous comment with the remote possibility of a slightly positive interpretation sound unbelievably negative and belittling.’ ‘Yes I really should be in management.’
* ‘Well for our first fact-finding audit we want to know what the second year fee earners think of hot-desking.’
‘What’s hot-desking?’
‘It’s a system of office organisation that does away with permanent workstations for employees, thereby freeing them up to sit next to different colleagues.’ ‘So people have to continually move desk?’
‘Yes, and often without warning,’ expounded Bradley Messenger enthusiastically. ‘Why would anyone want to do that?’
'Change, they get to experience change, We want to be change makers here at Freely Savage, don’t we? And that’s just for starters.’
‘Change Makers?’ Echoed Maserov unconvincingly, ignoring as best he could the never-ending corporate need to convert nouns and verbs into each other or force them into unhappy marriages in order to create the illusion they are technical terms in a learned discipline.
* It was a life that had begun in an expensive private school with its own carefully nurtured grand tradition of manicured gardens, rote learned latin, extreme orienteering, vast tracks of perfectly cut, moist, lush grass to cradle participants in various blood sports and random extra curricular outbreaks of non consensual sodomy.
_minakim's review against another edition
2.0
Not sure what message the author was trying to convey. It was a tricky piece, not done well.
kimaroundtown's review
2.0
I’m a big fan of this author’s previous books but it might be the time, or my frame of mind after reading two in depth examinations of sexual misconduct investigations, but the idea of a corporate satire about sexual harassment just doesn’t work for me. I couldn’t finish.