Laura Pedersen, a young woman barely out of high school, describes how she found herself in the surreal, carnival-like atmosphere of the "pit," on the trading floor of the American Stock Exchange. Aged eighteen, Pedersen was learning the ropes where the real trading is done. Just a year later, she was trading millions of dollars worth of options and futures and coping with the male-dominated world of The Pit. Daily she learned to live with brutal practical jokes, torn clothes, deafening noise, and nakedly aggressive behavior that is the essence of finance under combat conditions. By turns hilarious and frightening, Pedersen s account blows the lid off the Decade of Greed. Every day is profoundly nerve-racking, as she must make split-second decisions that could cost her company millions. In PLAY MONEY the reader experiences firsthand the panic and desperation following the crash of 1987. Pedersen also reveals the overheated manic mixture of greed, cunning, sex, cynicism, and compulsion that lies behind the market s orderly facade, and tells how she made her first million dollars before she was twenty-two. PLAY MONEY shows as never before how unwary investors stuffed money into a volcanic Cuisinart. It s shocking, unforgettable, and true. More info at www.LauraPedersenBooks.com KIRKUS REVIEWS (starred review) PLAY MONEY: My Brief But Brilliant Career on Wall Street The sassy memoirs of a still-young woman who had a short and bittersweet but financially rewarding career as an index options trader at the American Stock Exchange. Having quite the University of Michigan after just one semester, Pedersen headed for Wall Street. Starting as an ASE clerk at age 18 in January 1984, she earned a partnership in a specialist firm (and an exchange membership) shortly after turning 20. By the time the author left the Amex late in 1989 (within days of the market’s second precipitous break in two years), her annual income was close to $500,000. Physically and mentally, however, she qualified as a basket case, with badly strained vocal cords, impaired hearing, jumpy vision, chronically sore feet, a wealth of vague anxieties, and an attention span that could most charitably be described as transient. Here, Pedersen (who pinched pennies to maximize her investment bankroll) offers some good yarns about the lessons learned by an Upstate New York lass while apartment-hunting in Manhattan. She also provides pointed commentary on casino capitalism during the Reagan era. At the heart of her narrative, though, are antic accounts of the manic goings-on in the ASE’S trading pits. In addition to making split-second judgment calls on contracts that could yield her employer substantial profits or losses, Pedersen had to cope with unsparing competition from male-chauvinist rivals (and their insensitive pranks), the nearly unbearable din of the trading floor, and other allied challenges. She nonetheless kept her wits and prevailed to the extent that she escaped with her life, comparatively good health, and a small fortune. A savvy insider’s vastly entertaining line on aspects of the money game. Pedersen is also author of GOING AWAY PARTY, BEGINNER S LUCK, HEART S DESIRE, THE BIG SHUFFLE, LAST CALL, THE SWEETEST HOURS, and BUFFALO GAL.
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从主题深度的角度来看,这本书触及了一些非常尖锐和当代性的议题,但它处理问题的方式非常成熟老练。它没有简单地抛出社会问题,然后给出非黑即白的答案,而是构建了一个复杂的情感生态系统,让读者自己去体验和判断。我感受最深的是其中对于“身份认同”的探讨,主角们在面对外部世界的巨大压力和内在自我期望的冲突时,那种挣扎和迷茫被描绘得入木三分。这种对现代人普遍焦虑的精准捕捉,是这本书能够引起我强烈共鸣的关键。此外,作者对社会阶层差异的描绘也极其细腻,通过不同角色的生活环境和对话习惯,不动声色地揭示了权力结构对个体命运的无形操纵。它迫使我们思考,我们所坚信的“自由选择”,究竟有多少是真正属于自己的。整本书读完后,我感觉自己的思维被“重置”了一遍,看待周围世界的眼光也变得更加审慎和多维。它不是一本让人读完后感到轻松愉快的书,但绝对是一本能让你在精神上获得成长的作品,其思想的穿透力令人敬佩。
评分这本书的节奏控制堪称教科书级别。起初,故事像一条缓缓流淌的河流,水面平静,看似没有太多波澜,所有的铺垫都极其沉稳,让你几乎要忘记了潜藏在水下的暗流。这种缓慢的起始反而增强了后半段爆发力的积蓄。进入到中段的转折点时,节奏陡然加快,从内心戏的沉思瞬间切换到外部事件的连锁反应,那种从平静到湍急的过渡处理得丝毫不显突兀,反而让人有种“果然如此”的顿悟感。尤其是高潮部分,作者运用了多条时间线并行叙事的手法,将不同角色的命运交织在一起,信息量巨大但组织得异常清晰,读者需要全神贯注才能跟上这种多线程的推进。这种高强度的阅读体验,让人肾上腺素飙升。而当一切尘埃落定后,作者又巧妙地将节奏再次放缓,以一种近乎冥想的状态收尾,留给读者充足的时间消化之前所有的信息和情感冲击。这种对阅读速度的精准操控,显示了作者极高的叙事自信和对故事掌控力的毋庸置疑。
评分我对这本书的整体观感是震撼中带着一丝迷恋。它成功地构建了一个自洽且逻辑严密的虚构世界,这个世界的运作规则,虽然植根于现实,但又被作者赋予了独特的超现实色彩。这种介于真实与幻想之间的模糊地带,是很多作品难以企及的高度。角色的行为逻辑虽然有时看似反常,但放在作品设定的世界观内,却能找到合理的解释,这体现了作者在构建世界观设定上的严谨性。令我印象深刻的是,作者似乎擅长利用环境描写来暗示角色的心理状态。例如,书中描绘了一个特定季节的黄昏景象,那种光线和色彩的搭配,简直是为主角当时内心的绝望状态量身定制的背景板,这种环境与情感的完美融合,极大地增强了叙事的感染力。这本书的魅力在于它的“深度呼吸”,它允许读者在紧张的冲突中暂停下来,去感受环境的美丽与残酷。最终,它留给我的感受不是一个故事的结束,而是一个更宏大叙事碎片的开启,让我对后续的可能性充满了好奇和期待。这是一次非常值得的阅读投资。
评分这本书的结构真是让人眼前一亮,作者似乎很懂得如何在一个看似简单的叙事框架下,埋下层层递进的哲学思辨。开篇的氛围营造极其到位,那种略带疏离感的城市景观,仿佛将读者瞬间拉入了一个既熟悉又陌生的时空之中。我特别喜欢作者对细节的打磨,比如主角在咖啡馆里观察陌生人时,那些细微的面部表情和肢体语言的捕捉,简直如同高清晰度的慢镜头回放,让人不得不停下来细细品味。故事情节的推进,并非依赖于戏剧性的冲突,而是更多地依赖于人物内心世界的微妙变化和由此引发的一系列连锁反应。这种克制而有力的叙事方式,使得每一次情感的爆发都显得格外珍贵和震撼。读到中期时,我一度猜测故事的走向,但作者似乎总能在那一刻,用一个意想不到的转折,将读者的预期打乱,迫使我们重新审视之前建立的所有认知。这种智力上的博弈,让阅读体验充满了发现的乐趣。而且,角色的塑造非常立体,没有绝对的“好人”或“坏蛋”,每个人物都有其复杂性和可理解性,即便他们的行为在道德光谱上处于灰色地带。整本书读下来,感觉就像是经历了一场精妙的心理迷宫探险,出来时,对人性的理解似乎又加深了一层,这绝非一本可以轻松翻阅的作品,它需要投入时间去咀嚼和反思。
评分我得说,这本书的语言风格简直是一场盛宴,充满了古典的韵味却又毫不陈旧。作者的遣词造句功力深厚,很多句子读起来就像精心雕琢的诗歌片段,即便是描述日常场景,也带着一种强烈的画面感和韵律感。尤其是一些比喻和象征的运用,达到了出神入化的地步,那些平日里被我们忽略的日常事物,在作者的笔下焕发出了全新的生命力和寓意。我花了好大力气去记录下其中几段我特别欣赏的文字,因为它们不仅仅是推动情节的工具,它们本身就是艺术品。这种对文字的极致追求,使得阅读过程变成了一种审美体验。不过,也正因为如此,它对阅读者的要求也相对较高,如果你期待那种一目了然、直白的叙述,可能会在开始时感到些许吃力。但一旦你适应了这种慢节奏、高密度的语言结构,你就会发现自己被一种无可匹敌的文学魅力所吸引。书中关于“时间流逝”和“记忆重塑”的探讨,穿插在精美的文字之中,没有生硬的说教,而是通过角色之间的对话和独白自然流淌出来。这种艺术性和思想性的完美结合,让我对作者的文学抱负有了极高的评价。这是一本需要反复阅读才能完全领会其精妙之处的书籍,每次重读都会有新的感悟。
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