Too Much Money: A Novel [Large Print] [Paperback]

Like the first two reviewers of Dominick Dunne's newest/last book, I was going to give it four stars. I've loved Dunne's writing all these years, from his columns in Vanity Fair to his many novels along the way. "People Like Us" was always a particular favorite of mine. I always thought it was better than Tom Wolfe's "Bonfire of the Vanities", which was released at about the same time and was about the same strata of NYC society - the "titans of Wall Street" and their "Social X-ray" wives.

"Too Much Money" is about the same characters, updated a few years or so, and beginning with Elias Renthal's release from prison, i.e. "the facility" and Adele Harcourt's death, at the age of 105. A famous slander case that the real Dominick Dunne was involved in is a large part of the novel, as well as his on-going battle with one of the wealthiest widows in the world over her husband's suspicious death in Monte Carlo. Like Dominick Dunne, Gus Bailey was diagnosed with cancer and his treatment is also part of the story. As are the incidental characters, maids, chauffeurs, press people, society "walkers"; auxiliary people who Dunne draws with a wicked, but, at times, sympathetic pen.

And the most interesting part of the book is that I think Dominick Dunne "outs" himself. I won't give the part away but it seemed almost as if Dunne confesses something he has long wanted to say, but maybe couldn't until he faced death.

Was the writing great? No, it wasn't "five star" great - it was "four star" - but, in honor of the man's last work, and his honesty in writing it, I'm giving it "five stars". Enjoy.

Dunne makes no pretense about writing fiction that is largely based on real people and events, and in this book it is quite an interesting game to figure out who is who. Several characters are rather easily distinguished but others are more difficult. One gets the feeling that he has an excellent memory for dialogue, a skill reminiscent of Truman Capote who claimed greater than ninety percent recall. Capote also wrote about the same strata of society and received a similar sort of backlash. Anyway from Gus Bailey the writer to the billionaire Elias Renthal in and out of a "facility" and his beautiful, shoot-straight-from-the-hip wife Ruby, the interactions between people keep you turning the pages whether you want to or not. Most of the action takes place in New York City. Sometimes I felt I shouldn't be so fascinated by these rich people frequently demonstrating snobby and superficial values but I was. Sex and gossip, social climbing and money rule in this book. It's a fun and quick read.

Novelist/columnist Dominick Dunne died in the August of this last year, leaving behind a legacy of reporting on the uppermost circles of American society.

And he doesn't disappoint in his final roman à clef, a gilded look into the unseen world at the top of New York, where scandals and crimes swim under the glimmering surface. But "Too Much Money" could easily be called "Portrait of an Artist Who Knows the End is Near" -- the main character is pretty much identical to Dunne himself in his final years, and there's a poignant bite to his last quiet quest for the truth.

Gus Bailey has had a rough two years, especially since a corrupt politician (suspected in the death of an intern) is suing him for libel because of a careless mistake. So he's focusing on a pet project he's wanted to work on for years -- "An Infamous Woman," about the philanthropist Perla Zacharias and the mysterious, suspicious death of her husband Konstantin. However, Perla isn't about to take this lying down -- and she'll unleash filthy rumors, spying, and whatever else it takes to keep all her skeletons in the closet.

While this is going on, society is undergoing shifts both subtle and massive. The infamous Elias Renthal is being released from prison, and he and his wife are beginning a crusade to reenter polite society; a genteel old-guard matron finds herself "downsized" from her life of grandeur, but is offered a new chance; and a charming, light-fingered gay "walker" wends his way onto the trains of wealthy women. Some will rise, some will fall, and Gus Bailey will see it all.

Dunne was dying when he wrote "Too Much Money," and it shows -- there's a slight roughness to his prose, and the whole "suspicious death of Konstantin" is wrapped up in a limp, unsatisfactory manner (seriously, WHAT HAPPENED?). It's a credit to Dunne's skill that his final book is nevertheless an engaging one -- he writes sleek, elegant prose riddled with genteel charm and dignity, and a poignant look at a once exalted slice of New York's society.

Of course, there's also a healthy dose of scandal and crime shielded behind false names, lots of lush descriptions of how the wealthy live and maintain their exalted status ("It's supposed to overpower a room. That's the point of owning a Canaletto"), and how elegantly-dressed nouveau riche can supplant the old Auchinclossian aristocracy. And Dunne takes a hard, piercing look at what makes a life truly worth living, rather than an empty one of fair-weather friends and parties.

But the heart of this book is ultimately Gus. He IS Dunne in his waning years: an elderlywriter with a dead daughter and two sons, who is loved for his wit and loathed for his roman à clef novels. He's even sued for libel by a corrupt politician involved in an intern's disappearance (sound familiar?).

He's also a likable, humble man who is bent but not broken by the temper tantrums of his rich enemies, and determined to ferret out the truth even if he has to anger the third-richest woman in the world. There's also a pretty colorful gang of supporting characters -- genteel society matrons escorted by their charming gay "walkers," a Wall Street businessman and his "trashy" wife, kindly Irish cooks, and the screeching, icy-cold Perla (who seems determined to hide... something we never quite see).

"Too Much Money" sputters at the end of Gus's years-long quest to reveal the truth, but the journey is what makes Dominick Dunne's final novel a good (if flawed) read. Farewell, Mr. Dunne -- you will be missed.