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Cash Out: A Novel
Cash Out: A Novel
Cash Out: A Novel
Ebook408 pages5 hours

Cash Out: A Novel

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this ebook

Cash Out is one of those novels that begs for more adjectives: relentless, madcap, polished, lean, vivid, warped, original, horrifying and hilarious in equal measure.”
—Marcus Sakey, author of The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes and The Amateur

Imagine a story by Ben Mezrich (The Accidental Billionaires, 21) of staggering financial improprieties infused with Tim Dorsey’s (Hurricane Punch, Gator A-Go-Go) zany, over-the-top pure insanity, and you might have something somewhat resembling Cash Out, the rollicking debut novel  by Greg Bardsley. This is nonstop, mercilessly hilarious, no-holds-barred fiction for fans of  The Hangover and Office Space—an outrageous tall tale that follows one desperate, disgruntled Silicon Valley exec through a his surreal three-day scramble to cash out his stock options and leave behind his hated high-tech job before outrageous villains (and even crazier friends) completely destroy him. Do you like the wildly satirical work of Tom Perrotta, Sam Lipsyte, and Gary Shteyngart? Do the ingenious comic caper novels of Elmore Leonard leave you breathless and exhilarated?  Then get ready to Cash Out.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateOct 16, 2012
ISBN9780062127747
Cash Out: A Novel
Author

Greg Bardsley

Greg Bardsley has worked as a Silicon Valley speechwriter, a news-paper reporter, and a weekly columnist. His ghostwriting for high-profile business executives has appeared in Newsweek, USA Today, and the Financial Times. His short fiction has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including 3:AM magazine, Plots with Guns, Uncage Me, and Sex, Thugs, and Rock & Roll. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Rating: 3.4285714285714284 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

14 ratings2 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a great story that will keep you very entertained while you wait for the next unexpected turn. Every time you think it can't get more ridiculous or weird, it does. This would make a great Cohen Brothers film.

    Since I grew up in Oakland and worked and lived in the valley for 25 years, I have a special affinity for Dan. All the office politics, CEO arrogance and financial high wire acts are very accurate.

  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    I'm looking at the book description and all the blurbs and seeing things like "mercilessly hilarious," "madcap" and "irreverent, surreal, utterly original" and I'm wondering if they read the same book I just finished. I won't say the book is worthless, because it has a few moments and Greg Bardsley can write, but the characters aren't believable and only a couple aren't a waste of space. Unfortunately, characters who aren't a waste of space do not include the protagonist.I know the America's Favorite Home Videos crowd thinks it's hysterically funny to see people humiliated and physically hurt, but I don't get my laughs from reading about a guy who's just had a vasectomy getting kicked in the privates, a creepy fat guy giggling as he threatens his neighbor and then takes a dump in the upper tank of the neighbor's toilet, or a new employee demonstrating his dominance over other employees by eating a rat. Whenever the humor isn't sadistic, it's juvenile bodily function stuff. I never so much as cracked a smile reading this book.So if the book's not funny (unless you're into sadistic and/or crude humor), it needs to offer something else. I kept hoping that something would come along that would give the story some meaning, but it never did. The protagonist, Dan Jordan, is repellent; a mope who is disloyal to his company and the wife he's supposed to be devoted to. Still, all the excrement that rains down on him is overkill, to say the least, and there's no point to it.And don't get me started on the way author Bardsley portrays women. Dan's wife is needy and manipulative, their marriage counselor belittles him, and the women at work tend to be harpies or nags. When it comes right down to it, the women are just variations on a theme of emasculation. The men don't come off a lot better. They're a bunch of one-upping slimeballs and psychos.Just thinking about the book makes me feel sad that I wasted time reading it. I'm sure there are people who will enjoy it, but if you're reading this review, be sure you really, really like sadistic and crude humor, misogyny and nonstop cynicism before spending your time and money on this.

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Cash Out - Greg Bardsley

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