Das Kapital: A Novel of Love and Money Markets

A quirky combination of satire and thriller, this short novel defies easy categorization. "The Corsican," a bitter former tree cutter for a Corsican firm, goes to New York to see Wayne, a Gordon Gekko–like hedge fund runner who has recently sold a major stake in that company. When the Corsican, a nationalist seeking revenge on his former employers, asks Wayne about a job, Wayne is initially dismissive, but is soon employing him as a market-altering terrorist. Meanwhile, Alix, the Corsican's sometime lover, conducts a steamy, unrelated e-mail correspondence with the ferociously windy Wayne. Soon, all three converge on Marseilles as another scheme is set to unfold. While the story and characters tend to be all surface, Berberian's clear delight in Wall Street parody and in the eccentric details of Corsican life offsets the facile quality. Berberian (The Cyclist) also gets in some Paulo Coelho–like rants against modernity that pay homage to Karl Marx's great work, Das Kapital , but readers won't need to know any Marx to enjoy this clever and interesting tale. (June)