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I'm not really sure
how you screw up such a tailor-made story like this, but I swear that
Mezrich has managed to do it. The fact that this story fell into his
lap makes it even more infuriating that he didn't do a better job
with it. Not being a regular reader of non-fiction, I have to wonder
if all true stories lack the story arc--that build up and put away
punch that is so sorely missing here. I mean even true life has a
beginning, middle and end, and is filled with dramatic highs and lows
that can punched up with drama and electricity and turmoil. And if
any story called for it, this was the one. It's no wonder they made
an instant moneymaker of a movie out of it. It has all the elements
of the underdog nerd (who is really no underdog at all) against the
cocky industry that couldn't be beat. It has those same nerds rubbing
elbows with celebs and the rich and famous because they can use their
brains. It has money belts and secret stashes and even disguises and
false identities and the dating of professional football cheerleaders!
And all because of a card game. The problem is that after a while
it seems that even Mezrich becomes bored with his subject (or just
can't write to save his life). I mean it's a card game in which you
add cards up to twenty-one for god's sake. It's not quite a bank heist
or expedition to Mt. Everest now, is it? It's not to say that there
couldn't have been a really good book written here, but the pacing
is all wrong. The action should have made me feel like I was in the
middle of it, not sitting on a bus reading some secondary account
of an outsider's view of the inside story. I usually don't like sensationalism,
but in this case a little bit would have been okay. The author almost
seems flippant about it at times (or, again, can't write), and it
ultimately drags down the narrative. I could have learned just as
much, and in a much more tense and succinct way, about this MIT card
counting team in a long-ish Esquire article. The funny thing is that
we find out that these guys aren't even unique in their approach--a
fact that the author may have wanted to play down a little bit. The
scheme doesn't seem that special if there are hundreds of other counters
out there doing the same thing. He also brings up and then drops whom
the "investors" were who were bankrolling the operation,
only referring to the as "mysterious" at one point. How
about some follow-up? I mean, that's the real story here. Who are
the people getting rich off of these SAT wonders and their gaming
appetites? I don't know exactly what I expected from this thing, but
whatever it was neither shocked nor amazed.
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