Bringing Down the House
January 21, 2007 by karen
I finished the first of my “24 in 12″ books last week. My kick off book was Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions by Ben Mezrich, a story about a team of card counters from MIT who trade in their lives as engineering and math geniuses for multiple personas and a whole lot of cash.
Mezrich tells the adventure of Jason Lewis, one of the lead card counters on the MIT team, from his normal, scholastic life at MIT to his wild, working weekends in Vegas. The book was a quick, enjoyable read, but the style of writing was lacking wit. The story itself is true, so I know a lot of energy was not spent making stuff up, and therefore feel like I should expect at least a well written book. Perhaps that’s asking too much? Bringing Down the House shares qualities with the Davinci Code–an engaging story, seemingly written by a junior in high school, but at least we can give Dan Brown credit for crafting an original and fictional story. Ugh, I can’t believe I just referenced the Davinci Code on this blog.
Overall, I give Bringing Down the House a B. It was a fun read, and I would recommend it to a handful of people, especially to folks who enjoy gambling or math. I hear it may become a movie, which I think would work really well, especially because I am a sucker for movies about gambling.
Tags: 2007goals, 24 in 12, books, karen
Posted in Entertainment, Projects, Reviews
January 22nd, 2007 at 11:01 am
Agreed that BDTH is a fun read but unlikely to win any Pulitizers. I recall the pacing and structure being a little off, with a bunch of more-or-less unnecessary ‘where are they now’ about minor characters pinned on at the end. But in addition to the gambling and the math, I enjoyed it for the money pr0n: the bits about how they handled all those enormous stacks of cash. I want those sorts of problems some day.
What’s next on the list?
January 22nd, 2007 at 10:22 pm
as a big fan of math, i liked this book, though i admit the plot unfolds in strange ways. for more on weird plot pacing, see “The Libertine”, which i’m convinced has another half hour lying on the cutting room floor.
January 22nd, 2007 at 11:10 pm
I think you both nailed what was odd about this bookâpacing and structure. The jump between the Jason Lewis story to the author’s interviewing process wasnt the best way to unfold such an interesting story.
Jenny and Jaws of life is my current read…