Confessions of a Wall Street Shoeshine Boy Doug Stumpf

When I set this book down after reading it, I didn’t go “Wow, what I great book!”. I also didn’t go “That sucked.” I kinda made a noise. Hmmph. I honestly didn’t know what to think. It was well written and had an interesting story line. The first half dragged a little, but about halfway through I found myself unable to put the book down. So why the ambivalence? I wasn’t sure at first. Then, as I was describing it to my husband, it hit me: I really didn’t care for the main character. But yet I really liked the book. This is a first time occurrence for me. Normally if I like the book, I like the main character. If I don’t like the book, I don’t like the main character. This novel had me at odds.

Gils is a Brazilian working as a shoeshine boy for a Wall Street trading firm. He hears and sees things that he usually doesn’t understand. Or he misinterprets them. But he has no trouble understanding that when his friend Teddy is fired from his janitorial job after discovering a trader in the broom closet on a cell phone (a big no-no) an injustice has occurred. When Gil runs into journalist Greg Waggoner, who used to get his shoes shined by Gil, Gil tells him what has happened to his friend. Intrigued, Greg starts digging into the traders life and uncovers a whole lot of things.

This store is written from the perspective of Gil and sometimes Greg. I found the chapters with Gil a bit hard to understand. The English was a bit broken and the thought process jumped around. I think it was brilliant to write it as a running dialogue from both character, but it was sometimes hard and tedious to follow Gil. And I really didn’t find him a likable character. He was very into looks, name brands and all about having fun. He was striving to fit in by being popular which sometimes spilled over to obnoxiousness. And he changed his opinion about events and characters so much it was confusing. Yet despite this I still found myself rooting for him. I found Greg a more likeable character and wanted to know more about him. But all we got was a quick peek into his life.

I would recommend this book, but with a disclaimer.