All That Counts - Softcover

Oswald, Georg M.

3.03

38 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802139310 ISBN 13: 9780802139313

Publisher: Grove Press, 2002

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Winner of the prestigious International Prize and praised for its "gleefully bitter prose" (Los Angeles Times), All That Counts is a sardonic, fast-paced urban thriller whose hardcover publication marked the American debut of a scintillating young German writer. From the bland boardrooms of the bourgeoisie to the dark alleys of the criminal underworld, this searing contemporary satire brilliantly exposes the dangerous attraction of opportunism, loss of control, and the seedy side of life. Thirty-something and married to a public relations executive named Marianne, Thomas Schwarz is certain that he is soon to become department head of Liquidations and Foreclosures at the bank where he works. But after fumbling a particularly byzantine property case, his life begins to unravel: his female boss glibly fires him and his wife walks out. Suddenly acquainted with the giddy thrill of a life unmoored, he falls in with a cocaine-fueled crowd of money-launderers who set out to exploit him. But when the gang is busted, Thomas seizes his chance to escape with the profits and, in a final breathless move, exposes once and for all just how precarious the trappings of society really are. "Clever, informed, sarcastic, and streetwise" (Suddeutsche Zeitung), All That Counts is a provocative, glittering debut. "Savage and funny ... a very supple and clever satire ... full of small, cumulative pleasures." -- Geoff Nicholson, The New York Times Book Review "Reads like the gleeful evil twin of the self-help book." -- Richard Wallace, The Seattle Times

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From Publishers Weekly:

German novelist Oswald proves that it's a small world, after all, by writing a bitter sendup of consumerism and corporate culture that's every bit as shallow, ham-fisted and self-congratulatory as anything penned by his wannabe-hip American or British counterparts over the past decade. This tale of avarice, societal malaise and anomie is narrated by Thomas Schwarz, an upwardly mobile young bank executive. Deputy manager of the department of foreclosure and liquidation, Schwarz is leery of his co-workers, bored with his wife, Marianne, and hostile toward most of humanity. In Oswald's eyes, this makes him the prototypical yuppie for the new millennium. Schwarz is a jaded, cold-blooded creature who relishes the ersatz power that his job affords him: while dealing with a couple who run a comic book/music store, he sneers, "I'm going to have to teach them a bit of reality, with a good hard dose of compulsory repossession." The novel chronicles Schwartz's ultimate ruination, precipitated by a jealous superior, Frau Rumenich. She assigns him to the massive, insoluble Kosiek case, a twisted morass of financial wrangling and ancient paperwork reminiscent of Dickens's classic Jarndyce v. Jarndyce lawsuit. Of course, Schwartz fails to instantly untangle it and is fired. For the rest of the novel, he spins out of control bickering with his wife, sleeping with a materialistic call girl and getting involved with Uwe and Anatol, a pair of bottom-feeding drug dealers. Oswald's all-out assault on the soullessness of big business and the pervasive numbness and lack of direction of today's young professionals is largely unsuccessful, full of uninspired sociological observations and peopled exclusively by militantly unpleasant characters, making for a short but onerous read. (Sept.)Forecast: Don't count on sales.

From Booklist:

Oswald's story about a bank official dismissed from his job who finds salvation working for criminals in the urban underworld of an unnamed city in Germany will surely strike a chord with the newly downsized white-collar workers here in the U.S. Thomas Schwarz, an official in the foreclosures department of a major bank, finds himself and his career drowning in an interminable investigation of a delinquent client. Ultimately, the situation costs Thomas his job, his wife, and his self-respect. In his own mind, little separates himself from the decay and destitution that litter his urban landscape: the homeless in subway stations and the drug addicts who congregate on street corners. Desperate and disillusioned, he begins a business relationship with two underworld figures who reside in his neighborhood, a relationship that may lead to his salvation or self-destruction. No cloud has a silver lining in Oswald's portrait of work and waste, which becomes a personal indictment of modern life. Ted Leventhal
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