Alive and Kicking: A Novel - Hardcover

Levin, Michael Graubart

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0671731904 ISBN 13: 9780671731908

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1993

Synopsis

While three generations of Gaineses squabble over who will inherit the family fortune, Amelia Vanderbilt, a young banker, helps the family patriarch draft a will that will force his kin to get along or lose it all

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Reviews

YA-An amusing look into the depths of human greed and absurdity. The Gaines family, very large and very wealthy, has contested just about every will ever written by a relative. Split into factions that are constantly battling one another to obtain a declaration of mental incompetency for the most-recently deceased family member, the sides are represented by an equally large (and also split) family of lawyers-the Shapolskys. Recently deceased Harry Gaines's attempt to reconcile the family with his will's decree that they must all "get along" in order to receive his enormous bequest almost works. But, in the end, human foibles triumph when yet another Gaines passes away, and the squabbles flare up again. The hilarious antics, undertaken by strongly delineated characters who-with the exception of Harry-take themselves very seriously, make for a rollicking, tongue-in-cheek romp.
Bunni Union, Geauga West Library, Chesterland, OH
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Levin's third comic novel is a thoroughly enjoyable spoof of a quarrelsome, rabidly litigious family trying to mend its ways. Patriarch Harry Gaines, 92 years old, leaves a will intended to reconcile his warring kin: his heirs have 31 days in which to make peace, or his $60-million fortune will be applied to the federal government's budget deficit. Here the fun begins, as squabbles escalate, secrets surface and two competing firms of lawyers from the Shapolsky family (another dueling clan whose history has been intertwined with that of the Gaineses) contrive to keep the lawsuits going. As the newly appointed manager of the Gaines trust, perky young Amelia Vanderbilt (who has family secrets of her own) becomes obsessed with delving into the Gaineses' decades-long enmity and effecting a reconciliation. Columbia Law School graduate Levin employs legal documents from the many Gaines lawsuits to reconstruct the family feud, and despite his liberal use of legalese, these sections are among the book's liveliest. A shrewd but kindhearted satirist, Levin knows when to attack and when to retreat from truly bitter family disputes. Reassured by this fundamental gentleness, the reader can sit back and enjoy wacky characters, a fast-moving plot and a rare legal confrontation in which the lawyers don't come out on top.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Returning to the legal background of his debut (The Socratic Method, 1987), Levin focuses his comic eye here on the world of contested wills and acrimonious family disputes as a filthy-rich yet charmingly eccentric band of money-grubbers maneuvers to divide the latest spoils, while their lawyers scheme to siphon away as much of it as they can. Caught in the middle of this contentious mess is the capable and lovely Amelia Vanderbilt, a young trust officer newly assigned to the notorious Gaines family account, who vows not to let them eat her alive as they did her predecessors. When ex-vaudevillian Harry Gaines leaves behind the demand that his relations ``get along,'' or else lose his $60 million estate to the feds, Amelia and her fianc‚ Howard, an accountant at the bank, are placed on the Trust Committee to aid in reaching an agreement. Plans from various family members to use Harry's three Broadway theaters as they were intended, or replace them altogether with high-rise office buildings, create a mad scramble to assemble a majority of votes on the Committee, but rival law firms have more to gain by keeping their clients from finding any common ground. Amelia finds herself fascinated by the Gaineses' history of litigation, which spans more than 70 years, and she is fascinated as well by footloose, handsome Dwight David Gaines, who blows into New York from Antibes long enough to cast a shadow on her engagement. As she digs into the Gaineses' history, however, a skeleton from her own closet emerges, adding a new wrinkle that threatens her position at the bank and leaves her open to blackmail when the most unscrupulous Gaines, a Manhattan real-estate developer who prays regularly to The Donald, gets wind of it. Entertaining and mildly satirical, with layers of intrigue deftly juxtaposed, though the saccharine sweetness leaves an unpleasant aftertaste. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Levin scores his third hit with this wickedly funny saga of three generations in a litigious Manhattan family. His first, critically acclaimed novel, The Socratic Method ( LJ 11/1/87), poked fun at law school, while Settling the Score ( LJ 4/1/89) satirized the people who perform classical music. In his latest effort, vaudeville comedian Harry Gaines dies and leaves $60 million to his descendants--if they can "get along." If not, they forfeit their legacy to the federal government. Amelia Vanderbilt, a young trust officer, is charged with working out the details to the bank's satisfaction. The author, a law school graduate and a master of complex plotting, offers a family tree to help the reader keep the Gaineses and their lawyers straight. Levin manages to make 45 major characters amusing and memorable in fewer than 400 pages, and his research on the development of the theater seems solid. Recommended for large public libraries.
- Joyce Smothers, Monmouth Cty. Lib., Manalapan, N.J.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0671731904
• ISBN 13: 9780671731908
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 350