Author: Polly Courtney
Narrator: Anne Day-Jones
Unabridged, Lengths 11 hrs 57 mins
Publisher: Polly Courtney
Publishers Summary
"A job at Cray McKinley is whatever you make of it. For the real high flyers, there's no limit to what you can achieve."
Abby is a high flyer. But she's not your average banker. Driven by something other than money and status, she has her own reasons for climbing the ladder. And so does Mike. An ambitious young graduate with an equally impressive CV, Mike is in it for the six-figure salaries and fast cars. He's got the skills, the grades and the swagger to make it all the way to the top.
But neither Abby nor Mike is prepared for the life that awaits them behind the mirrored glass doors. In a world where verbal abuse is commonplace, greed is everywhere and sexual harassment is just part of the fun, the young bankers are forced to find new ways to compete - and not just against one another.
Based on the author's experiences as a junior investment banker, Golden Handcuffs is a fresh, gripping insight into life inside a Wall Street bank and what it really means to sell your soul to the City.
©2006 Polly Courtney (P)2014 Polly Courtney
My Thoughts:
Golden Handcuffs truly paints a grim picture of the experience of working in the banking industry. The horrible greed and deceit fostered by competition to climb the corporate ladder would make it hard to trust co-workers. Any young person who wants to go into banking should read (or listen) so they'd know that the prestige of the position and the financial rewards may not be worth the abuse they would face. I thought it would be more interesting but I'm probably not the right audience for it. I couldn't understand why Abby put up with being treated so badly. She didn't seem to care about the prestige or the money. Her romantic relationship with traitorous Mike did not ring true. I found any account of Mike and his life to be as boring as watching paint dry. Abby was more interesting even if I couldn't figure her out. At the end of the story I wanted to kick her.
Narrator Anne Day-Jones has a pleasant voice and her tone and pace were great. There are a few glitches in the production (skips, repeats, overlapping lines) but they were not her fault. I liked her performance and definitely want to hear more of her work.
The story is based on the author's actual experience as a junior investment banker and the whole time I was listening, I kept thinking that it would have been better as an autobiography instead of a fictional story. I give it 3 stars and recommend it to any young person looking to get a position in banking or any highly paid corporate position.
Review copy provided by the author.
Abby is a high flyer. But she's not your average banker. Driven by something other than money and status, she has her own reasons for climbing the ladder. And so does Mike. An ambitious young graduate with an equally impressive CV, Mike is in it for the six-figure salaries and fast cars. He's got the skills, the grades and the swagger to make it all the way to the top.
But neither Abby nor Mike is prepared for the life that awaits them behind the mirrored glass doors. In a world where verbal abuse is commonplace, greed is everywhere and sexual harassment is just part of the fun, the young bankers are forced to find new ways to compete - and not just against one another.
Based on the author's experiences as a junior investment banker, Golden Handcuffs is a fresh, gripping insight into life inside a Wall Street bank and what it really means to sell your soul to the City.
©2006 Polly Courtney (P)2014 Polly Courtney
My Thoughts:
Golden Handcuffs truly paints a grim picture of the experience of working in the banking industry. The horrible greed and deceit fostered by competition to climb the corporate ladder would make it hard to trust co-workers. Any young person who wants to go into banking should read (or listen) so they'd know that the prestige of the position and the financial rewards may not be worth the abuse they would face. I thought it would be more interesting but I'm probably not the right audience for it. I couldn't understand why Abby put up with being treated so badly. She didn't seem to care about the prestige or the money. Her romantic relationship with traitorous Mike did not ring true. I found any account of Mike and his life to be as boring as watching paint dry. Abby was more interesting even if I couldn't figure her out. At the end of the story I wanted to kick her.
Narrator Anne Day-Jones has a pleasant voice and her tone and pace were great. There are a few glitches in the production (skips, repeats, overlapping lines) but they were not her fault. I liked her performance and definitely want to hear more of her work.
The story is based on the author's actual experience as a junior investment banker and the whole time I was listening, I kept thinking that it would have been better as an autobiography instead of a fictional story. I give it 3 stars and recommend it to any young person looking to get a position in banking or any highly paid corporate position.
Review copy provided by the author.
