BOOK REVIEW: Monkey Business by John Rolfe and Peter Troob

As I noted on some recent post, I’ve just released a fiction novel, The Pitchbook: A Banking Analyst’s Tale of Markets, Millions, and Mayhem. In the same theme, I thought it would be fun to start a series of short book reviews of the genre that inspired me. I will rate the books on 0 to 5 bananas for the good parts and 0 to 5 monkey shits for the bad. And what better book to start with than Monkey Business by John Rolfe and Peter Troob?

Monkey Business: Swinging Through the Wall Street Jungle  - 5 BANANAS

For those who don’t know, Monkey Business inspired Patrick to name this site Wall Street Oasis. The first paragraphs of the book are so good that I just had to copy them below:

“A few years ago, Rolfe and I stood on the edge of what we thought was a desert. Across the desert, we believed we saw a lush, green oasis. We hoped that the pleasures of that oasis would one day be ours. The more we thought about the oasis, the more convinced we were of the untold pleasures that lay within its luxuriant borders. There was only one problem. The desert.

When we started out as investment banking associates, the oasis was represented by a coveted appointment as a managing director by the firm. We were willing to cross those hot burning sands, the interim years as investment banking associates and vice presidents, in order to one day bask in the shade of a palm frond. A few months after beginning our journey, though, we began to suspect that the original oasis we had seen might be a mirage. For a time, we became lost, delirious in the hot sun, but eventually we regained our bearings. It became clear to us that whatever oasis lay out there for us, to get there we were going to have to cross more sand than we could have ever imagined.”

Monkey Business only came across my reading list pretty far into my career, but wow I wish that I had discovered it earlier. Out of all the books in this genre of Wall Street / financial fiction and narrative non-fiction, this has to be the most accurate portrayal of the daily drudgery of an investment bank in this case DLJ (which, for the kids, merged into Credit Suisse in 2000). At the time, working at DLJ was a big deal, probably on the same level as working at a Evercore or Moelis today…maybe even better. For someone who is thinking of getting into banking, stop reading my review and go ahead and buy the book. It’s that good. For those who have been in the industry for some time, it’s still enjoyable to read and reflect how similar your own experience was to the authors. I really enjoyed that the book kept everything very real. There was no glamorizing of billion dollar deals and wild parties with co***ne. At the same time, the book is not boring by any stretch. It is funny, entertaining, and easy to read.

Some aspects that I liked in comparison to others in the genre was a reflection on what all the characters were doing a decade later including the authors. In many books of this genre, the story just kind of ends. Here is my tell-all book, I quit finance, and I don’t know what I’m doing next. In Monkey Business, you get to hear how everyone’s decisions worked out.

Monkey Shits – 1 MS

Really loved this book so I can’t throw much shade on it, but here are some small nits. First, some parts of the book have become dated (not the authors’ fault – these things happen). For example, discussions on word processing and printing pitchbooks has changed much since 1998. Also, comp is different. In the story, first year associate comp is ~$210K in 1998 dollars which is $350K in current dollars. Again, these are not huge deals. Ninety percent of their life in banking back then sounds exactly the same as right now.

However, there is one part that does deserve a little MS. In the last chapter, the authors wax poetically about the financial crisis and the current state of financial markets. I absolutely hate this sort of stuff…Michael Lewis is infamous for it. This is a book about personal experiences in banking. I always find it a stretch to somehow finish and summarize the book with opinions about the entire broad market. How do we make the jump from talking about all-nighters to macroeconomics?? In my opinion, the book would have been better just dropping that last chapter. And again, many in the genre fall into this trap. I think it’s what publishers and editors want – a final jab incriminating the entire financial system, but it doesn’t make sense in the grand scheme of the other 280 pages of the book.

Shameless Plug

Thanks for reading the review. Would love to hear your thoughts on the book if you’ve read it. Feel free to follow me on WSO and if there is a good response to this, I’ll keep doing more reviews. Also, feel free to give the first three chapters of my book a read on Amazon, The Pitchbook: A Banking Analyst’s Tale of Markets, Millions, and Mayhem. I really enjoy this genre and The Pitchbook was born out of reading so much of it and trying to improve on much of what has already been written while avoiding many of the tropes and cliches.