Book Review: The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort

The incredible rise and fall of Wall Street banker Jordan Belfort, from his humble beginnings as a junior broker through to the crimes that made him the subject of a major FBI investigation. Not much to like about Belfort as a person, during his days at Stratton Oakmont, but an interesting tale of redemption later in life, after a stint in rehab, which made for quite some interesting anecdotes, too. 

I really flew through this, but at the end it made me think, and I realised, basically, that I'd spent a large number of hours over five days reading a book about people I didn’t really like. How could you? Maybe you’re jealous of them making somewhere in the vicinity of fifty million a year, and getting to do the things – women, drugs, parties, holidays in fabulously exotic locations, more women and even more drugs – but, at the end of the day, most of the people described in the book were out-and-out crooks.

They were as guilty as sin on so many dozens of counts, not least of which was smuggling a huge amount of money, though not particularly remorseful until their own heads were on the chopping block. They lied, cheated, scammed, stole, smuggled and laundered, lured to do so by the atmosphere of Wall Street, by wanting to get even richer, until it became their undoing, led by Belfort, who apparently has a charisma that most of us can only dream of.

The lifestyle these guys led is the stuff of legend, and it was vividly depicted at various junctures in the 500-odd pages of the book. They rip people off, launder money, smuggle money, swear, snort coke at any random moment they feel like it (even during the middle of the working day), sleep with women of all kinds (mostly prostitutes, expensive ones, "blue chips"), pop Quaaludes like Skittles, and wreck luxury boats that cost more money than I’m going to make in a year or two. No big deal. Another day in the life of a Wall Street banker, right? Horrible behaviour, for the most part, and by the end of the book, you see that a) it can't/won't last forever and; b) everyone has their comeuppance.

Even so, it's gripping stuff from cover to cover. Highly recommended!