We Are Rich

By Dori Carter

The little, leafy town of Rancho Esperanza has been a perfect place to live for over a centurya bastion of good, solid, Anglo-Saxon, Republican money. These founding fathers built their gracious... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 159051307X
• ISBN13: 9781590513071
• Release Date: April 2009
• Publisher: Other Press (NY)
• Length: 196 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Sharp wit and juicy insights

I read this a chapter at a time rather than rushing through it, savoring each of the richly drawn stories from a distinct and different character's perspective. The shifting point-of-view structure spanning decades in the scandalous life of (fictitious) Rancho Esperanza is a compelling way to explore this imperious town and its many, well-kept secrets. Woven together the pieces paint a fascinating portrait of a wealthy enclave and its rise and eventual dismemberment. Ms. Carter has created vivid characters that, by story's end, I felt I knew intimately (though not so well that I could anticipate the shocker of a final reveal.) Her prose is keenly detailed and pulls no punches depicting the residents of this entitled community. All of this is done with rapier wit and dry humor that kept the book from ever taking itself as serious as those it depicted. (I'm sure someone's ears are burning somewhere.) "We Are Rich" is a pleasure to read and has made me eager to sample Ms. Carter's previous book with its irresistibly enticing title.

Funny and insightful- A great tapestry of lives

Fantastic writing -follows the unfolding of one neighborhood through the eyes of each person it it - across generations - unraveling poignant, funny and insightful life stories with a perfect unexpected twist at the end. It's a brilliant jigsaw puzzle of human lives, told with honesty, and wit. I recommend it 100% - A totally captivating read.

The times, they are a changin...

I usually do not like reading short stories but this book is a collection of connected stories taking us, the reader, through time as the rules of society are changing. I loved the way Dori Carter, the author, tells the story first person. Carter takes on ten very different characters. She begins with the young cook's boy, Peter and later returns to him as an adult. My favourite is the cleaning lady from Honduras, Fidelia Zapata. The hidden truths of this small town of Rancho Esperanza are eventually exposed. I found myself laughing out loud many a times and wanting more at the end. What more could one want? I would definitely recommend this book to all my friends!

Brigadoon by the Beach

Dori Carter has an uncanny ability to pick just the right words to construct the most elegant sentences to portray powerful, poignant and hilarious insights into her neighbors in "Brigadoon by the Beach". I couldn't put the book down or sleep until I finished it and can hardly wait to read it more slowly and savor each page. Scott Fitzgerald once said, "The Rich are very different from you and me". Carter shows us just how different they are from the rest of us--and from each other. From the cook's son who has the audacity to make it big in silicon valley to the gardner's son who marries the boss' daughter, a new generation in Rancho Esperanza is displacing the old guard ('men with noses that look they've been sniffing Bordeaux'. The book deserves to be a huge success..

Almost makes you happy you're not rich....

Dori Carter has done it again. With her inciteful humor and crisp style, she skewers the moneyed denizens of what must certainly be her home town. Neither the Old Money relics nor the New Money parvenues are people one would like to know, yet they are drawn with affectionate accuracy and the ten overlapping stories carry you along on a breezy, bumpy and ultimately satisfying journey. Enjoy.