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Bobby Clark is just sixteen when he drops out of school to follow his big brother, Jim, into the jewelry business. Bobby idolizes Jim and is in awe of Jim’s girlfriend, Lisa, the best saleswoman at the Fort Worth Deluxe Diamond Exchange.
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- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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"How to sell or ... does God exist?" 2009-10-03
By mark jabbour (Laporte, Colorado)
HOW TO SELL is a novel by Clancy Martin. It is his first one, which is my favorite read. Generally, first novels are first person narratives about a subject the author is familiar with. Write what you know is a truism. "How to Sell" is about the fine jewelry business. Great, I thought, I'd learn something I know nothing about. That is why I like first novels--they inform me about parts of the world I haven't experienced. The fashion world, the art world, politics, Africa, the movie business, the CIA, and on and on. Martin did, according to the jacket, "... worked for many years in the fine jewelry business." And, he was a philosophy professor. VERY interesting, I thought. I was not disappointed. I was puzzled.
How to sell? Lie, steal, and cheat. Be very good at it, and have no conscience about it. There it is in a nut's shell. Oh, and it helps to stay stoned on cocaine and speed and drink like a fish and f__k like a rabbit. This can't be true, can it? This was a tale about two brothers, a father, and two very loose women who were more interested in screwing than money, jewels, or children. It wasn't particularly well written--the dialogue was confusing and everyone seemed to speak with the same voice. In addition, it was hard to tell the order of events; I often had to reread paragraphs and couldn't always tell what was happening, to what were the narrator's inner thoughts. Was that on purpose, to show just how screwed up this person was? Or ... is the author that crazy? I decided to check him out and googled him. Up popped a two-hour debate he had with a pastor of a Christian church titled "Does God Exist?"
This is what I think. The novel was a vehicle for the professor to profess about what amorality looks like. The jewelry business cannot be THAT sleazy! The whole novel just made me want to shower and never, ever, set foot in a jewelry store. AND ...: Give up sex, stop drinking, and never, ever do any drug again, legal or not. It was also a way to mock churches and those who preach they KNOW (the father is an insane preacher/clairvoyant/psychic) what is the Truth of things. As it turns out, Martin's father was a man of God who did have a church and his debater opponent, the pastor, says he believes ALL atheists have father issues, and subsequently, problems with authority and thus God. [My, my.] Professor Martin declared, "I am not an atheist." The pastor asserted, "Without God, there cannot be any reason for moral behavior." [Yikes.] Martin came back, "NO, the absence of belief makes possible, and more likely, true moral behavior and allows for humanity to thrive." [I cheered.]
The debate took place two years ago. Martin might well have written the novel as part of ... process therapy. It is not easy to take on God and the justified, pretentious, conforming, traditional, know-it-all. Maybe he overreacted a little. I gave it four stars. It is different. It is entertaining. And in some paradoxical way (philosophy professors love paradox) it is a moral story about how not to live.
"Improbable page turner" 2009-08-30
By David B. Erickson (Asheville, NC United States)
Bobby Clark more or less claims to have been born dishonest--he introduces himself by telling us how he stole his mother's wedding ring. The plot mechanics that get him from boyhood in Calgary to sleazehood in Fort Worth are unbelievable, but that's hardly the point. Somehow, Martin gets you to care about this precociously larcenous kid, his sordid sex life (or maybe it's "love life," it's hard to tell, and that's part of the charm, I guess) and his drug habits. No, I don't believe that Bobby actually has copies of Siddhartha, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, The Power of Positive Thinking, and Journey To The End Of The Night in his backpack. But it doesn't seem to matter--I keep turning the pages and wondering what's going to happen next. What can I say? It's a good read.
PS: Watch out for Dad. Is he really psychic?
"An overhyped disappointment" 2009-08-11
By Zandiman (Los Angeles)
I was suckered into buying this book, after a reviewer on NPR touted this book as a modern masterpiece. Boy they sure don't write masterpieces the way they used to.
The book is a plodding, dull tale of two, unevolved guys from a dysfunctional family using drugs and people interchangeably as they numbly stumble their way through their uninteresting lives.
Clancy's greatest flaw is his belief that he can write realistic human dialogue. Maybe everyone speaks in complete sentences where you hang out professor, but that ain't the way normal people talk. Especially when you're characters are shady denizens of the druggy, low life subculture you purport to know so much about. Every character in Clancy's novel not only sounds that same, but also speaks in incoherent non-sequiturs that make you wonder if the writer has any clue about subtext.
There's a germ of a good idea for a story in "How to Sell" but Clancy ain't the guy to write it. There I used a slang contraction and I'm not ashamed that I did. Try it sometime, professor, you might actually like it.
"Good read" 2009-06-29
By Nikki Landsberger (OKC, OK)
Enjoy the characters - only mid-way through book, but so far really appreciating each person and cirumstance. Well written.
"sexy stones" 2009-06-28
By Jessie Tromberg (irvine, ca.)
This is a tale sleekly told. It is not international in scope (not counting its Canadan roots) but deals with a specific American locale, the southwest, in that decade of excess, the 80's.
I've been in fine jewelry and for me the portraits had the ring of truth. Perhaps stronger black comedy and better dialogue would have made it a perfect gem.
It was a great read for a very long airplane trip.
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What follows is the story of a young man’s education in two of the oldest human passions, love and money. Through a dark, sharp lens, Clancy Martin captures the luxury business in all its exquisite vulgarity and outrageous fraud, finding in the diamond-and-watch trade a metaphor for the American soul at work.
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Technical Details
- ISBN13: 9780374173357- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
- Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices
See more technical details
By mark jabbour (Laporte, Colorado)
HOW TO SELL is a novel by Clancy Martin. It is his first one, which is my favorite read. Generally, first novels are first person narratives about a subject the author is familiar with. Write what you know is a truism. "How to Sell" is about the fine jewelry business. Great, I thought, I'd learn something I know nothing about. That is why I like first novels--they inform me about parts of the world I haven't experienced. The fashion world, the art world, politics, Africa, the movie business, the CIA, and on and on. Martin did, according to the jacket, "... worked for many years in the fine jewelry business." And, he was a philosophy professor. VERY interesting, I thought. I was not disappointed. I was puzzled.
How to sell? Lie, steal, and cheat. Be very good at it, and have no conscience about it. There it is in a nut's shell. Oh, and it helps to stay stoned on cocaine and speed and drink like a fish and f__k like a rabbit. This can't be true, can it? This was a tale about two brothers, a father, and two very loose women who were more interested in screwing than money, jewels, or children. It wasn't particularly well written--the dialogue was confusing and everyone seemed to speak with the same voice. In addition, it was hard to tell the order of events; I often had to reread paragraphs and couldn't always tell what was happening, to what were the narrator's inner thoughts. Was that on purpose, to show just how screwed up this person was? Or ... is the author that crazy? I decided to check him out and googled him. Up popped a two-hour debate he had with a pastor of a Christian church titled "Does God Exist?"
This is what I think. The novel was a vehicle for the professor to profess about what amorality looks like. The jewelry business cannot be THAT sleazy! The whole novel just made me want to shower and never, ever, set foot in a jewelry store. AND ...: Give up sex, stop drinking, and never, ever do any drug again, legal or not. It was also a way to mock churches and those who preach they KNOW (the father is an insane preacher/clairvoyant/psychic) what is the Truth of things. As it turns out, Martin's father was a man of God who did have a church and his debater opponent, the pastor, says he believes ALL atheists have father issues, and subsequently, problems with authority and thus God. [My, my.] Professor Martin declared, "I am not an atheist." The pastor asserted, "Without God, there cannot be any reason for moral behavior." [Yikes.] Martin came back, "NO, the absence of belief makes possible, and more likely, true moral behavior and allows for humanity to thrive." [I cheered.]
The debate took place two years ago. Martin might well have written the novel as part of ... process therapy. It is not easy to take on God and the justified, pretentious, conforming, traditional, know-it-all. Maybe he overreacted a little. I gave it four stars. It is different. It is entertaining. And in some paradoxical way (philosophy professors love paradox) it is a moral story about how not to live.
By David B. Erickson (Asheville, NC United States)
Bobby Clark more or less claims to have been born dishonest--he introduces himself by telling us how he stole his mother's wedding ring. The plot mechanics that get him from boyhood in Calgary to sleazehood in Fort Worth are unbelievable, but that's hardly the point. Somehow, Martin gets you to care about this precociously larcenous kid, his sordid sex life (or maybe it's "love life," it's hard to tell, and that's part of the charm, I guess) and his drug habits. No, I don't believe that Bobby actually has copies of Siddhartha, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, The Power of Positive Thinking, and Journey To The End Of The Night in his backpack. But it doesn't seem to matter--I keep turning the pages and wondering what's going to happen next. What can I say? It's a good read.
PS: Watch out for Dad. Is he really psychic?
By Zandiman (Los Angeles)
I was suckered into buying this book, after a reviewer on NPR touted this book as a modern masterpiece. Boy they sure don't write masterpieces the way they used to.
The book is a plodding, dull tale of two, unevolved guys from a dysfunctional family using drugs and people interchangeably as they numbly stumble their way through their uninteresting lives.
Clancy's greatest flaw is his belief that he can write realistic human dialogue. Maybe everyone speaks in complete sentences where you hang out professor, but that ain't the way normal people talk. Especially when you're characters are shady denizens of the druggy, low life subculture you purport to know so much about. Every character in Clancy's novel not only sounds that same, but also speaks in incoherent non-sequiturs that make you wonder if the writer has any clue about subtext.
There's a germ of a good idea for a story in "How to Sell" but Clancy ain't the guy to write it. There I used a slang contraction and I'm not ashamed that I did. Try it sometime, professor, you might actually like it.
By Nikki Landsberger (OKC, OK)
Enjoy the characters - only mid-way through book, but so far really appreciating each person and cirumstance. Well written.
By Jessie Tromberg (irvine, ca.)
This is a tale sleekly told. It is not international in scope (not counting its Canadan roots) but deals with a specific American locale, the southwest, in that decade of excess, the 80's.
I've been in fine jewelry and for me the portraits had the ring of truth. Perhaps stronger black comedy and better dialogue would have made it a perfect gem.
It was a great read for a very long airplane trip.
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