The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort – Reviewed by Guy Portman
In 1989 Jordan Belfort and two of his friends founded a brokerage house on Long Island by the name of Stratton Oakmont. The company was in essence a ‘boiler room’ which used heavy-handed sales tactics to sell artificially inflated shares. Eventually, the venture was shut down by the authorities and a number of Stratton’s executives faced prosecution. The Wolf of Wall Street is Jordan’s memoir of this period in his life.
This five hundred plus page tome is teeming with escapades that entail stock manipulation, brushes with the law, prostitutes, family drama and copious amounts of drugs, particularly Quaaludes, the narcotic closest to our protagonist’s heart.
Some will be intrigued by amoral rogue Jordan’s infectious bravado, and they will be humoured by his amusing anecdotes. However, the book does get somewhat repetitive in its latter stages. Another criticism is that Jordan’s sudden decline into paranoia is somewhat jarring and not in this reader’s opinion wholly convincing. Nonetheless, this light yet long read will appeal to many.
