For an imaginative screenwriter, the best way to explain Wall Street is to strip the men of their suits in this flirty and provocative short story of sex, romance, and capitalism.Heidi is writing a script to explain the financial industry, based on how the men within it approach romance. Her clueless heroine is looking for a Wall Street husband, but who’s the best option? The Trader? The … The Investment Banker? The Venture Capitalist? Scene by sizzling scene, Heidi considers their assets. What she wants for certain is a happy ending—but when she hits a dead end, it might take a real-life finance guy to show her what a long-term investment really looks like.
Heidi is part of The Fairer Sex, a collection of sexy, satirical, and sometimes harrowing short stories that explore the question: “What do women want?” The answer is different for every woman, but each can be read or listened to in a single sitting.
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Borrowed Audio via Amazon Prime membership. At 48 minutes long (including intro & credits) this is a fairly quick listen.
Heidi is writing a porno starring Paige who dates her way through various men having jobs “in finance”. The point was to use each of the interactions (not always ending in sex) into metaphors for the kinds of jobs each man has. I liked it, but struggled to keep up sometimes as this was written out like a screenplay (and that can be tricky converting to audiobook) and as the scenes sometimes jumped around in time. A flashback kind of thing, but by minutes or hours. I still enjoyed it though.
I can’t imagine spending money on this or ever listening to it again. Though it was well written, an intriguing concept & perspective, and the narrators were great. I did find it odd that the recording only credits Samara Naeymi as narrator when Alexander Cendese & Simon Mattacks appear as well.
Heidi by Michelle Miller can be found as one of the Amazon Original Stories (AOS) in a collection titled The Fairer Sex. Heidi is Book Four of an eight-book series. All can be read one at a time for free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription or the collection can be purchased as a set (not for free). All the short stories emphasize “short.” Heidi, the third story in the series is only forty pages. Grab a cup of your favorite tea. This story is longer than others in the series. You may need a refill.
With the premise that Heidi is going to write a porno film to explain the hierarchy present in the world of finance, a reader might expect that trigger warnings should be triggered right away. How can one write porn fiction without being uber-offensive? (Apologies to the ride-sharing App). In this short story, Miller writes something that is clever, amusing, and informative. Readers will find perspectives on how each layer of financial management is seen by potential clients who also may have unattractive titles such as suckers, marks, and chumps. One reason this short story is longer than others is that about 87% of it is written as a screenplay complete with directions characters must follow. At that point, Heidi’s husband comes home, and she explains to Paul what she is doing and what problems she is having completing the play. Her final character is Private Equity Guy and she doesn’t like where the story is going. Readers should note Paul’s occupation.
Heidi writes about Paige, a 23-year-old who meets a Trader, described as the most primitive of men in the financial hierarchy. He has sexual appetites that mirror his primitive tendencies. She goes on to meet the Investment Banker, the Private Wealth Manager, the Hedge Fund Manager, the Stock Analyst, the Quant, the Real Estate Developer, the Venture Capitalist, and finally the Private Equity Guy. Paige meets all these men over a long period of time. By the time she gets to Private Equity Guy she is in her early thirties (probably the same age as author Heidi). Each of these tropes has its own unique form of sexual behavior. I had no idea what a Quant was in the field of finance.
Given the topic, it is amazing that this story is written with minimal sexual language. I would say that is quite a trick, but the Pun Police would fine me. This five-star Amazon read is informative and entertaining. There is even a moral lesson that readers may discover at the end. Starting with porn and ending with morality deserves five stars.