The perfect read for fans of The White Lotus or Succession “As a novelist, Tarkington is the real deal. I can’t wait to see this story reach a wide audience.” –Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife When Charlie Boykin was young, he thought his life with his single mother on the working-class side of Nashville was perfectly fine. But when his mother arranges for him to be admitted as a … when his mother arranges for him to be admitted as a scholarship student to an elite private school, he is suddenly introduced to what the world can feel like to someone cushioned by money. That world, he discovers, is an almost irresistible place where one can bend–and break–rules and still end up untarnished. As he gets drawn into a friendship with a charismatic upperclassman, Archer Creigh, and an affluent family that treats him like an adopted son, Charlie quickly adapts to life in the upper echelons of Nashville society. Under their charming and alcohol-soaked spell, how can he not relax and enjoy it all–the lack of anxiety over money, the easy summers spent poolside at perfectly appointed mansions, the lavish parties, the freedom to make mistakes knowing that everything can be glossed over or fixed?
But over time, Charlie is increasingly pulled into covering for Archer’s constant deceits and his casual bigotry. At what point will the attraction of wealth and prestige wear off enough for Charlie to take a stand–and will he?
For readers of Wiley Cash, Ann Patchett, and Pat Conroy, The Fortunate Ones is an immersive, elegantly written story that conveys both the seductiveness of this world and the corruption of the people who see their ascent to the top as their birthright.
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The Fortunate Ones feels like a fresh and remarkably sure-footed take on The Great Gatsby, examining the complex costs of attempting to transcend or exchange your given class for a more gilded one. Tarkington’s understanding of the human heart and mind is deep, wise, and uncommonly empathetic. As a novelist, he is the real deal. I can’t wait to see this story reach a wide audience, and to see what he does next.
The story was good and showed how someone thrust in an affluent environment struggles.
I had the honor to review this book before it was released. I enjoyed it immensely!
The Fortunate Ones
BY Ed Tarkington
This was an exceptional story that really grabbed me from the beginning. The writing is superb, and a great character driven story I really enjoyed. The story is centered on Charlie Boykin, a son of a pregnant runaway, who was given an opportunity of a lifetime by being accepted into one of Nashvilles’s elite and most prestigious schools. In this story, Ed Tarkington writes about a great coming-of-age story that highlights wealth and privilege, friendships and loyalties, morality and corruption, in a façade we are all drawn in to belong and feel accepted.
This was an irresistible read that drew me in to the complex cost of becoming one of the rich and powerful. Tarkington is truly a masterful storyteller with a keen eye on characters and conflicted emotions. Well done!!
I was provided a copy by Algonquin Books/ Workman Press. My reviews are my own.
“Charismatic Southern Republican Senator commits suicide.”
Charlie Boykin thought he had escaped the past when Arch Creigh was the center of his world, when he had carried a torch for Arch’s girlfriend, the beautiful Vanessa.
The news of Arch’s death sends Charlie reeling back in time to when he was the fortunate recipient of a scholarship to an elite private school where met Arch and was invited into the homes of the wealthy and privileged. It was a world built on tradition, the personal quashed for the sake of appearance, a world of secret pain and forbidden love.
Charlie had left to forge his own way as an artist. But when his mother was dying, he returned. It was time to forgive, to accept human vulnerability and frailty. It was time to face his past.
…I knew what was gripping me was just nostalgia, but I needed to feel it and see it through to the end so I could go back without regrets.~from The Fortunate Ones by Ed Tarkington
Arch was forging a political career. He embraced conservative values–but his private life would scandalize his supporters.
Charlie wonders how the exceptional, wealthy, beautiful, Arch with his billionaire wife Vanessa became the champion of the ‘people.’ “There is nothing in this world to which people connect more willingly in uncertain times than the appearance of genuine certainty,” and Arch projected that surety. People were clamoring to “get behind a charismatic businessman with a smart, beautiful wife and a fortune in the bank.”
Vanessa accepts the life she is expected to have, sharing her secret guilt and doubts only with Charlie.
This is the story of a young man growing up, a nostalgic remembrance of lost innocence and the revelation that our heroes have feet of clay. It is about ambition and masks, how privilege corrupts, and choosing to turning away from corruption. It is about the fickleness of the public and misguided devotion.
Who are the ‘fortunate ones’? The heirs of wealth? Or, those accepted into their charmed circle? Or, is it those who, drawn by the golden siren lure, glimpse behind the facade, and escape?
The novel reminded me of Brideshead Revisited and The Great Gatsby, while also reflecting today’s political climate.
I read this novel in two days, barely able to set it down.
I was given an ARC by the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
.I loved this book! ALL THE STARS. I easily found myself absorbed in Charlie’s story. He is the son of a young mother and finds himself being given a scholarship to an elite prep school usually reserved for the rich kids or athletes. Charlie is neither.
However, his first day he is assigned a big brother, Arch, who takes him under his wing. Charlie lives the lifestyle he has only dreamed about, but at what costs?
This book explored many relationships. It is definitely worth the read.
Thank you to @algonquinbooks, @NetGalley and @edtarkington for the #gifted copy of the book
The Fortunate Ones is an engrossing story that grabs you right from the first page and doesn’t let go. It is a story about the working class and the elite and how decisions made can change a person. The want and seduction of what a person might think are the “finer” things in life doesn’t always have a good outcome, especially when politics and corruption are at play.
This was a very thought provoking book that makes for a good discussion.
“The Fortunate Ones is a fathoms-deep exploration of love, loyalty, and the ties that bind, written masterfully from all angles. It’s a laser-sharp look at the underbelly of power and privilege’s repercussions as told through the power of story.”
A gorgeous, deep probing treatise on the myriad manifestations of love, envy, privilege, and longing, The Fortunate Ones by Ed Tarkington begins by holding a mirror to coming of age concerns in light of two young men from disparate backgrounds who overlap in a setting where all that glitters isn’t gold. Full review here: https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/fortunate-ones
Charlie Botkin is having a tough time adjusting to ninth grade at an elite prep school. His transition is awkward because he is on scholarship and from a working-class family. All that changes when Archer is assigned as his big brother. Charlie is drawn to Archer’s charm and kindness and also gets access to his privileged background. Charlie finds himself spending time in the upscale town of Belle Meade, Tennessee where he indulges in private parties, country clubs, and luxury vacations.
Charlie’s mother is still prominent in his life. She ran away to Nashville when she was a pregnant teenager. She found work as a cocktail waitress and was the catalyst for him to apply for a scholarship to a private school. Later in life, Charlie learns of the tragic death of Archer who was running for the US Senate. This event uncovers secrets from the past including the details of his scholarship.
The Fortunate Ones by Ed Tarkington is about lifelong friendships. The book explores how people change and relationships evolve. I enjoyed this book and all the wonderful characters.
I was completely captivated by this book. The prologue grabbed me when Charlie Boykin, an Army soldier, is stunned to learn of the suicide of a prominent Southern senator, a senator he knew well. I immediately wondered what the connection was between the two men.
We tend to be envious of “the fortunate ones”, the ones “born with a silver spoon in their mouths”. This is a strong character study told from the perspective of an outsider who has been granted access to the elitist insiders. Thus, we find that their lives are not as perfect as they appear. Tarkington writes of privilege and ambition, and of how that privilege corrupts.
Charlie, raised by his single mother, finds his life changed when he receives a scholarship to an elite private school. His assigned “big brother” Arch Creigh introduces him to a life where lack of money is not an everyday struggle. The relationships he forms with these families lie at the heart of this book. While at first, Charlie is loving his new life, he eventually is forced to recognize the corruption he sees in the lives of those who consider themselves the elite of society.
The superb writing flowed beautifully with no hiccups to disrupt the stream of the story. Tarkington really brought his characters to life. I had genuine feelings for them as they struggled with their vulnerabilities and frailties. I always love a story that forces one to question their own integrity. Will Charlie take the easy way out? Or will he take a stand against the wrongs he witnesses?
Thank you to the publisher Algonquin Books for an advance copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
I couldn’t put this novel down. I loved it! It has a nostalgic quality that yearns like a classic “lost generation” novel in the vein of The Sun Also Rises while also reflecting on wealth and privilege like a Fitzgerald classic. A tale of unrequited love and our common search for a meaning to this life. This is more than a story of lost innocence, it’s that realization that comes too late in life that many of one’s heroes are flimsy and trite. The themes of ambition and corruption and a confused public harken so deeply to our current climate that it brought chills. Blind devotion is a dangerous tonic and this book swirls it around like whiskey in a sniffer.
This book asks the reader who the fortunate ones are… the heirs of wealth or the people accepted in their circles? Or is the people who are pulled into that ring that see the ugliness behind it and escape?