The Rules of Fortune: A Novel

“Who actively pursued a billion dollars? Why would anyone ever need that much money?”…”I think something happens when you get a billion dollars. A million dollars won’t save you from a lot, but a billion might.” 🎱 I am reading ROF with Tanya Time Book Club. It’s a month long read and I finished a few weeks early! The family patriarch has died and the chickens have come home to roost The story starts off interesting enough, diving into the life of a recently deceased Black billionaire. His daughter has been working on a special video for his upcoming 70th birthday party, which exposes deep secrets about her father’s past. When he dies his children must decide whether to continue in his ruthless footsteps to secure the family’s fortune, or take a new path. My interest did wane throughout the story because of the different characters, timelines, POVs, and slow pace. It’s definitely a more character driven story, which is hit or miss with me. It has to be some truly interesting characters to keep me invested! Some characters were more interesting than others, and some characters didn’t add much to the story. I really would’ve liked more shady dealings and transgressions to quicken the pace and really pull me in. I can’t wait for the book club discussion in a few weeks. We learn a lot about the Carter family and their rise to wealth. I found their stories very fascinating in how the money affected each of them in their own ways. It also shows how behind most fortunes lies scandal, corruption, greed and people being screwed over. “The taking… that’s what makes wealth.” “Aren’t all billionaires quite evil?”