God Is My Broker

I rate this book only three stars because the the publisher's review leads one ot believe the reader may learn something about investing. I enjoyed the book, but was disappointed because it wasn't what I expected. It is a great story and the reader is good, but don't expect to learn how to apply spirituality to your investment decisions.

I hate abridged audiobooks. You never know what you really are missing, you just know something is missing. Is it a good part, a lousy part. Is it five minutes or three-quarters of the book?

But I also love Christopher Buckley. And I am running out of his books. I reserve them for reading emergencies, but that comes along about every 3 to 4 months. I am not sure what I will do when I run out. I have listened to all of the unabridged Christopher Buckley books. Now I am going to have to work through the abridged. I picked God is My Broker, both because it looked hilarious, and because it looks like it is out of print, so it is unlikely to ever get an unabridged audiobook. And it is not available on kindle.

The set up is that Brother Ty is a monk. He was an alcoholic Wall Street trader, but he got fired and ended up in a monastery. Now sober for a couple years, his monastery is facing financial problems when God starts giving him stock tips. His abbot is convinced it is the power of positive thinking from Deepak Chopra that is providing the money. But Brother Ty knows it is actually God.

As with all of Buckley’s humor, nothing is safe. This book targets self help books, Wall Street, the Catholic Church and a host of other likely targets.

In the end, what I like about Buckley, is that he know that ideas are nothing without a story. Buckley knows how to write a story with people that you care about, even those that are not the heroes.

If you care, this is one of the cleaner stories by Buckley, no sex, barely any language. A rated PG book.

This is a funny book and I loved it while taking a long drive.

Mark is an excellent narrator! This book gives great insight on our over-indulgence in self-development.

Haven't read the print version.

God always fill in the gaps that we lack to in our life to help us continue to row on the road we are on. There are many cracks and ditches along the road so just move forward in confidence and he will fill in the road where we need to go.

I enjoyed this light read (listen) a great deal. No deeper message found within. I wouldn't spend hours discussing the story with my book club. However, this is a really fun and entertaining listen.

If you're a long-time fan of Christopher Buckley's, like I am, you'll probably enjoy this novel too. If you're new to Buckley's work, I'd begin elsewhere. It's not that this book isn't good. It's a fun, quick read and well worth the time. It's just that Buckley has been so much better in his other books.

The title of this book might give some people the wrong impression. It has very little to with God and even less to do with investing. It's a satire that pokes good fun at the self-improvement industry and its gurus: Depak Chopra, Tony Robbins, Stephen Covey, et al. Chopra in particular gets hung up to some pretty harsh (and well deserved) ridicule.

The plot revolves around a group of monks in upstate New York struggling to keep their monastary/winery afloat. With their finances exhausted and the situation grim, the abbot grasps for any solution he can get. He turns to the apparent wisdom he has found in a Depak Chopra book, and, as they say, hilarity ensues.

I'm not sure why I didn't enjoy this book as much as Buckley's others. It could be that it is one of his earliest efforts (though I believe it came after the excellent "Thank You For Smoking"). It could be that he was collaborating with another author, John Tierney. It could be the hokey "meditations" at the end of each chapter. In any case, though it was funny and ejoyable, I was disappointed that it wasn't up to what I've come to expect from a Christopher Buckley novel.

If you haven't read Buckley before, I recommend that you skip this one for now and read one of these instead:

- Thank You For Smoking
- Little Green Men
- No Way to Treat a First Lady
- Supreme Courtship
- Boomsday
- Florence of Arabia
- They Eat Puppies Don't They

Probably. It's a relatively short book so I'll have to wait until I've forgotten most of it.

The "miracle." I don't want to spoil it, but it's funny and sticks in your mind.

He perfectly captured the author's dry, cynical humor while voicing the characters in a serious way.

Lots of laughs, especially if you like cynical satire. The author pokes fun at sacred cows and popular culture trends.

I found this story to be very entertaining on my commute to and from work. Loved it!

YES!

No doubt, Brother Ty (Stock Broker)

He did a wonderful job in slipping into each character.

That an organization is an organization (Church) is an organization and ultimately run by people who can be inclined to look to shortcuts.

Absolutely entertaining and the message about living right is so subtle in terms of being a spiritual that it could be geared toward the fundamentals of organization management.

This is a wonderful book that is extremely funny. The narration is excellent. Highly recommended!