Customer Reviews

The Wolf of Wall Street (Unabridged)

I saw the film without having read the book. It was a fairly good film - typically Scorsese with the music selection and the cinematography although I thought it was a little to long. Di Caprio was very good, as were the supporting actors, many of whom I hadn't really seen before.

I instantly bought the Kindle of the edition and ploughed straight through it. To cut to the chase, it is the autobiography of a guy who makes his millions through a stock broking / investment banking set-up which was immoral at best and downright illegal at worst. I was hoping that it would be a rags-to-riches and back to rags sort of book and fill-in some of the blanks that you expect from a film. It was however somewhat missing - you get the drug abuse, parties, debauched behaviour by his peers and employees and the illegal trading, but you don't get the story of how it all happened - in fact it gavies less of a picture than the film, usually it is the other way around.

Many of the anecdotes from the film are included in the book but they tend to become a little tiring repeated time and time again. When he describes his Rolex or cars, parties, houses, conquests in the bedroom (or wherever it takes his fancy!) it is without any sort of irony or sense that it will wear thin to the reader. It doesn't feel that there is any remorse from the author for the lives that his company ruined by selling worthless stock, the pension funds that might have been hit etc.

I wouldn't suggest reading if easily offended due to the bad language it contains - it doesn't bother me but each to their own. Overall it was OK, perhaps a tale of greed and debauchery it was interesting - not greatly written but if you enjoyed the film the chances are you might enjoy the book. I don't think passing a moral judgement of an individual is a valid category on which to judge a book - the 3 stars represent that is is an interesting read and I've not read any accounts of broker millionaires before, if I was to award a points based on the antagonist/protagonist Jordan Belfort it would be a 1 star!

Saw the film first and thought it was really entertaining so thought I'd give the book a try.

What a mistake - it has to be the most repetitive, boring and appallingly written book I have ever read. Even though it's only around half the length of a lot of the books I read I found it really hard going, mainly due to how badly this book was written. He repeats himself many times, talking about the same old things - things which on many occasions are just not interesting; Really, I didn't care how much your silk sheets cost the first time you told me, and I care even less after you've then proceeded to tell me again another couple of times. This is something that he does frequently throughout the book, as well as refer to people he encounters with - mainly derogatory - nicknames for pretty much everyone he encounters, including his own wife (loamy loins, I ask you!)

After finally getting to the end I formed the conclusion that here we have a book written by a person who has absolutely no morals at all, totally no understanding or remorse for the lives he's destroyed through his pursuit of sex, drugs and money. This book is simply 500 pages of bragging about how much better he is than practically anybody else (heaven forbid you go to work and earn an honest living for a modest wage packet because in his eyes you'd be nothing but pond scum). He also seems to remember conversations and events in almost exquisite detail and considering most of his time was spent high as a kite I fail to see how that can be possible so I believe that a lot of what happened in this book is embellished to an extent - I am left wondering how much of it is actually true and how much is his own imagination.

It's nothing but self indulgent rubbish and I certainly won't be reading his second book and throwing more money at him. He truly is a despicable man. He looks down on everybody else when in reality it is he who is the lowest of the low.

Briefly titillated by the wild extravagance, but soon got bored with constant gloating. Couldn't even be bothered reading the last few chapters, find yourself not caring. Do yourself a favour and don't waste your money or this dirge.

This is a long self justification from someone who did a lot of people a lot of damage. Written so badly it is hard to see why he bothered or where was the fun in it. Given what he "achieved" he must be a very interesting individual with an incredible brain. But you would not guess it from the book. No real apology for the lives destroyed, the money taken or the friends betrayed.

A great read. It had me hooked from first page to last.
A riotous life story, not to say squirm-inducing at times.
Can't wait to read its sequel

Downloaded for my husband but he's given up on it. Found it a bit of a lightweight read and he likes them a bit more gritty

This is a book you can't put down. Buy it, read it, then go and see the film. This is one true story which goes further than fantasy. Brilliant! :-D

Hands down one of the best books of all time!!

I haven't read something so interesting in an extremely long time, i was hooked to the book as if it was a drug and when it was coming to a close i found myself wishing there were more pages to turn. The book is written extremely well and brings every little scene and event to life with the deep explanations and descriptions of the emotions and characters that are within the book.

The fact that this is all based on true events still amazes me. A must read for anyone!

Fascinating story in lots of ways - but often found myself turning pages without bothering to read them but this is mainly due to having no knowledge (or real interest) of the language/mechanics of the world of finance, but I did enjoy it & did finish it.

unbelievable read from start to finish. had this read in less than a week, would recommend it to any business savvy student or anyone interested in the faces behind big business