The Equity of Love
Treating the early 2000s with nostalgia, The Equity of Love is an intriguing novel set in the high-stakes world of technology companies.
In Marcus LaPierre’s nuanced contemporary novel The Equity of Love, miscommunications in personal and professional relationships are centered, and control is often tied to financial power.
Set in 2004 amid the world of technology companies, this is a novel that is notable for the remarkable detail of its worldbuilding. Investors and motivational posters fill its background; the minutiae of the era, from the enduring relevance of the BlackBerry to the use of CDs and Razr phones, fills in its foreground. The story itself focuses on the inner workings of technology companies, including the intricacies of their investments and financial matters.
The narrative point of view is ever-shifting: each chapter is narrated by a different person, resulting in a multifaceted tale with underpinnings of workplace drama and hints of romance. Most of the focal characters are high rollers who make business deals, cheat on one another, become pregnant, and sell companies. Their interpersonal relationships are a novel highlight—though their conversations are sometimes formal to excess, as when a character ruminates, in dated language, “I wondered how I might capitalize on your father’s fall—for might your mother not turn her eye on me in light of the news?” Business jargon is also abundant. More effective are the book’s instances of wordplay and political commentary: a character who steals millions and is forced to go on the run is given the moniker “Lam”; and opinions on various political parties are handled with depth.
Among the many cast members, Natalie stands out; she’s a woman with a fiery spirit who is vibrant in whichever scenes she enters. When she visits a graveyard in Paris, for example, she observes, “This place can humble anyone. Makes you think of how much time you have left.” She’s a humanizing force in world of flat business dealings. And she is one of several women who gives the audience reason to hope that redemption is possible for these complicated characters: elsewhere, Augusta’s relationship deepens and evolves, opening up space for her gradual takeover of an important position and infusing the story with some compelling elements of romance.
Multiple perspectives combine in the modern novel The Equity of Love, where romantic desires clash with the intrigue of complicated technology-sector business dealings.
Reviewed by
Kelley Lynne Moncrief
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