Good Rich People

It’s almost the end of January and so much has already happened this year. As most of you know, we’ve launched our first four blends of tea based on some of our favourite books which you can check out on our site or on etsy. There are limited amounts of tins available so please grab them while you can! On other news… we have also become affiliates with Book Depository! This is one of our favourite sites to buy books from when we can’t grab them from our local bookstores. The price that you see is the price that you pay… even textbooks can be found at a reasonable price. So make sure that you click on the banner at the end of the post to check them out. You’ll maybe even be persuaded to pick up a copy of today’s review book: Good Rich People by Eliza Jane Brazier. 
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“Lyla has always believed that life is a game she is destined to win, but her husband, Graham, takes the game to dangerous levels. The wealthy couple invites self-made success stories to live in their guesthouse and then conspires to ruin their lives. After all, there is nothing worse than a bootstrapper.
Demi has always felt like the odds were stacked against her. At the end of her rope, she seizes a risky opportunity to take over another person’s life and unwittingly becomes the subject of the upstairs couple’s wicked entertainment. But Demi has been struggling all her life, and she’s not about to go down without a fight.
In a twist that neither woman sees coming, the game quickly devolves into chaos and rockets toward an explosive conclusion.
Because every good rich person knows: in money and in life, it’s winner take all. Even if you have to leave a few bodies behind.”

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E: Okay, I am really excited to discuss this book, and it's largely because Ashli is cringing about having to discuss this book . 

A: The prologue was amazing and I was here for it… but then we really met Lyla and I just couldn’t handle her. So yes, this is another “did not finish” for me and I am okay with that. I will honestly say that it might have been the writing (felt super choppy which annoys me) but it likely was the fact that I have a lot of other books I would rather be reading and life is too short. 

E: I am still reeling. There were so many “what the fuck am I reading” moments and I was 100% here for it. This was a new level of crazy, absurd storytelling that had me unable to look away. I read this almost cover to cover, if only my children didn’t need me for basic necessities. 

A: I had that with another book that I ended up reading all the way through but the writing style had me hooked and so did the actual plot from the beginning. The beginning of this one made me hate both rich people (or at least ones like this family) and the book itself. Not to put down the book of course! There are lots of people who are going to love it and be entranced to know what is coming next. I just wasn’t convinced enough to be able to plough through.

E: I found this book disturbing, outrageous but at the same time really insightful about the human condition. Where we have Lyla, rich and entitled, we have Demi to provide balance. Demi is homeless with the chance to change her future, as long as she doesn't fall victim to Graham and Lyla’s game. 

“The game is simple, in theory, but in practice it always gets messy. The tenant is the pawn. The landlord is the player. The family is the audience. We observe from a distance, talk it over at private dinners”.
“The game is won by destroying the tenant's reputation, career, relationships, health—whatever they have that can be destroyed, will be destroyed”.

Lyla and Graham are easy to hate. There’s really nothing redeemable about them. Maybe the fact that Lyla has a small semblance of a conscience because she doesn't actually want to ruin someone’s life. But to her, it's not just win or lose its life and death and that's a sacrifice she’s willing to make. 

A: See! Lyla and Graham are easy to hate so I am not crazy! The whole supermarket scene at the beginning made me literally scream at my Ipad which scared my cat into helping me exit out of the e-book. Her paws are great for accidents that sometimes are much needed. I did try to go back but I just couldn’t get far.  

E: I would definitely call this a psychological thriller with how much manipulating, backstabbing, gaslighting craziness that takes place. And not that I sympathise with a clear sociopath (Graham) but I can sort of see that if you have literally no limits, nothing is unattainable and no one says no – life could be sort of boring. Despite Lyla having a bit more decency, she’s still a garbage human being who can’t get out of her own rich bubble. 

E: Demi really is the best character for me. I was rooting for her so badly. She is newly homeless, and when a rich woman asks her for some heroine, Demi follows her home. Her home, unfortunately, is the guesthouse of Lyla and Graham. The woman dies of an overdose and Demi is tempted by the lifestyle she suddenly finds herself in and decides to take her place. After all, Lyla and Graham haven’t met the new tenant yet and don’t know what she looks like. Demi slowly assimilates into a privileged life all the while unaware that her landlords are trying to bring about her demise. But Demi is someone who came from nothing, and she isn’t going to let go of this shiny new life without a fight. 
        “I would rather be in a rich person's hell than a poor person's heaven.
                                       And I am so fucking close”.