Rigged: The True Story of an Ivy League Kid Who Changed the World of Oil, from Wall Street to Dubai (Ben Mezrich, 2008)Amazon.com linkThis book is written by the same guy who made millions of dollars with
Bringing Down the House, a bestseller that was adapted recently into the movie, "
21," starring Kevin Spacey. Mezrich has developed this reputation for writing, what I will term,
Dude-lit, much like
Chick-lit, a book genre that includes addictive page-turning but little intellectual fodder.
Rigged is the story of an Italian-American Harvard graduate who rises from humble beginnings to become the VP of the New York Mercantile Exchange, because he successfully established an oil exchange (Dubai Merchantile Exchange) with a help of another young and ambitious Arab. The story is primarily set in NY and Dubai, and features the merry adventures of said American in the high towers of Shk. Zayed Rd and the sweaty dance floors of Dubai night clubs.
Rigged is supposedly non-fiction, but, in reality, it is a supremely overexaggerated memoir of how the Dubai Mercantile Exchange came into existence, embellished by the imagination of an author desperate for another bestseller.
A nonsensical, trashy but fun read for those of us familiar with Dubai, and curious to find out how Ben Mezrich tries his best to fan its PR fires as the new Ibiza of business and pleasure.
Note: Kevin Spacey's production company bought the movie rights to Rigged after the unexpected success of "21."
