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    The Adventurist: A Novel
    The Adventurist: A Novel
    The Adventurist: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Adventurist: A Novel

    Written by J. Bradford Hipps

    Narrated by George Newbern

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    In the anonymous office park of a modern software company, whip-smart software engineer Henry Hurt is a man in the middle: of life, of career, and of self-assessment. Mired in his corporate responsibilities, Henry's deathless office existence is torpedoed by losing his mother.

    Overcome by "the pall," Henry seeks escape in a quest for love and purpose occasioned by a crisis in his company's fortunes. Dodging an Iago-like rival, he finds love with a colleague in his department, endangers his bond with his family, and finally confronts the single urgent question of his life.


    J. Bradford Hipps's The Adventurist is about relationships: Henry has complicated ones with his sister, Gretchen, who has stayed at home with their father; his lover Jane, a sleek and efficient mirror image of Henry; and a tantalizing potential girlfriend, Madison, the ultimate free spirit. But his relationship to his corporate and familial responsibilities may change his fortunes even more than the women in his life.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateJul 5, 2016
    ISBN9781427284815
    The Adventurist: A Novel
    Author

    J. Bradford Hipps

    A former programmer, J. Bradford Hipps turned to fiction after a ten-year software career, authoring The Adventurist. He received his graduate degree from the University of Houston Creative Writing Program, where he was awarded the Inprint Michener Prize. He lives with his wife and children in Texas.

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    Reviews for The Adventurist

    4/5

    13 ratings3 reviews

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    • 3/5
      I liked this book more than I expected but something seems out of place. Is it a book about relationships? A commentary on corporate culture? As both it seems to fall short. Henry Hurt's attempts to avoid the grief of his lost mother almost disappear and perhaps could use further elaboration. I read an ARC, so maybe this was cleaned by official publication. Writing was really pretty good if the plot was a little unstable.
    • 5/5
      One reviewer wondered if this was a book about relationships? or corporate culture? It's both (as, of course, corporate culture is all about relationships), and both are described perfectly. I loved this book - loved how spot-on he was about the body language and verbal tics of businessmen, and how perceptive he was about the relationships that can develop (or not) in the business world.Beautiful beautiful writing.
    • 3/5
      J. Bradford Hipps' novel The Adventurist (his first, I believe), was a challenge. Not because of its length (it's relatively short) or poor writing (the prose is excellent), but due to the lack of a real plot. The Adventurist is a theme book that's about relationships, memories, and reflection woven around the actions of a group of management-types from a software company on the edge of despair because they're not selling enough product. One of the managers is the narrator of the book and the subject of the memories, reflections, and relationship issues that are at its heart. He seems to be a decent guy, but his decisions aren't always the best and that tends to drive the themes of this book. The Adventurist isn't a book that's right up my alley. I decided to check it out because it was portrayed in an early review as a slice of life novel about American business. I found that to be very true. The management decisions, interactions between employees and bosses, group interactions among the managers, manipulations, 'talking points', meeting strategies, etc. all seemed real to me. I spent a lot of my career working with people like almost every character in the book. The problem is that most of that stuff isn't interesting to most people. It's interesting to me because I can say to myself 'hey, I know that guy!' at certain points, but I fear that a lot of readers will think there are better settings for getting into relationship issues than a meeting room full of IT folks in a hotel in Kansas during a snowstorm.Ultimately, the writing is the redeeming quality in the book. The 'pall of depression' which I think was a term used somewhere in The Adventurist, is a good description of its overall feel. The themes and relationships are the important considerations and they in effect drive the actions of the main character. The novel's conclusion is sad, understandable, and consistent with what could be expected based on the characters and decisions. All-in-all, I'd recommend The Adventurist for the writing certainly, and for the rest of the action if you've spent a number of years toiling in management in corporate America and you want to re-live some of your past.