But more than simply succeeding at its genre exercises, the novel brilliantly weaves its multiple perspectives to create a symphony of emotional effects what’s underplayed by Harold is thundered by Andrew, provided nuance by Ida, and given a plot twist by Mildred. Diaz has a fine ear for the differing styles each type of document requires: Bonds is engrossing but has a touch of the fusty, dialogue-free fiction of a century past, and Ida is a keen, Lillian Ross–type observer. Structurally, Diaz’s novel is a feat of literary gamesmanship in the tradition of David Mitchell or Richard Powers. Two more documents-a memoir by Ida Partenza, an accomplished magazine writer, and a diary by Mildred, Bevel’s brilliant wife-serve to explain those echoes. Bonds is followed by the unfinished text of a memoir by Andrew Bevel, a famously successful New York investor whose life echoes many of the incidents in Vanner’s novel. But the comforts of being one of the wealthiest men in the U.S.-even after the 1929 crash-are undone by the mental decline of his wife. Pulitzer finalist Diaz’s ingenious second novel-following In the Distance (2017)-opens with the text of Bonds, a Wharton-esque novel by Harold Vanner that tells the story of a reclusive man who finds his calling and a massive fortune in the stock market in the early 20th century. A tale of wealth, love, and madness told in four distinct but connected narratives.
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