Entitlement

Darci's Review

In the current economic climate, Alam presents a story which exposes the moral ambiguity of human nature when faced with opportunity and power.

Entitlement follows Brooke, a black woman in her early thirties, from a non-traditional family as an adoptee. Brooke finds herself in a precarious situation in her new job at the Asher and Carol Jaffee Foundation. She is tasked with dispersing the fortune of multi-billionaire Asher Jaffee to those in need. Alongside the struggles Brooke faces as a black woman and adoptee, the proximity to this absurd amount of money begins to intoxicate her. At work Asher Jaffee has become fascinated by Brooke and in turn invites her to lunches and potential stakeholder meetings featuring frivolous spending (for which she doesn’t pay a cent). As these occurrences increase, her glimpses of high-status living increase her sense of entitlement. Although Brooke begins her work with the mindset of helping others in need, a little cash in her pocket for the honest charity she’s cultivating feels rightly deserved.

Throughout Entitlement, the flow of Asher and Brooke’s relationship presents a contrasting parallel to the intersection of wealth, race and gender in our current climate. Alongside this dynamic, Alam subtly introduces many similar parallels through Brooke’s more personal relationships, which cling to the forefront of your mind as you read further into each chapter. In addition to the beautifully constructed themes, Alam has created characters of substance that read true to the human condition. I found myself needing more interactions between Asher and Brooke the more I read.

Entitlement lets you ‘test the waters’ in the first few chapters and builds tension until finally you are thrown in the deep end, much like Brooke. Like a car crash, you won’t want to look away. Overall, Alam has created a subtle but profound commentary on the intersection of socioeconomic status with race and gender, alongside a compelling insight into moral ambiguity. A fun, philosophical and well-written read which I highly recommend.

Publisher's Review 

* A GUARDIAN HIGHLIGHT FOR 2024 *

Brooke is thirty-three, resolutely single and slightly adrift. She wants her work and life to have meaning and she finds it at the Asher and Carol Jaffee Foundation, where she's tasked with assisting an octogenarian billionaire in the noble quest to give away his hard-earned fortune.

When Asher Jaffee takes a special interest in Brooke, it's hard for her not to fall under his spell. He's attracted to her intelligence, her willingness to spar with him, her refusal to be deferential. She's intoxicated by the proximity to his money and power and his apparent willingness to share both with her. Asher offers Brooke a first-hand look at how the one percent truly live and work- above the rest of us in an atmosphere that exists only for them. But before long, being under Asher's wing is not enough, and Brooke finds herself in deep water as she blurs the lines between what belongs to Asher, and what should belong to her.

Keenly observed and compulsively disturbing, Entitlement is an engrossing and resonant tale of money, morality and madness, affirming Rumaan Alam as a major literary talent of our time.