Human Capital

Human Capital (2004), a novel by American author and critic Stephen Amidon, tells the story of three families at the turn of the 21st century in an affluent Connecticut suburb who struggle to maintain their high standard of living. The title comes from a legal term denoting an individual's projected future earnings; or, in effect, the value of a human life expressed in terms of cash. In 2013, Italian director Paolo Virzi adapted Human Capital into a film that later served as Italy's submission to the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. In 2009, an English language version of Virzi's film was released starring Liev Schreiber and Marisa Tomei.

One of the three protagonists of the novel is Drew Hagel, a real estate agent living in the fictional affluent Connecticut suburb of Totten Crossing who inherits his father's successful family business. As such, he is accustomed to a certain level of luxury, having grown up wealthy. After failing to invest aggressively during the real estate boom of the late 1990s, Drew finds that he and his family are swimming in debt. Moreover, he fears that the business his father built from nothing will fall apart. With his 17-year-old daughter Shannon headed to college and his second wife, Ronnie, pregnant with twins, Drew fears bankruptcy. Meanwhile, he begins to associate with multimillionaire Quint Manning. Quint frequently invites Drew to his vast estate to play tennis with the moneyed elite of Totten Crossing. Envious of these millionaires who took better advantage of the economic boom at the turn of the 21st century, Drew is convinced to take out a second mortgage on his house to invest in Quint's hedge fund, which is promised to be a sure thing. Drew also lies about his assets and the current earnings of his failing real estate business on his investment forms.

The second protagonist is Quint's wife, Carrie Manning. A failed actor, Carrie finds her life with Quint comfortable but empty. She busies herself by restoring an old movie theater, but she must put this expensive interest on hold when Quint's hedge fund proves to be anything but a sure thing and begins to hemorrhage money. Meanwhile, their son, Jamie, a classmate and ex-boyfriend of Shannon's, is an alcoholic whose life is spinning out of control.



Finally, the third protagonist is David Warfield. A small-time drug dealer and limo driver, David always lives just beyond his means. He dreams of opening a bar on the beach, but to do so, he must gain access to his nephew Ian's trust fund, left to him by David's sister when she died. When Ian turns 18 in a few months and gains access to the trust fund, David aims to help his nephew invest the money, reaping some of the proceeds as his unofficial financial adviser. However, Ian has other plans: Having fallen in love with Shannon—Drew's daughter—he plans to use the trust fund money to run away and start a life with her. Suffering from manic depression, Ian is one of Ronnie's therapy patients. Throughout the novel, Ronnie's altruism is contrasted with the other characters' unfettered greed.

One night, while driving with his ex-girlfriend Shannon, a drunk Jamie hits a cycling waiter with his Jeep Wrangler. Rather than remain at the scene and risk being charged with vehicular homicide, Jamie drives away, leaving the waiter to die. When Shannon gets home, she tells her father, Drew, about the horrible accident. Desperate to maintain his position of affluence in the community, Drew uses this information as leverage against Quint in a blackmail scheme.

The book ends in the fall of 2001, when the gravity of the September 11 attacks dwarfs all the characters' individual monetary concerns. Ironically, the bad bets of Quint's hedge funds become good bets thanks to September 11, as the national tragedy grimly alleviates the characters' personal tragedies.



"Where Amidon triumphs is in his ability to concentrate the scope of his novel and avoid bloating it with too much detail. His plot is as smoothly and powerfully engineered as the Jeep Wrangler that causes the accident on which the novel turns" (The Guardian).