Jul 07 2008
“Bringing Down the House” by Ben Mezrich
When I first read Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions by Ben Mezrich, I wasn’t overly impressed by it, but rather pegged it as a mindless read, good for a summer afternoon at the beach. It was more of an escapism book than you’d normally find in the nonfiction section, that’s for sure.
I had picked it up because I saw advertisements for the movie 21 (it’s based on the book) and figured it’d be fun to read. What was surprising to me (although it shouldn’t have been, looking back on it) was the fact that the book is mostly fiction.
First, the plot: Basically, Ben Mezrich meets a guy at a party (Kevin Lewis) who says he has an amazing story to tell, and he wants Ben to tell it in a book. Ben gets this kind of thing all the time as a writer so he really didn’t expect much, but to humor him, he agreed to listen.
Kevin told him a story that would be unbelievable to the average person: He was recruited as an MIT student, to learn how to count cards and play blackjack. He was then sent to Las Vegas and other gambling cities to win the backers (the ones supplying the bankroll) the big bucks. He got a cut of what he made, and became very rich because of this lifestyle.
All of that is actually true. What’s not true is the embellishments that Ben Mezrich added to make the book more “readable,” as he put it. In an interview with the Boston Globe, Mezrich said, “Every word on the page isn’t supposed to be fact-checkable.” He also said, “The idea that the story is true is more important than being able to prove that it’s true.”
That really, no really bugged me. I read a nonfiction book, expecting it to be *ahem* nonfiction. I know, a real shocker there. There was a laundry list of items that were completely made up (click on the link to the interview above if you’re interested) and then a whole other list of items that were exaggerated, changed, and warped in order for the book to be more “readable.”
Ben Mezrich did manage to achieve his goal of being more readable - his book became a New York Times bestseller. I don’t like the methods used to achieve that goal though. I’ve never been a fan of the saying, “The ends justify the means,” and this was no exception.
I give Bringing Down the House 1.5 out of 5 stars, and I’m putting Ben Mezrich on my blacklist of authors. I will never pick up one of his books again. If you’re wanting some real information on Las Vegas, make sure to head on over to my friend’s blog, Living in Las Vegas. It’s guaranteed 100% nonfiction.
Hava
