"High society is rarely what it's cracked up to be, but that doesn't stop some people. The Misadventures of Oliver Booth: Life in the Lap of Luxury tells of the titular character's overwhelming desire to live the good life, the life of the filthy rich. Opportunity presents itself and there are no lengths Oliver won't go to mount himself among the most elite in the world. Hilarious and biting satire, 'The Misadventures of Oliver Booth' is riveting and recommended reading."
- Midwest Book Review
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"Not too many books have made me laugh out loud like this one did. This is a very funny book that reminds us to be careful what we wish for. It seems that Oliver has always wanted to live among the rich and famous. In this novel he gets that and much more, only not the way he was expecting. Many funny twists ... can't wait to see what happens next in the upcoming novel, a must read."
- hitechbookreviewblog.blogspot.com
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"This book is a fun, light read that pokes fun at the pretentious, at the rich, at the self-important. Common sense and honesty are rewarded, deviousness and greed are bested in the wittiest possible way. I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to reading the further misadventures of Oliver and Bernard."
- thetometraveller.blogspot.com
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"Oliver Booth is a load of laughs!
Get a copy and read it. You'll be glad you did."
- uncoveror.com
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"The Misadventures of Oliver Booth: Life in the Lap of Luxury has the reader laughing from cover to cover. It's been a very long time since I read a more hilarious book - I laughed until tears were rolling out of my eyes."
- curledup.com
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"Looking for an entertaining and quick read? Picturing yourself on the beach with a good beach read in a few months? Summer is right around the corner! We got our hands on the book The Misadventures of Oliver Booth: Life in the Lap of Luxury by author David Desmond! Overall, Pop Culture Madness enjoyed this book and thought it was a fun read from beginning to end. It’s a short and sweet novel that keeps you entertained and chuckling while you follow the adventures of Oliver Booth in Palm Beach and Paris."
- popculturemadness.blogspot.com
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"I go through phases in reading books. At the moment I am reading about my favorite period in history: between the wars and the glittering generation that changed the way we think about living. Thought-provoking stuff. David Desmond’s The Misadventures of Oliver Booth: Life in the Lap of Luxury was purported to be a comic novel — a 'Voltaire-esque' misadventure on top of that — and I just wasn’t convinced that I wanted to read it, especially for review. 'Dying is easy,' someone once said, 'comedy is hard.' Let’s get this out in the open: it is funny, with Rabelaisian moments, even. It is also a comic novel for our times. Especially when we read of the alleged fraud perpetrated by London antiques dealer John Hobbs, and the nightly escapades of 'celebutantes' famous for being … famous. The Misadventures of Oliver Booth is a novel about shortcuts. The protagonist Booth is a social climber clinging to the side of a building just off the wealthier shopping thoroughfare of Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, Florida. Worthless, in every sense of the word. He longs to belong to the set that decorates the better houses in Palm Beach, but his 'antique shop' is filled with cheaply made 'reproductions of classic French designs.' He is a horrible employer, grotesque in appetite and deportment, and not much of a decent person in general. If he didn’t have bad taste, as the saying goes, he wouldn’t have any taste at all. No one would enter his shop without stumbling into it or bother to take a second glance at the inventory if he did. Fortunately for Booth, that is exactly what happens as he makes the acquaintance of the grandson of one of the doyennes of Palm Beach society, who sends Booth and a French waiter with a good eye to Paris to outfit her guest house. Booth hopes to get rich quick, not really knowing his antiques (although he subscribes to all of the magazines), not speaking the language, and not willing to listen. His newly-minted colleague Bernard Dauphin (the French word for the heir apparent to the throne) is destined to make good. And he does it by being honest, hard-working, and French. Yes, he has a good eye, but he also advances largely through being in the right place at the right time. And why not? The American motto may be 'e pluribus unum' but I bet I could make a strong case for 'carpe diem' in this land of opportunity. Since we’re on the subject of Latin phrases, I leave you with one more: 'caveat emptor,' 'let the buyer beware;' you may get sucked into reading and not want to stop. Or you may recognize yourself in one of the composite caricatures. No one escapes Mr. Desmond’s satiric gaze and that is what makes for a fun romp. Even the glimpses that we catch of Palm Beach society don’t really make you long for inclusion in the social clubs so much as for the kind of money that lets you go on buying trips to Paris to furnish your guest house. At any rate, Mr. Desmond has written and published a novel that gives us a café table view of a certain segment of society that always intrigues us. Tough times sometimes call for light measures … this is a book that can make you smile."
- easyandelegantlife.com
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"David Desmond writes about the rich, and the wannabe rich, in Palm Beach. Since he is Donald Trump’s nephew, and lives in Palm Beach, we can assume he is not unfamiliar with that milieu, and in this novel he manages to navigate this world of the rich and self-indulgent with ease. We explore Palm Beach with the Oliver Booth of the title. As his main protagonist, David Desmond gives us the unpleasant, arrogant, incompetent – throw in obese too – proprietor of a store situated near, but not in, a top class shopping street, where he tries to unload his fake antiques at outrageous prices upon the rich and super-rich. You will look in vain for redeeming qualities. As we follow him from Palm Beach to Paris on an antiques buying trip on behalf of a client, and back again, bad things happen to Oliver Booth, but he is so unremittingly unpleasant to everyone he encounters in this story – he is either fawning over them or trying to take advantage of them, and very often both – that we feel no sympathy for him when fate slaps him upside the head. Add a French waiter who is both intelligent and possessed of an easy manner, a very rich old lady and her grandson, and you have the main characters in this comic novel. At the start of the novel, David Desmond describes for us the nature of Palm Beach society, with its own code of behaviour, hierarchy, and rules, and we are left wondering if all this can be true, but of course since Desmond is describing the place where he lives, we believe every word. Then he takes up the story of Oliver Booth’s attempt to join that society and make his fortune as antique dealer to the wealthy. This is a very entertaining and undemanding read. Don’t look for deeper meanings than those you find on the page – just enjoy what happens to the sweaty little toad of the title and those with whom he comes into contact. It takes a lot for a book to make the reader laugh out loud, but this one succeeded in several places. The Misadventures of Oliver Booth comes under the category of fun! Read and enjoy. And if you’re like me you’ll be through it all too quickly and wanting more, so you’ll be delighted to see that Desmond is writing a sequel."
- agentlemansdomain.typepad.com
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"Ohh, this book. I've never met a character like Oliver Booth - there is no one with whom I can compare him to help you get to know him. In Oliver Booth we find a fellow trying his hardest to break into the elite circle that is high society in Palm Beach. He truly believes that he has good things coming to him - despite his lack of ability or charm. His rather corpulent physique and knock-off filled antiques shop place him firmly on the fringes until luck drops an amazing opportunity into his lap: a chance to fly to Paris to help furnish the guesthouse of THE socialite in Palm Beach. His thrill is somewhat dampened when he is forced to take along the delightful Bernard as his assistant, and his 'misadventures' in Paris actually had me laughing out loud. While I cannot give this book the five stars I save for literature that really speaks to the human spirit, I WILL say that this satirical look at the creme de la creme kept my attention throughout, and though I had to cringe along with Booth and his inept antics, other characters had me cheering for them. I was interested in the way the author showed how little purpose there was in the lives of these rich folk, and while some of the society life portrayed seemed far-fetched to me, I am still inclined to believe that there really are people who behave that way and if so, I am glad that David Desmond has taken a stab at them. I found the writing to be witty, occasionally obvious, but always entertaining. I don't think I'll be forgetting Oliver Booth any time soon. The author's website is impressive - you can read a lot of extra stuff about both Palm Beach and Paris, read essays, and get the inside scoop on what's 'real' in the book."
- corinnesbookreviews.blogspot.com
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"The Misadventures of Oliver Booth is a humorous look at a social-climbing man who thinks he deserves to have it all. Oliver Booth is quite repulsive (both physically and mentally) and he preys on the wealthy through his dismal antiques shop. He is definitely a caricature of a man, someone whose faults are grossly exaggerated in order to make the novel humorous. Of course, it is a successful technique, and the reader is left chuckling as Oliver makes one blunder after another. If he wasn't so odious, I might have felt sorry for him. Despite the title, the story is more about Bernard, a waiter with an eye for antiques who ends up working in Oliver's shop. I really enjoyed reading about Bernard. I think if the novel had been solely about Oliver, the entire premise would have gotten old quickly. But Bernard adds a semblance of normalcy to the novel and is someone the reader can relate to. He keeps The Misadventures of Oliver Booth in balance between fiction and satire. Desmond also should be commended for his writing style. His words are quick and sharp. His sense of humor is witty, without being too obvious. The novel is also a quick, light read. It ends before the mix of sarcasm and satire can get too grating; satires are only really funny if they know when to quit. This one definitely does, and is the better for it. It's a book you'll want to read in one sitting. I would recommend The Misadventures of Oliver Booth to anyone who likes a good laugh. Though the novel is never absolutely hilarious, its wit and charm will keep readers enchanted. I'd definitely be interested in any subsequent books that Desmond releases."
- skrishnasbooks.com
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"This was a quick read that had me wanting more! While I've never actually been to Palm Beach or Paris, I honestly felt like I had spent time there after finishing this book! It starts out in Palm Beach, with Oliver Booth trying to make himself a bit more important than he really is. He is asked to go to Paris along with his assistant Bernard to find furnishings for the guest house of Margaret Van Buren - one of Palm Beach society's elite. The trip is, to say the least, hilarious, and it puts Oliver in an even more interesting situation, one he would definitely NOT want to have appear in the Shiny Sheet. I really enjoyed reading this book; I felt as though I was looking into the lives of the rich and famous. The characters were well-rounded and I felt as though I knew Bernard and Oliver personally. I flew through the book, just wondering what was going to happen next. I definitely would recommend this book - I think everyone wonders what the life of the elite is like, and this does give a taste of it, even if it is just an amuse bouche."
- booksamyreads.blogspot.com
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"To tell you the truth, when I first picked up this book I was sure I was not going to like it. I found myself pleasantly surprised. The Misadventures of Oliver Booth presents a witty and sarcastic portrait of a desperate social climber. Oliver Booth seems to be an amalgam of all the pesky, ambitious, and abrasive social climbers and hangers-on that Desmond surely has come into contact with. Oliver is obese, foul smelling, and petulant. He is not a character most people want to find themselves seated across from at dinner. He runs an antiques shop filled with overpriced Mexican reproductions of Louis XIV. He hoodwinks a poor, sensible French waiter named Bernard into working at his antiques shop. He demands first class treatment and throws a fit worthy of a petulant four year-old girl in a toy shop. He is also one of the most engaging characters I have ever come across. I could not put this book down once I started reading. I was waiting to see what kind of situation Oliver got himself into next. He is not a character you will like. If you meet a person like Oliver, your faith in the general goodness of humanity will be greatly diminished. Desmond’s writing style is also one of the best parts of this book. He is witty and sarcastic. His writing will draw you into this zany and wacky tale. You will get to the end of the book and not know how you got there. I highly recommend this book if you are looking for a good laugh."
- bibliophile23.wordpress.com
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"Oliver Booth is not your typical likeable protagonist. In fact, he is quite repulsive. He is obese, clumsy, disgusting, stinky, sweaty, selfish, arrogant, and greedy. He lives in Palm Beach, Florida – a place where homes range from about two million dollars to about 200 million. And no, Oliver Booth is not rich! He owns an “antiques” store around the corner of Worth Avenue – the shopping center of Palm Beach. His so-called flashy antiques are all imported from Mexico and look as cheap as they really are. Oliver tries his very best to join the ranks of Palm Beach’s high society, but all his attempts are unsuccessful and totally hilarious. Oliver’s (mis)adventures are not restricted to Palm Beach alone. When he is sent on an assignment to Paris, he manages to make an even bigger fool of himself, much to the amusement of all around him and the reader. If the whole book were about Oliver alone, it might have been just too much to handle. Thankfully, we have Bernard, a smart French boy whom Oliver hires as an apprentice. Bernard is everything that Oliver is not. He is smart, in shape, honest and likable. Just as any satire should be, this book is short and sweet. David Desmond is a talented writer. The book is humorous from start to finish and there are no slow parts in between. I have to mention that it is a pretty quick read. I started it last night after getting back home from work and had no intention of reading more than a couple of chapters. But yes … by the time I went to sleep, I was done with the book! I totally enjoyed reading this book. This was a good and refreshing change after reading "Breathing Out the Ghost." I am sure you will enjoy reading this as well. Give it a shot! Thanks to David Desmond for sending me a review copy of this book! David, I sure did enjoy the world of Oliver Booth. I can’t wait to read more books about him."
- ramyasbookshelf.blogspot.com
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"This book is highly entertaining. Oliver Booth is basically a 'wannabe.' His opinion of himself does not match that of others and it's a constant source of entertainment for the reader. At 202 pages, this was a very quick read. My only criticism really is that as obnoxious as Oliver was, I wanted to read more about him! At one point the story began to focus more on Bernard, his assistant, and I was anxious for it to get back to Oliver, which of course it did. Desmond did an excellent job of creating a character that you can laugh at, yet not dislike so horribly that you cannot stand to read about him. Overall it was light and fun and there were several moments that I found quite humorous."
- bookchatterandotherstuff.blogspot.com
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"David Desmond's The Misadventures of Oliver Booth: Life in the Lap of Luxury is a light, clever satire on the social and economic particulars of life in Palm Beach and Paris. Oliver Booth is an unlikeable, unsympathetic, unethical buffoon. Passing off Mexican imports as European antiques, Booth occupies a small shop and apartment just off Palm Beach's trendy Worth Avenue. If this book had been solely about this character, I wouldn't have finished it. He's just that aggravating. But Booth actually serves as a catalyst for events that happen to two far more interesting characters: the wealthy, elderly matron Margaret Van Buren, and the young French traveler Bernard, who comes to work as a clerk in Booth's antiques shop. Through their association with Booth, Van Buren and Bernard meet, and the older woman sees great potential and talent in the Frenchman. She sends Bernard and Booth to Paris to purchase antiques for her guest house, and despite Booth's constant blunderings and attempts to interfere, the trip is a great success. Author Desmond does a good job of balancing the satirical tone of this book and his parody of Oliver Booth with a more heartfelt treatment of Van Buren's and Bernard's stories. Some of Booth's 'misadventures' definitely go over the top, but they fit in the world of the book and provide some good chuckles. I've never been to either Palm Beach or Paris, but even I could see where Desmond was poking good-natured fun. Desmond wraps everything up nicely for Bernard, consistent with the reader's desires for his future. In the end, I'm not sure Booth deserved what he ultimately got in terms of abuse and reversal of fortune. But I suppose you could say that he imported his fake European chaise and now he has to sit in it. The Misadventures of Oliver Booth may not necessarily need to move to the top of your To Be Read pile, but it's definitely a fun and harmless way to spend a few hours of your free time."
- book-thirty.blogspot.com
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"Mr. Oliver Booth runs an antiques shop in Palm Beach. His antiques consist of 'Authentic Mexican Reproductions,' you know, the cheesy, gilded flea market finds. Mr. Booth feels he has exquisite taste in antiques and that those who question his taste are themselves somewhat beneath him. As Mr. Booth attempts to become a designer to the wealthy socialites of Palm Beach, he finds himself portrayed as a cartoon-like character in the local newspaper. His antics are hilarious. It is sad and also hard to believe but people like Mr. Booth actually do exist. This book is full of laughs and is a very good read. I give this book 4 stars."
- qualitybookreviews.wordpress.com
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"Oliver Booth is the kind of person who wants to mingle and join the high society of Palm Beach. Oliver is obese, foul-smelling, pesky, ambitious, and an abrasive social climber. He is not the kind of person most people want to find themselves seated across from at dinner. He runs an antique shop filled with overpriced Mexican reproductions of Louis XIV. Oliver has many misadventures that make the story funny. When Margaret Van Buren wanders into the shop looking for a bathroom for her grandson, she meets Oliver and his latest assistant, Bernard. When Bernard manages to get her to buy a commode that he picked out, she sees that Bernard has an eye for real antiques and offers them an opportunity of a lifetime - an all expenses paid shopping trip to Paris to find antiques to furnish her guest house. Bernard is happy just for the opportunity to work and learn, while Oliver wants to charge Mrs. Van Buren as much commission as he possibly can. Will both men be able to get what they want? Will Mrs. Van Buren catch on to what Oliver is up to? I enjoyed this quick read. It was funny to see how Oliver thought he should get everything that came his way, and he had no problem taking advantage of people. It was nice to see what came to him in the end."
- cindysloveofbooks.blogspot.com
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(Please note that reviews may have been edited for length and style but not their opinion. Thanks go out to all of the reviewers for their interest and hard work!)