Merry-Go-Round Broke Down: A Novel of Guilt, Greed & Globalization

5 Star Review

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Editorial Book Review:

By TJ Brown

Merry-Go-Round Broke Down: A Novel of Guilt, Greed & Globalization is an interesting book because it combines a thrilling story with the hard-to-understand world of global finance. What makes this book stand out is its ambition: it shows how choices made by one person can affect people on other continents in ways that are often surprising and unsettling. Co-authored by David Woo and Margalit Shinar, the story feels vast yet intensely human, drawing readers into worlds they might never experience firsthand.

Reading it feels like being on a carefully choreographed rollercoaster. The tension of the opening hostage scene in the Waldorf Astoria immediately hooks you, and as the story unfolds across eight countries, the reader experiences curiosity, shock, and reflection almost simultaneously. Some people get caught up in strange systems, which is sad, but it's also interesting to see how greed, ambition, and moral compromise all work together. There are many parts to the world, and this makes you think about your place in it.

The main ideas of the book are globalization, guilt, ambition, moral responsibility, and how the choices we make can have effects we didn't mean. It makes you think about right and wrong and power in ways that go beyond the story and into politics, money, and everyday life. The universality comes from the fact that it is about people's choices and how they affect other people. This reminds us that every choice we make has an effect on someone else.

David Woo and Margalit Shinar write in a way that is very clear and deep. They tell stories that are like parables but are based on real-life cultural and economic events. The way the stories are linked lets different points of view come out on their own, which makes the story more interesting and complicated. Their writing is both clear and advanced, and they often use strong images to show how personal wants and needs don't fit with bigger systems.

The book is hard to read for people who don't know much about global finance or how to follow multiple storylines, but the payoff is a story that stays with you long after you've finished reading it. This book is important because it combines exciting fiction with deep ideas that make you think about how your choices, big and small, change the world. It's a story about ambition, consequences, and the complicated web of people that is both interesting and makes you think.

About the Author 

David Woo

David Woo is a renowned global macro strategist, widely recognized for his bold and prescient calls on some of the biggest economic, political, and geopolitical stories over the past quarter century. Bloomberg called him “one of the most outspoken voices on Wall Street,” while Business Insider named him among “the twelve smartest people on Wall Street.” His views have shaped debates across markets, policy circles, and the global media.

David began his career at the International Monetary Fund before going on to hold senior positions at Bank of America, Barclays Capital, and Citigroup. He earned a PhD in economics from Columbia University and a bachelor of arts in mathematics from Tufts University.

A true product of globalization, David was born in Pittsburgh, raised in Taiwan, and educated in the United States. His career has taken him from Washington DC to London and New York. He is fluent in English, Chinese, and French.

About the Author 

Margalit Shinar

Margalit Shinar is an architect. Margalit was born in New York, the daughter of French émigrés. She has a master’s degree in art history from Tufts University and a bachelor of arts in architecture from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. She has edited a history book on ancient Israel. She is fluent in English, French, Hebrew, and Italian.