SPOILERS? Not really but some folks freak out over anything.

Only $5 on kindle at the moment. Probably something like five hundred pages, but it reads much quicker than that. Belfort serves as the narrator throughout, but in many ways the book reads more like a fictitious work than a memoir. He has plenty of funny observations about the numerous colorful characters he encounters throughout the story.

I found the details of his firm Stratton Oakmont to be the most interesting elements throughout. If half of what he described actually occurred at work, it was like a party 24/7. It shocked me and at times made me howl with laughter.

He also writes in depth about his second wife Nadine, their children, and his battles with copious, copious amounts of drugs.

As I said earlier, it was hard to believe some of the stories, but more so for his editorializing of his apparent mindset when events occurred. I think some of his rationalizations for past actions (this dude committed MAJOR fraud) are disingenuous. In addition, I think he paints himself in a more sympathetic light than those close to him likely would. But if you just sit back and enjoy the read, it's very entertaining.

My favorite scene occurred at the beginning as Belfort remembers his first day on Wall Street working on the low-rung of the totem pole prior to the crash of 87 (this appears to be the Matthew Mcconaughey scene from the trailer). It does a great job setting up Belfort's mindset and revealing to us what the attitudes of our characters will likely be throughout.

Would have liked more background as to how he got Stratton Oakmont off of the ground as there's a good five year jump that occurs from the initial day on Wall Street and the next chapter in the book. Looks like the movie will actually touch on this a little bit (as we see Jonah Hill meet Jordan in the trailer as well as the establishment of the initial office for Stratton Oakmont).

Definitely worth a read if you find the investment subject matter interesting or if you just enjoy stories about obscenely rich people acting bat-shite crazy.

This post was edited on 12/17/13 at 12:37 pm