REVIEW: Jeffrey A. Martinovich — Just One More: The Wisdom of Bob Vukovich (BOOK)
In Jeffrey A. Martinovich’s new book, a wiseman of the financial world by the name of Bob Vukovich complete with ideal martini waxes poetic on everything from politics to the corporate ladder to women to the true nature of things. This sounds like something more fitting in a work by Japanese avant-garde author Haruki Murakami, or a passage from a sort of post-modernist version of Zane Grey. But no, it’s from a former financier turned author — a decidedly right lane turn from a far, left brain profession. The landscape isn’t something akin to the old west, it’s representative of the fast pace of the rat race.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: https://jeffmartinovich.com/
If sentimentality in the spirit of creativity and artistry has reached someone like Mr. Martinovich, formerly the founder and CEO of one of the wealthiest and most influential management firms in the country, then a paraphrase of the following saying must be true. If Lawyers, I suppose, were children once is a Charles Lamb quote from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, an appropriate riff would be Financiers, I suppose, can be artists. At least, Mr. Martinovich can be. It’s especially inspiring as his fall from position and power is the kind that can crush a man’s soul. Yet it’s clear he hasn’t allowed this to happen, the book reflecting this sentiment through Vukovich’s grappling with whether he represents what he preaches. Specifically such sentiments and insight aimed at the novel’s promising young protagonist, banker Cole Johnson.
Through the self-determination of both characters’ respective and somewhat introspective odysseys, one gets the sense Martinovich himself is getting a therapeutic kick from sharing the simply titled Just One More: The Wisdom of Bob Vukovich. The dialogue both characters speak feels raw and fresh, personal and sometimes painful. Likely because it comes from a deeply visceral, personal place on behalf of the author — channeling his thoughts and ruminations as well as flushing his psyche into people who are as appropriately grim as they are glorious. It’s the latter trait that really makes the details of the book click. No one is black or white, rather they’re varying shades of gray. The entirety of the story’s philosophy is gray, as a matter of fact. It’s all about the interpretive nature of choice, what defines success, and what defines the road to said concept of success.
“Bob chuckled. ‘I’ve always found the most intelligent people to be the ones who frequently have the courage to say “I don’t know.”…Cole, I urge you to find your own truths. Question everyone and everything. Seek knowledge. Make your own decisions. As the scientists say, we so far only understand about 12% of our brain function, so we have a long way to go. But who knows if that’s even correct?’” Such a quote better summarizes the entirety of the book’s theme and messaging than anything else. While offering through Vukovich’s monologues simultaneous business advice for the aspiring entrepreneur, Martinovich ruthlessly beats into the reader’s head the importance of maintaining a sense of grappling, objective curiosity. Against all else…
BUY THE BOOK:https://www.amazon.com/Just-One-More-Wisdom-Vukovich-ebook/dp/B08ZVB5S2H
I never thought I’d say this, but in a book like Just One More: The Wisdom of Bob Vukovich there is a little something for everyone. A sense of being holistic? Check. A veteran’s expert advice on climbing the social ladder? Check. A compelling story with well-developed characters? Check. But most importantly, a sense of genuine humility, and genuine heart.
Colin Jordan
