In Alexander Starritt’s new novel, working toward something that matters often pings the conscience of millennials James Drayton and Roland Mackenzie. James is a brilliant scholar at the top of his class at Oxford. Roland is an expat oil brat at the very bottom of the same class. They briefly meet on a rowing team, and again, three years later, in a London pub. The two eventually land on a project together at McKinsey. That’s the elite management consulting firm famous for grooming future Fortune 500 executives. Not long after, the 2008 world financial crisis hits. All their data and spreadsheets may as well be tossed in the trash. By the time the client recovers from the devastating economic downturn, their research will be out dated.
We’re perceptively drawn into the 21st century’s effect on the lives of our ethically-minded protagonists. To wit, James and Roland find themselves facilitating the restructuring of a McKinsey oil and gas client. Roland despairs over the daily work of sacking people, hating it, and unable to stop. James despairs that he’s on a ladder to nowhere. He makes a decision that defines the rest of their lives: They’ll launch a startup manufacturing a turbine that harnesses tidal energy in the North Atlantic. They’ll harvest the tide and send Britain clean, renewable electricity.
Drayton and Mackenzie is a long read not because of its 500 pages, but because the story takes its time. Thanks to the narrative’s ingenuity and realism, the slow build gains our trust: What’s to be witnessed will be worth our time.
The friendship of James and Roland gives heart to the story. They couldn’t be more different. James is driven by ambition, locked into his insistent intellect. His Achilles heel is he can’t read people, so he says what he thinks and comes across as rude. Roland’s a slacker, drifting wherever he’s carried. Everyone is drawn to his generous spirit. James and Roland struggle with their own imperfections, but they don’t struggle with each other. Their friendship is grounded in mutual understanding that complements and stands by the other. It becomes an indelible bond that’s delightful to believe in, and genuine beyond description.
Their marine energy startup experiences possible bankruptcy, prototype failure, and ebbs and flows in funding. Also, consequences from the Paris Climate Agreement and Brexit. Major technology leaders and investors briefly make appearances in the drama. Not as mere plot embellishments. They impact the startup. My favorite is the Elon Musk meeting, and Elon’s tweet that follows. The story does not emphasize James and Roland coming into obscene personal wealth. That’s never their focus, nor interest. I’m not saying there’s not millions made. What we experience in the end is hard-won, significant achievement, and also something so heartbreaking it gutted me.
This is a taut, intellectually fascinating epic of tidal-size depths. Is it enough to devote yourself to one great cause? Does it mean anything? Roland and James search for what matters, asking themselves that pivotal question.
Drayton and Mackenzie is published by Atlantic Monthly Press. A version of this review aired on NPR member station WOSU 89.7 FM that broadcasts throughout Central Ohio. Minor edits were made in adapting a radio script to print.
The Longest Chapter 