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Landmark Status: A Ludicrous Romp Through Miami

Review By Stuart Nachbar

I used to be an urban planner and I worked in and followed big-city politics in New Jersey. I’m one of those people who watched eight seasons of The Sopranos and told friends that there were some scenes that were not too far from real life in urban North Jersey.

Landmark Status

Being a huge Sopranos fan who also enjoys Carl Hiassen stories, I thought that I would like Landmark Status, Alan Rolnick’s debut novel. Like some good Sopranos episodes, there’s plenty of cigars, construction and corruption, though like Hiassen’s books, there’s a slightly goofy good-guy main character.

Rolnick’s main character, Benji Bluestone, is the type of lawyer I might have become had I gone to law school instead of becoming a planner. He’s reasonably sane, knows his work and loves sporty cars, but he’s not interested in the big money or the big deals. Benji is the son of a lawyer who founded the leading real estate law firm in Miami. He prefers to be his own man, but wants his father’s respect.

Benji’s the most believable character in Landmark, but Delia Torres, who becomes his love interest, is less credible. Maybe it’s me, coming from Jersey, but a Princeton grad returning to Miami to become an exercise instructor, then later a real estate broker, seemed too far flung. It would have better to characterize her as a former Florida Gator cheerleader with a 4.0. It would have also been more consistent with the story. Miami fans hate the Gators and it would better explain how Delia could kick “admirers” in the cojones and walk away with a smile. But I’ll drop a hint about the ending: it’s Delia who conceives the brilliant business solution to save the day. I liked the supporting characters in Landmark; they were more similar to the characters in Hiassen novels; good guys and bad guys have equally incompetent accomplices. There’s Raj, the cigar importer who is a mercenary wannabee; Rico the mobster/high roller wannabee who speaks about himself in third person; Oscar, the Cuban-American politician who’s adept at rigging his own election and getting his opponent to buy in; Chuck, the Ponzi schemer; and Walter, the perverted owner of the historic Century Club who wants to cash out and run away with his next stripper wife.

The courthouse scenes in Landmark are also amusing and not too heavy on the real estate and urban planning jargon that you might find in more serious legal thrillers. There was also enough local flavor to remind me that the story was in Miami; without it, the story could have just as easily taken place in Newark or Jersey City. There’s also a scene where Benji and Raj go undercover to learn Chuck’s real business, and one thing was for sure: Crockett and Tubbs they ain’t. But there’s no investigator hero in this story. Benji and Raj have to do.

Landmark could be re-worked into a very funny movie, if the producers go lighter on the courtroom jargon and heavier on the more ludicrous business and politics. I can see Tom Hanks playing Benjy, but Landmark the movie should be more like Charlie Wilson’s War and less like Bonfire of the Vanities.

Contact Stuart Nachbar at http://www.EducatedQuest.com, a blog on education politics, policy and technology or read about his first book, The Sex Ed Chronicle, a novel on education and politics in 1980 New Jersey, at http://www.SexEdChronicles.com .

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