Sernovitz, who worked as a junior oil analyst covering Latin America before leaving Goldman in 1998, recently published his second novel, The Contrarians. The book tells the story of Chris Kelch, an equity analyst at fictional Freshler Feld who is existentially wrestling with his all-consuming Wall Street workload and job-related conflicts. Sound vaguely nonfictional? “This is not the portrait of the analyst as a young man,” says Sernovitz, 29. But the author believes that his opus captures the human struggle he witnessed daily on Wall Street. “Being an analyst,” he says, “is not a particularly pleasing job. Every analyst says three or four times a week that he or she is quitting and going to the buy side, and that was before Eliot Spitzer rose from the shadows.” Although Sernovitz wrote a recent New York Times op-ed piece titled “Don’t Shoot the Analyst,” his novel doesn’t glorify or vilify the profession. “I don’t think anyone will deny the fact that analysts are pressured by bankers and by companies and by a lot of people,” says Sernovitz. “But they wouldn’t exist if they weren’t doing something worthwhile. They are not worthless people.” So far the attorney general hasn’t weighed in with a review. “He didn’t call me or subpoena me or put me on the stand. But he does have a copy.”
