Having never read Christopher Buckley, he of many humorous political novels like Thank You For Smoking, I decided to take the galley copy of his recent work, Boomsday, I got at work.
From the back of the book:
Outraged over the mounting Social Security debt, Cassandra Devine, a charismatic 29-year-old blogger and member of Generation Whatever, incites massive cultural warfare when she politely suggests that Baby Boomers be given government incentives to kill themselves by age 75. Her modest proposal catches fire with millions of citizens, chief among them "an ambitious senator seeking the presidency." With the help of Washington's greatest spin doctor, the blogger and the politician try to ride the issue of euthanasia for Boomers (called "transitioning") all the way to the White House, over the objections of the Religious Right, and of course, the Baby Boomers, who are deeply offended by demonstrations on the golf courses of their retirement resorts.
The novel idea here, is to take on what amounts to be a very boring subject -social security, but make it funny and, maybe, a bit thought provoking. Still, Buckley leaves no one off his radar, as he attacks the boomers, politicians, the media, the public relations business, the Christian right and the Catholic Church. The only issue, I guess, I have with the novel is that 99.9% of the characters are assholes. It sometimes becomes hard to think that this might be the way Washington really is. Anyways, marked by a savvy understanding of the truth behind the headlines and a perceptive wit that holds no target sacred, Buckley delivers a comedic look at what potentially could happen when all of these boomers begin to retire.
From the back of the book:
Outraged over the mounting Social Security debt, Cassandra Devine, a charismatic 29-year-old blogger and member of Generation Whatever, incites massive cultural warfare when she politely suggests that Baby Boomers be given government incentives to kill themselves by age 75. Her modest proposal catches fire with millions of citizens, chief among them "an ambitious senator seeking the presidency." With the help of Washington's greatest spin doctor, the blogger and the politician try to ride the issue of euthanasia for Boomers (called "transitioning") all the way to the White House, over the objections of the Religious Right, and of course, the Baby Boomers, who are deeply offended by demonstrations on the golf courses of their retirement resorts.
The novel idea here, is to take on what amounts to be a very boring subject -social security, but make it funny and, maybe, a bit thought provoking. Still, Buckley leaves no one off his radar, as he attacks the boomers, politicians, the media, the public relations business, the Christian right and the Catholic Church. The only issue, I guess, I have with the novel is that 99.9% of the characters are assholes. It sometimes becomes hard to think that this might be the way Washington really is. Anyways, marked by a savvy understanding of the truth behind the headlines and a perceptive wit that holds no target sacred, Buckley delivers a comedic look at what potentially could happen when all of these boomers begin to retire.
No comments:
Post a Comment