Boomsday by Christopher Buckley Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Boomsday
Book Review: Boomsday
Summary: 5 Stars
No matter which way you lean, left or right, you'll find this to be a highly entertaining novel. Buckley is a brilliant political satirist and novelist with over the top ideas, that in the end, don't seem so over-the-top. Moving from the extreme left to the extreme right, this book was one heck of a ride.
"I've got principles. And if you don't like those, I've got others"
Groucho Marx
Book Review: Boomsday may be Doomsday for SS
Summary: 5 Stars
Social Security is a wonderful source of income to help finance our retirement, but will it be there when you retire? The author of Doomsday is proposing a solution - sign up to commit suicide by a finite age 75, 80, etc in order to preserve the SS fund for our children and grandchildren. Sure, it is extreme but we must come up with a solution because the baby boomers will bankrupt the system unless we do something.
Laugh with this book but after you read it propose to your senator or congressman a solution and keep bugging them until they do something about the pending disaster for SS benefits.
Book Review: Boomsday needs a little more bite.
Summary: 4 Stars
Boomsday has a great title with tremendous potential however, it looses steam in parts. It's good, but not great. I was looking for a little more bite. Political satire needs to tear out chunks of flesh only to leave the sadistic reader begging for more. I didn't have that reaction with Boomsday. It's not a book that left me with a lasting impression.
The conflicts between the characters were a little too tame. Cassandra Devine, for one, was descibed to be a character that could have whipped some serious booty but, she was never given the chance, even when going toe to toe Gideon Payne, a total marshmellow. The fight between them went a few rounds only to have Cass toss in the towel, what's up with that. She should have lodged her foot in his baby boomer rectum. Even though Social Security reform was an important issue for her, she never stood her ground. Gideon won the battle without even putting up a fight.
The spats between Randy and Cass were serious dubs, too. All disagreements between them ended with barely a cross word dispatched. The first time he got out of line she should have kicked him hard enough to lodge the jewels in the roof of his mouth and then said, "Oh I'm sorry did that hurt." Instead she buckled under the strain of her aching libido. Come on man, a chick like Cass doesn't give in that easily. She must have left her heart in San Francisco and her brain in the trash bin at Starbucks. This girl needed more bite to give her bark some substance. Cass was cool at the beginning of the story but, didn't have enough steam of sustain the novel.
I give boomsday four stars because the sentences were well structured and the narative was decent. As political satire goes though, it lacked the punch of a classical.
Book Review: Boomsday review
Summary: 4 Stars
A slickly written political thriller/satire about the looming end of Social Security and its effect on "politics as usual". As a member of what Buckley calls "Generation Whatever" I took exception to his characterization, but wrote it off as caricaturing to make a point. His caricature of what happens when the Baby Boomers start crossing retirement age, however, is closer to reality. All in all, a fun read and a good kick in the pants to people who have ignored Social Security as an issue.Book Review: Buckley at his best!
Summary: 5 Stars
My copy of this book arrived last week and I spent the weekend simultaneously reading, laughing out loud, and cringing...I am a baby boomer,though thankfully, not 70. Could there be a more timely topic than social security benfits, especially health care benefits, as socialized medicine... oops! Universal Health Care, is becoming a buzzword of this elongated two-year presidential election circus...umm, cycle?
If you've ever wondered how political buzzwords are generated, how politicians seem to pop up out of nowhere, why politicians who seem to have little in common suddenly are jointly sponsoring bills, how special interest groups make strange bedfellows as well, or what happens when great sounding programs actually have to be paid for, it's all here in a very funny, easy to read volume. Buckley is an equal opportunity satirist so no stone is unturned and no player is left unscathed as they try to wheel and deal their way to what they REALLY want.....MORE POWER! You will never look at the parade of candidates, the nightly news, the weekly political talk shows, a pollster, or your friendly political blog the same way.