Boomsday by Christopher Buckley Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Boomsday
Book Review: Buckley is Still Brilliant-- Read it for the wit!
Summary: 4 Stars
I'm a big fan of Christopher Buckley, and will happily pick up anything he writes. He's such a witty genius, I can only measure him against himself! And this is not his best plotted novel, but it is his best humor.
Because Buckley has refined his technique to perfection, he can write in a spare, energetic way that doesn't waste time on description. The dialog crackles like the wittiest screenplay. While many books amuse, this one will have you laughing out loud at the political satire. He has really nailed the insincerety of elected officials, the farce of fund raising, and K street antics. And he does well to pick up on the P.R. theme he did so perfectly in Thank You For Smoking.
Yet this book isn't as tight as Thank You For Smoking, and I couldn't help feeling like the plot gets a bit lost in the middle. The heroine (and Buckley usually has no problem authoring believable women) sets a plan in action which by her own admission is not meant to be 100% serious... but then she spends 2/3 of the novel trying to make it happen anyway. And her love interest is not entirely credible either, which is a shame, because Cassandra is so much fun in other respects.
In spite of this plot weakness, I loved the book anyway. The dialog barbs and the parody are enough to keep me turning pages without any regret.
Book Review: Couldn't get past the seventh chapter....
Summary: 1 Stars
..but I tried....I really really tried. I thought that this book was going to be cool, exciting and humorous. But, I found the lead character (Cass) to be boring and hypocritical. And if you can't connect with the lead character, then what's the point? It wasn't funny. Just absurd. Somewhere in the 7th chapter, I had enough and put the book down. A couple of days later, I tried again to read it. After all, I believe in second chances. But the names, characters and scenarios might just make you angry.Book Review: Cruder and blunter than Buckley's best, but still on-target
Summary: 3 Stars
One gets the strong sense, reading Christopher Buckley's satirical fiction, that his books contain more truth about how Washington D.C. really works than anything that appears in the newspaper, newsmagazines, or the many political tomes cranked out by inside-the-Beltway pundits.
"Boomsday" is an up-to-the-moment political novel that skewers many of Buckley's (and Buckley fans' - myself included) favorite targets: two-faced hypocritical politicians without an ethical or ideological bone in their body, who will say and do anything to get elected ad infinitum (or in other words 99% of the U.S.'s politicians); the entire Washington D.C. political system, power distribution, and process; the religious right; the loony left; and the citizen voters who "petition the government for a redress of grievances", or more accurately try to get as much federal largess steered into their own pocketbooks as possible.
Coming under special fire in "Boomsday" are the baby boomers who will soon be bankrupting Social Security. Buckley is to be commended for focusing on this very serious problem. He has given it more thought and attention than most Washington D.C. politicians, with the exception of George W. Bush, who was widely vilified for suggesting any changes at all to the status quo - and hence we continue today at full-speed, heading for the cliff. "Boomsday" presents a scenario that would delight a fiscal conservative or libertarian: an uprising among young working class people who tire of the increasing tax burden to further enrich the retirements of wealthy boomers. Buckley quickly takes it to somewhat absurd lengths, stimulating both thought and laughter along the way.
My primary reason for the middle-of-the-road rating is that Buckley's humor is less subtle, cruder and blunter than usual. He is at his best when he is at his wryest, as he is in my two favorite Buckley books: "Thank You for Smoking" and "God is My Broker". I will continue to read Buckley, hoping that someday he can produce that third masterpiece.
Book Review: DC Harvard Alums Book Club reviews BOOMSDAY
Summary: 2 Stars
DC Harvard Alums Book Club had a mixed reaction to BOOMSDAY. As satire on Washington, many felt that the book hit the mark, while others thought that the jokes got a little old and the story line started to drag. This is not to discount Buckley's ability to paint vivid character portraits that have become such a large part of his style. But as a send up of Washington, some members felt that Jeffrey Frank's THE COLUMNIST provides an even sharper wit and insight into the ways and means of Washington DC. One member suggested that the book was more a "treatment" for Hollywood consideration, than a true novel. Chapters are very short. The story line hops around and when the story advances it does so with a cinematic quality (which is great for movies, but not what novels are suppose to be about). Buckley is an excellent provocateur. While the club discussed his novel for about 30 minutes. The discussion really heated up over the next hour when we discussed end of life issues, social security reform and how club members are dealing/dealt with aged parents. It was a lively discussion, one that Cassandra, Gideon and all the other characters of BOOMSDAY would have enjoyed.Book Review: Disappointing
Summary: 2 Stars
Great idea for a story, a few clever plot twists, a little bit of humor, mostly a vehicle for gratuitous profanity. SKIP IT!