MADreads

Out with a bang

June 2nd, 2007 Katie H.

With the airwaves full of presidental hopefuls stumping in anticipation of the next election (a mere eighteen months away!), a bit of political comic relief may be in order. Thankfully, Christopher Buckley has a new novel out which satirizes the current political climate and the frenzied nature of presidential politics.

Boomsday opens with Cassandra Devine’s revelation that her father has spent her entire college trust fund on a dotcom startup, forcing her to head to army boot camp rather than Yale.  Years later, Cassandra is furious to learn that her father, now a multimillionare with a new family, has paid Yale to accept his academically challenged stepson.  In true Generation X fashion, she vents her frustration on her blog, railing against Baby Boomers for doing nothing about Social Security’s insolvancy and dumping a huge debt on her generation.  After a caffine-fueled night of blogging, she proposes that all Boomers agree to kill themselves by age 75, in return for cushy government incentives.

This being Washington of course, Cassandra’s modest idea is picked up by presidential hopeful Randolph (”He’s no Jefferson”) Jepperson, who uses the lure of ‘Transitioning’ to woo tuned-out young voters.  But there are plenty of roadblocks to Jepperson’s run for the White House, most memorably a right-wing preacher with a questionable past, the current president of the United States with an unfortunate last name–not to mention thousands of Baby Boomers who are less than pleased with young protesters interrupting their golf rounds.

Buckley’s plot trails off towards the end and some of his jibes may be a bit obvious, but his strength lies in his hilarious and scathing portrayal of Washington insiders. Political junkies might recognize some figures as caricatures of real Beltway players.  As election season seems to begin earlier and earlier, Buckley’s comic take on political spin is a good alternative to the real thing.

Entry Filed under: Recreational Fiction