THE KING OF VERMONT

by Stephen Morris ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 24, 1989

Morris' first novel, Beyond Yonder (1987), was--like this one--about a small Vermont town composed of locals and mobile yuppies. But whereas that earlier book was more a collection of anecdotes than a novel, this one pleasantly organizes its regional materials into a comic tale about a hard-drinking ophthalmologist who decides impulsively to run for office. Darwin Hunter, the narrator and ostensible author of Beyond Yonder (""more than a collection of neo-rural homilies; it was Life, it was Art, it was. . .""), announces his intention to run for state senate, despite his feminist wife's opposition. His home of Upper Granville, Vermont--divided between Flatlanders (affluent transposed yuppies) and Chucks (locals, farmers)--then becomes the setting for an uneven chronicle full of amusing slapstick, short essays on the yuppification of Upper Granville (where ""Country Journal is a sort of bible and Garrison Keillor is Johnny Carson and the Messiah rolled into one""), and representative portraits. Hunter prepares for politicking by spending a month in a sauna with brown rice, his version of ""North Country Samurai."" Armed with campaign manager Captain Goo Roo, a hippie guitar-player with an instinct for publicity, Hunter settles on a campaign of ""Total Disclosure"" after his wife leaves him and he becomes involved in a developer's plot to turn Upper Granville into ""an authentic re-creation of a New England pioneer town."" The rest of the book works out the implications of those two ideas. The campaign draws national attention (Dan Rather talks to him) and divides Upper Granville. Our hero resists a seduction by a female opponent, saves a woman from fire, and--after misadventures at the Tunbridge World's Fair--gets his wife back and enters the voting booth. Morris, a rural Vermont version of Tom Sharpe, dishes out a folksy helping of Americana--zany enough to be more than merely regional.

Pub Date: July 24, 1989

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Morrow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1989

Categories: FICTION