FIRST HUBBY: A Novel About a Man Who Happens to Be Married to the President of the United States

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 1990

Apparently unsatisfied with his success as a popular humorist and social satirist, Blount has perpetrated his first novel--and he hasn't harmed his reputation a bit. ""The first time I saw her she was naked, except for pearls and the look in her eyes,"" begins the story. ""She,"" not incidentally, is now President of the US, the Leader of the Free World. The narrator is Guy Fox, her ever-loving spouse, the First Hubby. It's the summer of 1993. Noriega is back in Panama. Gorby is in the US working, naturally, in publishing. Marilyn Quayle, originator of a failed coup, is a fugitive in the hands of an unhappy Qaddafi. And Clementine Fox, former vice-president, has achieved the Oval Office because President DaSilva (a third-party candidate who had somehow defeated both the ""New"" Dukakis and the Old Bush) was killed by a ballistic fish that found him in downtown Washington. The rise of truly bodacious President Fox, who takes to the job like, well, like a fish takes to water, is recounted by her humorist husband, a Henry Fonda look-alike. He grows a bit petulant, wondering how Denis Thatcher bears up. His wife can outdebate Jesse Jackson, and he feels like a ""male Miss American but without the sense of achievement."" There's not much more to the plot--but Blount's narrative is enlivened by his sure hand with down-home, goofy Americana, which was to be expected, and uxorious romance, which was not. A most entertaining story by a writer with an instinct for attractive American silliness.

Pub Date: June 1, 1990

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Villard/Random House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1990

Categories: FICTION