A thoughtful and thorough look at toxic masculinity in American politics with a hero who’s easy to root for.
In Gulick’s novel, a female United States senator struggles against sexism, corruption, and worse in the world of Reagan-era politics.
Following the unexpected death of her husband, Belinda Hightower finds herself thrown headfirst into American politics, filling his seat as the Republican senator for the fictional Southern state of Beulahland. Feeling lost and isolated in the boys’ club of the U.S. Senate following President Ronald Reagan’s election (Belinda is not allowed to use the Senate gym because her fellow senators enjoy swimming in the nude, for example), Belinda spends most of her time just holding her hand up at the same time as everyone else during her committee meetings, doodling in her calendar, or trying to determine if someone is a Republican or Democrat based on their clothing. Her one friend is Clarissa Carp, a ruthless lobbyist who seems to take pity on Belinda and wants to help her out. Clarissa’s mentioning of a new bill piques Belinda’s interest—she soon finds herself wondering how the wording of an amendment to the bill about meat disposal might be important. At Clarissa’s suggestion, Belinda visits the pig farm of powerful Senator Oz Barroni. As he shows her the latest advancements in slaughtering pigs—as well as disposing of their waste—Belinda begins to see that the Republican Party expects her to fall in line, stop asking questions, and get on board for a pro-Christian, pro-big agriculture agenda. (Word gets back that even Nancy Reagan is disappointed in her performance, labeling her a “Republican In Name Only.”) After Barroni reveals his true, despicable colors, Belinda decides to run for office and beat her corrupt male colleagues at their own game by proposing an amendment with huge consequences for people’s health. It isn’t long before the Washington machine sets out to crush Belinda, digging up an innocent moment from her last vacation and transforming it into an accusation of assault that could derail her newfound purpose and energy…and maybe even her whole life.
Early on, Gulick captures Belinda’s frustrations with the sexist Senate while also winning sympathy from readers by illustrating how even the simplest of her actions have complicated ramifications. While Belinda seems to simply endure the humiliations inflicted by her colleagues at first, by the time her stilettos are “quivering with her rage” over her unjust treatment she has fully won readers over to her side. The author does not shy away from delving into the intricacies and minutiae of public policy and the painful process of pushing a bill into law. It can be tedious to follow Belinda’s policy analysis, but when it leads to her impressive addresses before the Senate, proclaiming that changing two words in the bill could compromise “the very foundation of our great nation,” readers will have come to believe that she is right. However, the choice to invent an imaginary Southern state feels baffling in the context of this realistic deep-dive into political machinations filled with real-life figures like Tammy Faye Bakker, several senators, and the Reagans. The attacks against Belinda’s character feel a bit far-fetched—even for Washington—but the impact of the sexual harassment and assault she suffers is made very real in Gulick’s narration, along with her ensuing and predictably frustrating search for justice.
A thoughtful and thorough look at toxic masculinity in American politics with a hero who’s easy to root for.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Aug. 6, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
