A sometimes-starry-eyed but well-observed and entertaining saga of democracy in action.
A ragtag band of extremely wealthy, well-connected reformers upends the two-party system in this debut savvy political novel.
Alex “Atlas” Stein hosts a confab of friends at his Aspen, Colorado, chalet to unveil his plan to start a third party. Specifically, he wants to take on what he sees as the divisiveness, sleaze, and gridlock of American politics. After a lengthy tutorial on the formidable barriers to third parties in a presidential system, he signs up his guests: U.S. Army Gen. Samuel Huntington “Hunt” Smith, who will command the party machinery; policy wonk Julie Kersten-Covington, Atlas’ old flame; internet whiz Lauren Chevez de la Rosa; campaign strategist Mark Stone; and baseball hall-of-famer Tom Robinson, who will serve as the party’s goodwill ambassador. Dubbing itself the “E Party”—with the “E” standing for education, economy, and ethics—the enterprise starts slowly by fielding several candidates for the Illinois state legislature. Thanks to an adroit stealth campaign; a good slate of candidates, dominated by respected teachers; and Atlas’ millions, they win enough seats to deny the Democratic Party a legislative majority and force concessions. They pass breakthrough initiatives via shrewd maneuvering and crowd-pleasing publicity stunts; for example, they break a budget impasse by offering prizes to voters who provide expense-cutting ideas. They’re poised to make huge gains in the next election until a femme fatale, a Machiavellian Democratic operative, the even-more-Machiavellian Democratic speaker of the Illinois House, and the Democratic National Committee chairman target the E Party with tawdry rumors and ginned-up criminal charges. Some readers may find Nemerovski’s view of political passions to be quaintly out of date after the election of Donald Trump, as the E Partiers are sure that it’s issues of good governance, fiscal responsibility, and education that will spark a populist uprising against the political establishment. Fortunately, his portrait of nuts-and-bolts politics is realistic and engrossing. His characters play a ceaseless, multilevel chess game, strategizing on candidate recruitment, messaging, media schmoozing, parliamentary procedures, and the subtle niceties of legislation that can have explosive, unexpected results. Although there are some longueurs of anodyne banter, the narrative largely unfolds at a snappy pace via emails and press reports that follow the characters’ moves and countermoves. The result is a sharp, colorful critique of state politics that takes its importance seriously.
A sometimes-starry-eyed but well-observed and entertaining saga of democracy in action.Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-68111-135-3
Page Count: -
Publisher: Wasteland Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 13, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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