Christopher Buckley: Boomsday

[SFG75]

I love good fictional political satire. This one proves to be promising.

Christian Science Monitor review

Set in a not-so-distant future, "Boomsday" is the story of Cassandra Devine, a 29-year-old blogger who commands America's youth through her digital rants. Incensed by the self-serving lifestyle of the boomer generation, who, in her view do little more than drain Social Security and pass on debt, Cassandra urges her peers to march on retirement communities.

If that weren't enough, her plan to save Social Security by offering incentives for seniors to kill themselves finds a supporter in Congress, an upper-crust Massachusetts senator, who, while tripping on acid in his 20s, decided he would one day become president.

It's outrageous and it's offensive; satire in a take-no-prisoners, Swiftian style, and that's exactly what Buckley wants. To him, modern politics is a farce in which the follies portrayed in "Boomsday" are all too possible.

And that's not all: the president has the foulest mouth, immigrants compete for a green card in a race across the border, Wal-Mart opens a store on the National Mall, and the vice president shoots a lawyer. (Wait, didn't that last one actually happen?)

While I've read a ton of his father's columns, I haven't read any books by Christopher Buckley. I will definitely check this one out. Interesting social security program mentioned in the book eh?

 

[mehastings]

I am looking forward to this book. It is on my "please, please, please" list at the library. Luckily I find out about books before the average reader and I don't generally wait long.

Although I'm totally against Buckly's political leanings, I can still take pleasure in his books. My favorite thus far (although I've yet to read them all) was Thank You For Smoking. I've also read No Way to Treat a First Lady and Florence of Arabia. I've got The White House Mess in my TBR pile.