Boomsday: A Novel (Audio Download)

by Christopher Buckley (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
[Signature] Reviewed by Jessica CutlerIt's the end of the world as we know it, especially if bloggers are setting the national agenda. In his latest novel, Buckley imagines a not-so-distant future when America teeters on the brink of economic disaster as the baby boomers start retiring. Buckley takes on such pressing (however boring) topics as Social Security reform and fiscal solvency, as does his protagonist. And get this: she's a blogger.Buckley's heroine is "a morally superior twenty-nine-year-old PR chick" who blogs at night about the impending Boomsday budget crisis. Of course, "she was young, she was pretty, she was blonde, she had something to say." She has a large, doting audience that eagerly awaits her every blog entry. And her name? Cassandra. And the name of her blog? Also Cassandra. Of course, Buckley doesn't let his allusion get by us:"She was a goddess of something," another character struggles to remember, which gives his heroine the opportunity to educate us about the significance of her namesake."Daughter of the king of Troy. She warned that the city would fall to the Greeks," she explains. "Cassandra is sort of a metaphor for catastrophe prediction. This is me. It's what I do." So Cassandra, doing what she does, starts by calling for "an economic Bastille Day" and her minions take to destroying golf courses in protest. Cassandra grabs headlines and magazine covers, and the president starts wringing his hands over what she might blog about next. Her follow-up: a radical but tantalizingly expedient solution to that most vexing of issues, the Social Security problem—Cassandra proposes that senior citizens kill themselves in exchange for tax breaks. Buckley, author of Thank You for Smoking, shows great imagination as he fires his pistol at the feet of his straw women and men. In 300-plus pages, though, it would be nice if he had found a way to endear us to at least one of his characters. Yes, we know that Washington is "an asshole-rich environment," as one puts it, but some Tom Wolfe–style self-loathing might be good for characters who use the word touché. Full disclosure: I'm a blogger of Cassandra's generation, and at times the totally over-the-top, relentlessly us-against-them scenario reminded me that I was reading a book written by someone not of the blogging generation, someone who Cassandra would want put down. Oh, the irony in these generationalist feelings. Then again, maybe that's exactly Buckley's point.Jessica Cutler is the author of The Washingtonienne.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From The Washington Post
Reviewed by Judy Budnitz

Does government-sanctioned suicide offer the same potential for satire as, say, the consumption of children? Possibly. One need only look to Kurt Vonnegut's story "Welcome to the Monkey House," with its "Federal Ethical Suicide Parlors" staffed by Juno-esque hostesses in purple body stockings. Or the recent film "Children of Men," in which television commercials for a suicide drug mimic, to an unsettling degree, the sunsets-and-soothing-voices style of real pharmaceutical ads. Now, Christopher Buckley ventures into a not-too-distant future to engage the subject in his new novel, Boomsday.

Here's the set-up: One generation is pitted against another in the shadow of a Social Security crisis. Our protagonist, Cassandra Devine, is a 29-year-old public relations maven by day, angry blogger by night. Incensed by the financial burden soon to be placed on her age bracket by baby boomers approaching retirement, she proposes on her blog that boomers be encouraged to commit suicide. Cassandra insists that her proposal is not meant to be taken literally; it is merely a "meta-issue" intended to spark discussion and a search for real solutions. But the idea is taken up by an attention-seeking senator, Randy Jepperson, and the political spinning begins.

Soon Cassandra and her boss, Terry Tucker, are devising incentives for the plan (no estate tax, free Botox), an evangelical pro-life activist is grabbing the opposing position, the president is appointing a special commission to study the issue, the media is in a frenzy, and Cassandra is a hero. As a presidential election approaches, the political shenanigans escalate and the subplots multiply: There are nursing-home conspiracies, Russian prostitutes, Ivy League bribes, papal phone calls and more.

Buckley orchestrates all these characters and complications with ease. He has a well-honed talent for quippy dialogue and an insider's familiarity with the way spin doctors manipulate language. It's queasily enjoyable to watch his characters concocting doublespeak to combat every turn of events. "Voluntary Transitioning" is Cassandra's euphemism for suicide; "Resource hogs" and "Wrinklies" are her labels for the soon-to-retire. The opposition dubs her "Joan of Dark."

It's all extremely entertaining, if not exactly subtle. The president, Riley Peacham, is "haunted by the homophonic possibilities of his surname." Jokes are repeated and repeated; symbols stand up and identify themselves. Here's Cassandra on the original Cassandra: "Daughter of the king of Troy. She warned that the city would fall to the Greeks. They ignored her. . . . Cassandra is sort of a metaphor for catastrophe prediction. This is me. It's what I do." By the time Cassandra asks Terry, "Did you ever read Jonathan Swift's 'A Modest Proposal'?" some readers may be crying, "O.K., O.K., I get it."

Younger readers, meanwhile, may find themselves muttering, "He doesn't get it." The depiction of 20-somethings here often rings hollow, relying as it does on the most obvious signifiers: iPods, videogames, skateboards and an apathetic rallying cry of "whatever."

But Buckley isn't singling out the younger generation. He's democratic in his derision: boomers, politicians, the media, the public relations business, the Christian right and the Catholic Church get equal treatment. Yet despite the abundance of targets and the considerable display of wit, the satire here is not angry enough -- not Swiftian enough -- to elicit shock or provoke reflection; it's simply funny. All the drama takes place in a bubble of elitism, open only to power players -- software billionaires, politicians, lobbyists, religious leaders. The general population is kept discretely offstage. Even the two groups at the center of the debate are reduced to polling statistics. There are secondhand reports of them acting en masse: 20-somethings attacking retirement-community golf courses, boomers demanding tax deductions for Segways. But no individual faces emerge. Of course, broadness is a necessary aspect of satire, but here reductiveness drains any urgency from the proceedings. There's little sense that lives, or souls, are at stake.

Even Cassandra, the nominal hero, fails to elicit much sympathy. Her motivations are more self-involved than idealistic: She's peeved that her father spent her college fund and kept her from going to Yale. And she's not entirely convincing as the leader and voice of her generation. Though her blog has won her millions of followers, we never see why she's so popular; we never see any samples of her blogging to understand why her writing inspires such devotion. What's even more curious is that, aside from her blog, she seems to have no contact with other people her own age. Her mentors, her lover and all of her associates are members of the "wrinklies" demographic.

Though I was willing for the most part to sit back and enjoy the rollicking ride, one incident in particular strained my credulity to the breaking point: Cassandra advises Sen. Jepperson to use profanity in a televised debate as a way of wooing under-30 voters, and the tactic is a smashing success. If dropping an f-bomb were all it took to win over the young folks, Vice President Cheney would be a rock star by now.

Copyright 2007, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

50 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fiction or Reality on Steroids?, March 25, 2007

By	Frederick S. Goethel "wildcatcreekbooks" (Central Valley, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Boomsday (Hardcover)

It is rare when I read a work of fiction, and even rarer when the fiction I do read is outside of the mystery/thriller genres. This book, however, was recommended to me by Amazon.com and when I read the synopsis I was intrigued. So with hesitation, I bought the book.

I will not spoil the plot by writing any more about it than has been written in the book overview. I will say that there are still plenty of twists and turns left in the plot. In addition, the book is extremely well written with good dialogue, fairly quick action and a lot less of the fluff usually found in novels. It reads quickly and is hard to put down.

In the beginning, I didn't see the big deal about the humor that was supposed to be in the book. It was "ha, ha" funny, but I didn't belly laugh. Alas, I jumped to conclusions too quickly. The book had me laughing out loud in a number of places. In addition, the entire book is funny in a morbid and distressing sort of way; similar to looking at a Gahan Wilson or Charles Addams cartoon.

The plot is absurd, which makes the book work. Isn't everything about Washington, D.C. absurd to begin with? The author just takes everything to the next level...or does he? Is this fiction or reality on Red Bull? While reading the book, I had the sense there was a message underlying the main story. I will let the reader figure this out for themselves.

This book will appeal to all, but especially to baby boomers and to the generation of kids that they spawned. If you haven't bought it, or do not know the author's work, I highly recommend this book for a good, fun filled laugh. Just leave room to finish it after you start.

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Funniest Book About Fiscal Policy, April 1, 2007

By	Ryan Silberstein - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Boomsday (Hardcover)

Just out this week, Christopher Buckley once again proves his prowess for political satire. The title of Boomsday refers to the impending fiscal crisis coming from the retirement of the Baby Boomers. This will cause strain on the Social Security system and Medicare. The protagonist of the novel, Cassandra Devine, spin doctor by day, blogger by night (with the help of Red Bull) has had a lot of troubles in her young life, but rallies the "Whatever" Generation to cause when Congress once again places the Boomers financial cost onto post Gen-Xers.

Buckley once again provides laughs at the expense of those in power, and presents a masterful understanding of politics. Overall, I enjoyed Boomsday more than Florence of Arabia, but not as much as Thank You For Smoking. I think the reason for this is that the character of Nick Naylor in Smoking is just utterly captivating, and it is his character that drives the story.

Cassandra Devine is perhaps not as fully realized as Naylor, but is still someone the reader can latch onto. As a blogger myself, I assume people might expect me to make some comment as to Cassandra's hobby as a blogger. Well it's pretty spot on, except I personally don't write into the wee hours of the day blogging. It's good in that she's a blogger, but she isn't sitting home in her pajamas all day, and thus perhaps reflects most bloggers who are regular (or semi-regular people). The character also makes reference to not having post times at odd hours of the morning. That I find especially funny, as I have done that on more than one occasion.

Randy Jepperson, the other main character in the book is interesting. A Senator from Massachusetts, and it isn't clear whether or not Buckley wants us to like him or not. Mostly in his dealings with Cassandra does this come out. You end up liking him when she does, and hating him when she does.

In the end, Boomsday is highly entertaining, and much funnier than one would expect a book dealing with the looming fiscal crisis as a plot device to be. Highly recommended.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buckley at his best!, March 19, 2007

By	J. Ramp - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Boomsday (Hardcover)

My copy of this book arrived last week and I spent the weekend simultaneously reading, laughing out loud, and cringing...I am a baby boomer,though thankfully, not 70. Could there be a more timely topic than social security benfits, especially health care benefits, as socialized medicine... oops! Universal Health Care, is becoming a buzzword of this elongated two-year presidential election circus...umm, cycle?

If you've ever wondered how political buzzwords are generated, how politicians seem to pop up out of nowhere, why politicians who seem to have little in common suddenly are jointly sponsoring bills, how special interest groups make strange bedfellows as well, or what happens when great sounding programs actually have to be paid for, it's all here in a very funny, easy to read volume. Buckley is an equal opportunity satirist so no stone is unturned and no player is left unscathed as they try to wheel and deal their way to what they REALLY want.....MORE POWER! You will never look at the parade of candidates, the nightly news, the weekly political talk shows, a pollster, or your friendly political blog the same way.