Customer Reviews

See You Later Alligator (Blackford Oakes Novel)

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This is the first of Buckley's books that I have read and it was a real treat. This book is so good in a variety of ways that I think it deserves five stars. It is a combination of good story-telling, historical information, compelling characters (including those taken from real life), clear writing, and intrigue. These elements are combined smoothly into a very entertaining and easy to read tale. The book starts with the thoughts of President Kennedy and ends with Johnson in the Oval Office. The story provides a fascinating glimpse of Cuba in the 1960's, starring Castro and Guevara. There is plenty of suspense to keep the pages turning, but the pace and tone are very even - not a run of peaks and valleys. Even the dedication and acknowledgements were interesting. It was fun!

Buckley's Blackford Oakes novels seem to remain one of the best-kept secrets around. For the record: These novels are all based on historic events, but, unless Mr. Buckley has even more of an inside track than I believe he does, they weave a wonderfully complex--and witty!-- web of circustances surrounding them. In this novel, we get a two-fer: the Cuban missile crisis *and* the assassination of JFK. Didn't know that they were linked? Read the book to see how they (maybe) were. [This one ought to be included under the Cuban missile crisis heading.]

A splendid tale. Buckley relied on information about Che provided by Richard Goodwin (husband of Doris Kerns Goodwin). Goodwin was a JFK staff guy who met Guevara at a conference in ..Mexico? I cant recall. The chat between Guevara and Blackie are priceless. I especially liked the background info on Cecilio Velasco, who had been a Spanish communist in the 30s but left after disillusionment with Stalinism.
The final meeting between Che and Blackford in 1967 (when Che has been captured by the Bolivians and Blackie could have interceded to save Che from eventual execution) is quite poignant. Blackie hears the two shots fired to execute the Commandante at the novel's end. Guevara in death has been mythologized and rendered into little more than a pop idol. Kids today who were images of El Che dont know and may never learn about this Caribbean Himmler or all the executions he personally conducted. The sadistic Che in "The Lost City" is in stark contrast to the Che seen in "The Motorcycle Diaries"

After you read this I'd say go watch the wonderful film "The Lost City" starring Andy Garcia. Then go read Carlos Eire's splendid memoir "Waiting for Snow in Havana". In Waiting you get a child's perspective of the Cuban revo. Eire was part of the "Operation Pedro Pan" exodus from Cuba and was inspired to write his book when he watched the USA hand Elian back to his father and Fidel.




Bill Buckley died just prior to the 2008 election.
That is a pity. Unlike Kim IL-sung in North Korea, Bill didnt prepare young Christopher to take the reigns. I had hoped that perhaps Blackie would be continued by Christopher. Surely a meeting between Bin Laden and our Mr Oakes would be memorable.

I am reading the Blackford Oakes series in order...so I know there's only a few more after this one. Man, will I miss him when he's gone (RIP W. F. Buckley, Jr.)

Regardless of your feelings on Mr. Buckley's pretensions, he can spin a wonderful (if a bit pedestrian) tale, and this is a great example. Oakes is in Cuba at the request of Che Guevara, and at the direction of the Kennedy administration. He forms quite a relationship with the revolutionary. Along the way, he picks up good friends, hot latinas, and a beard and goatee. All of this, of course, leads up (surprise - surprise) to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Buckley has a masterful way of insinuating his protagonist into most of the crises of the fifties and sixties. Oakes could be seen as Forrest Gump's literate alter ego.

Humour abounds in this installment, no surprise there. But there are equal doses of poinancy, which makes this an outstanding installment in the Blackford Oakes canon. The author wears his contempt for the Kennedy administration a bit too much on his sleeve, in my opinion, which detracts from the story. But this is a minor quibble. I wouldn't expect the editor-in-chief of the National Review to idolize Camelot.

Absolutely recommended

I tend to not appreciate fiction. I read a lot of brain candy as a child, but one day in my early teens I picked up this book.

1) I met William F. Buckley, Jr.
2) I saw revolutionaries from a different angle.
3) I developed a desire to read books with substance.
4) I was innoculated against Steinbeck.

It's engaging fiction that young people can enjoy. Let them get a little bit of this perspective before their pinko profs get them.