Customer Reviews

Open Line

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At a time when far too many Americans are clueless not only about American history (with many believing the U.S. beat Russia in World War II), but about current events as well (with ignorant voters believing Barack Obama is Muslim and perhaps even foreign born--even though one must be American-born to serve as president!), Ellen Hawley hits the nail on the head with her brilliant satire, "Open Line."

The key to good fiction is whether a reader can believe the characters, as well as the story they live out in the book. Not only did I not have any trouble recognizing characters like those in "Open Line" as key elements of our politically-degenerated culture, but the tale Ms. Hawley weaves--about a bored radio host nearly setting off a national movement by off-handedly suggesting, tongue not so firmly in cheek, that perhaps the Vietnam War never really happened--was so realistic it was frightening.

In the old days of yellow journalism, shameless newspaper reporters and editors would say a writer shouldn't let the facts get in the way of a good story. Unfortunately, we've come full circle, with thousands of mainstream news outlets fighting for attention, credibility and ad dollars with rogue bloggers and YouTube correspondents. The result is that journalism is being increasingly diluted and even polluted with unverified and unreliable "news" reporting, irresponsible speculation by "expert" analysts, as well as outright, often calculated lies.

In such a poisonous atmosphere, it is quite plausible that a desperate radio talk show host could propel herself to a national platform by riding a wave of paranoia (not all unjustified) about government "black ops" and full-fledged misinformation. Given the fact that Vietnam ended a generation ago, younger, more gullible listeners would not think twice about such crazy talk, while a significant, deranged minority who actually lived through the events themselves might actually believe America never really fought the war in the first place.

As a novelist, Ms. Hawley does a masterful job weaving her web of intrigue and doubt. The story builds a momentum all its own, until I had to stop and remind myself a few times that it was only fiction--the book, that is, not the war!

Ms. Hawley deftly draws right-wing fringe groups, striving politicians and opportunistic business leaders into the mix, until her main character becomes merely a pawn in a much bigger geopolitical game to confuse, enrage, and eventually motivate the easily misled American public to think and vote a certain way. It's fear mongering fueled by ignorance--there is no shortage of that in real life today.

I did find myself more than once wondering where Ms. Hawley was going with all this, and how in the world she would resolve the story. But she pulled off a key plot twist that leaves you satisfied and opens the possibility of a sequel down the road.

Also, I think this would make a terrific movie!!!

Go get this book! It's a quick, compelling read that will make you think long after you've put the book down.

Don't start reading Open Line unless you are ready to stay up all night until you finish it! Hawley creates a fascinating scene, pulls you right in, and keeps you there with a rich tapestry of details sprinkled with wit like, "you'd get arrested for malicious condiments" if you insisted on having a picnic in a forbidden public place.

With a few quick words, Hawley lets us into her characters' inner conflicts: "No sane human being, she told herself, would take them for a couple, and then a few minutes later she had to tell herself the same thing all over again."

The descriptions in Open Line are elegantly simple and highly evocative: "Her voice ran high on the scale, threatening to spin into the infrared." Or "Annette closed the door, putting a slab of painted wood and a drywall sandwich between herself and that easy voice."

All in all, an entertaining tale of how a handful of opportunists can use the media to make an idea -- any idea -- seem real and plausible.

In the Twin Cities, late-night radio talk show host Annette Majors jokes on the air that the Vietnam War was a government hoax. Whereas before she made her sublime commentary, Annette seemingly was going nowhere in radio; after the remark she suddenly has more than fifteen minutes of fame as her show is so hot it goes into national syndication.

Even her personal life awakens when rich Republican supporter Walter Bishop begins to court her. Walter uses her "belief" to launch a presidential bid for a relatively unknown wannabe and radical conservative Stan Marlin who supports her stand. Heeding their advice, Annette refuses to back down from her stance that there never was a Vietnam War. While some Viet Vets thinks she is a buffoon; others protest; and some still reliving their horrors seek closure through her.

This superb satire showcases the power of the media in which misinformation, disinformation, omissions, and fabrications are the norm. The key to this terrific tale is the players seem genuine especially Annette whose eloquent defense of her radical revisionism rings true. For those who reject the underlying concept remember there is an Iranian president denying the Holocaust; many people disbelieving the moon landings and a prominent right wing talk show host who using clever questioning of the vice president made it sound like Richard Clarke was below the inner security sanctum before 9/11. It is not WHAT HAPPENED as McClellan has said, it's the spin. Well written and entreating, fans who appreciate a biting condemnation of the news will understand that Eisenhower's military-government complex omitted the third partner the media.

Harriet Klausner

The author takes a talk host fifteen minutes of fame and turns it into illusions, greed and politics with a touch or romance thrown in for good measure. The reader is left wondering if any politician or celebrity can stay in touch with reality when surrounded by so many people not willing to tell the truth.

An interesting paradox of modern media is that while there is a glut of information from podcasts, blogs and news networks, it always seems to be the little ideas that cultivate the highest interest. It's a concept seen in elections where one quote or recording dominates the news cycle for at least three days, or when one video released on YouTube can build thousands of viewers just by word of mouth.

And of course, the problem with so many of these ideas is that most of them are ones that people are better off not paying any attention to, either founded on false pretense or being simply idiotic. Christopher Buckley explored this idea in "Boomsday" where a blogger suggests exterminating the baby boomers to save the government funds, and Ellen Hawley has now explored it in her novel "Open Line," an intriguing yet unsatisfying look at saying the wrong thing at the right time.

Trapped in the echo chamber that is late-night Midwest talk radio, Annette Majoris finally succumbs to her boredom and off-handedly suggests to a caller that the Vietnam War never actually happened. As the topic begins to generate calls from veterans and conspiracy nuts, it also attracts the attention of the equally disaffected Stan Marlin, who quickly sees that her theory can be a unifying issue for his conservative political group.

Soon, thanks to Stan's research and a rapidly growing listener base, Annette finds herself turning into a star. She begins dating the wealthy Republican lobbyist Walter Bishop, engages in serious talks with the governor about putting her listeners on his side and finds her show pulling in listeners on all ends of the political spectrum. As her fame grows, so does the level of protest and her own ambitions, everyone forgetting that it's built around a train of thought alone.

It's a compelling idea, both in concept and in the paranoia it suggests, but it quickly gets quashed under the foibles of its cast. Bishop has an odd fascination with puzzle toys, Stan's thought process periodically centers on popping open the buttons on Annette's blazer and Annette remains fixated on New York like some sort of promised land. They're more realistic than Buckley's unsubtle cast, but there's nothing to make them endearing or even likeable - in fact, "creepy" is the most appropriate word.

A great deal of this is credited to the fact that the book focuses more on the reaction to Annette's idea than the idea itself, and as a result the characters and the plot feel shallow. The back cover implies that there may be some truth in it but the shadow government idea never even begins to materialize, and it's never answered whether or not it exists beyond bored people looking to march behind any issue. Other side plots, such as a power play between Stan and a zealot member of his group, are pushed under the rug in favor of Annette's accelerated growth.

Though the base of "Open Line" is unsteady, it does have some strong supporting elements. Hawley, who used to work for a Minnesota radio station herself, makes Annette's broadcasts realistic down to the assertive clip of her voice and the calculations inside her head to avoid dead time. Several passages are well-crafted, particularly one instance in the upward phase of Annette's fame where she feels trapped in a hotel stairway despite no real evidence that anyone is after her.

When exploring paranoia or showing the growth of popular opinion, "Open Line" does provide a bleak satire of how the media can make a great deal from almost nothing. However, like most mass media, when it comes to digging deeper or creating people of any substance, the book just tends to make a reader feel uncomfortable.

Chilling and provocative, Open Line will leave you rubbing your funny bone, checking the cautionary goose flesh this well drawn portrait raises. Have you just encountered a surreal caricature or the real-life workings of a glib, amoral political black hole whose edge we are each just a stroke from falling into?


What if the Vietnam War was a hoax? What if it never happened? What if forces conspired to spread a media campaign suggesting that some other phenomenon never happened? Say, global warming? Say, (fill-in-the-blank.) Open Line gets out in front of critical questions such as these, in the form of a timely, wry, well-imagined novel. Like the canny main character, its author, Ellen Hawley is an effective social provocateur, slyly and convincingly using her own medium. Unlike the main character, Hawley does it for our own good.


You will want to read Hawley's send-up of American political gamesmanship if you care about free media, first amendment rights, the legacy of war, and how issues near and dear to American hearts can get hijacked by special interests. Hawley puts a face on insider politics, and takes us behind the (imaginary) scenes into an all too believable world of deal making among old money, expedient trysts, and consummate (if quirky) planning by those with agendas. She does so through the lens of the parochial politicking of Minnesota nicemakers who are deadly serious, in a story that looms universal. You will want to read Open Line if you like to laugh, love meeting characters up close who operate in public-behind our backs-and want to be stretched while having a seductively good time. Read it this season.

Open Line is...boring. I only got a few chapers in before giving up. I had to, I kept falling asleep. All that internal dialogue didn't do muct to keep things moving. The author tried too hard to be cute, or something, it didn't work. And, let's see, what do novice fiction writers learn on day one or day two in writing classes? NEVER give two of your characters names that start with the same letter and/our sound the same So, why then in Chapter Two do we have...Steve and Stan!!! I'm still not sure which was which. No big surprise this was published by a small specialty publisher. I wouldn't be surprise if the author owns part of it. Please, Ellen do yourself a favor - take a writing class.