Customer Reviews

Primary Colors: A Novel of Politics

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
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This novel was based on a presidential primary campaign from the 1990's. It follows the campaign of a southern governor who is smart, inspirational, and surrounded by personal scandal. What is does well: it creates a realistic view of the excitement, frenzy, idealism, and cynicism of a presidential campaign. What it fails to do: it does not create characters of depth, ones that come alive on the page. The story is good, and the general atmosphere of campaign headquarters is very real and both funny and sad. If you like politics with all its dirt, or just want to know more about what campaigns are like, I recommend this novel.

Although this is hardly a brilliant novel, it makes a fine reading for us fans of politics; it was a nice light Holidays reading for me.
I liked it more than the film although it shares one good feature with the film: together with the hero/young black aid, the reader/viewer is sucked into the magnetic power of politics, ideology and personal charms...

This book is not an attack on the Clintons (although the characters are obviously based on them and their circle) because the very same political rules obviously apply in the era when educated "half-black" hero Henry Burton became president and the Clintons are forced into supporting roles.

One of the fun trivia bits - Joe Klein (a.k.a. anonymous) wrote one of the characters for Kathy Bates to portray it in the eventual film version (which she did).

This was a good read and is interesting to read at this time when we have news of candidates inundating the airwaves and newspapers, not to mention the bloggers busily adding their two cents worth.

Was more fun when no one knew who wrote it. Would encourage reading it before seeing the movie so you can picture the protagonist as Clinton rather than Travolta!

I read Primary Colors a few years ago and enjoyed it tremendously.
Sharp, keenly observed political games and recognisable characters if you want to transpose them for their real-life alternatives.
I loved it.

First read the book when it came out and loved it. I love the movie and the more I watched it the more I wanted to re-read the book. Excellent read.

My relationship with this book is a mixture of happenstance and serendipity.

I heard of Primary Colors when it came out in 1996. I didn't get round to buying it then. Shortly thereafter - in 1998 - a film starring John Travolta and Emma Thompson was made of the book. Shortly thereafter, I was taking a trans-Atlantic flight and the film was shown. It was amusing enough to keep me awake but not amusing enough to make me want to buy the book. So I didn't buy the book. (Moral: always read the book before watching the film).

This year, my wife and I found ourselves in Washington State. On a pleasant little side-trip along Highway 101, we were in need of a good breakfast. We stopped off at 'The Tides Family Restaurant,' near Hoodsport, a small community in Mason County. We had a very good breakfast, lasting a couple of hours and consisting of good food and fine company. We were sated. We then noticed a small book case with second-hand books for sale and marked at a dollar each. In amongst the books on show was a very good hardback edition of Primary Colors. We got it. So, if my wife and I had not been loitering on a July Saturday morning in Washington State, if we had not been hungry, if we had not happened upon 'The Tides Family Restaurant' and if we had not had a dollar to spare, we would not have bought Primary Colors nor would I have enjoyed a book that is so, so much better than the film, nor would I be reviewing it for Amazon from back home in England after having read it into the wee small hours with amusement, fascination and admiration for the author's (the one-time 'Anonymous' but now known to be Joe Klein, a controversial but respected political author and blogger) skill in concocting a plot that bears sufficient kinship to real life and the real politics of the early 1990s and that is utterly riveting. As the author says, in a preface note, 'None of these events ever happened.' And, of course, Governor Jack Stanton and his wife, Susan, didn't exist either. Nor did Governor Stanton win the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 1992. Or did he?

Perhaps I should warn readers of a sensitive disposition that the story-line is racy and that the dialogue is often crude. Despite the foregoing, I loved the book and recommend it to all who appreciate a steamy political tale told with the skill of a literary genius.

And, if you, dear reader, are ever in need of a good meal whilst travelling on Highway 101 in Washington State, stop by 'The Tides Family Restaurant' for first-class food and for another good book. You won't be disappointed.

A largely overlook facet concerning Primary Colors is the fact that the author felt the need to hide his identity. Despite the name changes and detail alterations that completely hide all but the most obvious characters, were there any revelations so damning that only anonymity could protect the storyteller? This leaves the reader wondering if the story had any truth at all or was merely a anti-clinton text designed partly for smudging the legacy of the Presdient.

As for the quality fo the tale, it has little to show for the sake of integrity. There are episodes of the West Wing that are more realisitic than the scenes in Primary Colors. The theme itself falls into the trap of suggesting that no politician can move onto the national stage without having some dark secret that opens the doors. Anyone who knows the secret and can expose it is thus subject to being a target for the incoming administration. Hence follows a series of ridiculous conspiracies.

All in all Primary Colors was a more entertaining movie than a book. It is targeted at a less studious electorate but holds forth just enough truthiness to affect public opinion.