Customer Reviews

Republican Party Reptile: The Confessions, Adventures, Essays, and (Other) Outrages of...

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is somewhat of a mixed bag. Unlike some of his other works, this has no central theme, but is instead a motley collection of articles written over the years for various and sundry publications on subjects ranging from why he hates bicycles to chasing down a story in the Bahamas about the involvement of high government officials in the drug trade. A few are real clunkers, such as a fictionalized account of his family life back in Ohio, titled "The King of Sandusky" or an over the top piece called "Just one of those days" in which he portrays an executive whose daily routine includes gunfights with his neighbors, raping his secretary and setting off bombs on the subway in order to get to work on time (so his boss won't have him shot). Most are OK, like the aforementioned bicycle piece, which he wrote for "Car & Driver" magazine back in the mid 80's. It was funny at the time, lampooning bicycling just about the time it was becoming trendy, especially with the eco-weenie set. In fact, this article brought howls of protest in the form of letters in the following issue, thus basically making his point appear all the more valid, namely, that too many bike nuts at the time suffered from an acute overdose of self righteousness accompanied by a chronic lack of a sense of humor. Like I said, it was funny at the time, but now seems rather dated.

Still, this entire effort was greatly redeemed by a few pieces that were absolutely spot on. One was "Ship of Fools" in which our intrepid reporter signed up for a cruise ship tour on the Volga in the USSR, based on an ad he'd read in "The Nation" magazine. He joins up with myriad groups of American leftists whose desire to see Soviet life in the best possible light overwhelms any qualities of observation or common sense they might happen to possess. These unfortunates are the targets of PJ's satire at its absolute best as he rips into them repeatedly for their blatant toadying on behalf of the Soviet system. Rarely has the banality of evil been described with such zest.

But even this pales in comparison to the book's crown jewel, namely a short article entitled simply "Ferrari refutes the Decline of The West". It is, on one level, a great road trip story, in which he and his boss drive from New York to LA in a brand new Ferrari 308GTS at speeds as high as 140 mph. Anyone who's ever lusted after exotic sports cars, or fantasized about driving on public roads at double or even triple the speed limit will love it on a purely visceral level, but that's only part of the pleasure, since PJ uses this drive as a metaphor for what makes Western Civilization, and America specifically, great. PJ describes an encounter with a black salesman in a Cadillac on the top of Hoover Dam in which the latter, after hearing their account of blazing through Arizona and New Mexico, looks at the Ferrari and says, simply, "Goddam, that's BEAUTIFUL!" PJ states, after finally turning over the car to a Hollywood studio "It was a glow that wouldn't fade. And I still felt good when I flipped the keys to the receptionist ...... And in fact I still feel good today." So will you after reading it, it is, in fact, worth the price of the entire book.

This is not P.J.'s best work, but it's far from his worst. Better than, say, "Modern Manners" or "Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, And A Bad Haircut", but not nearly as good as "Parliament Of Whores", "All The Trouble In The World", or "Give War A Chance"; about on a par with "Holidays In Hell".

For those of you unfamiliar with P.J. O'Rourke, be warned: P.J.'s humor is not for everybody. He is outspokenly politically incorrect, and can be downright insulting to those who disagree with him politically. What I find to be his saving grace on that score is that he doesn't seem to take himself or those who DO agree with him terribly seriously, either. So if you're politically to the left of Spiro Agnew, and easily offended, this book is not for you. But if you're thick-skinned enough to be able to recognize humor even when it's insensitive and coming from someone you disagree with, there truly is a great deal of very funny material here.

If you're only going to read one book by P.J. O'Rourke, this shouldn't be it. It should be "Parliament of Whores", unquestionably his best. But if you've tried that and liked it, you may enjoy this as well.

"Republican Party Reptile" is a collection of essays and ramblings by P.J. O'Rourke, a sometimes Journalist for Rolling Stone magazine. Although not every one of these pieces is a masterwork there are several stories that simply must be read. One of my favorites is a story where P.J. is asked by Car and Driver magazine to drive a Ferrari cross country to California to be used in a film. When our deadline-challenged hero approaches his editor about taking time from his other projects to make the trip his boss invites himself along. What follows is one of the greatest road trip stories I have ever read. Not because it is filled with adventurous predicaments but because it conveys the thrill and freedom of both the automobile and the road with such a romantic slant that the story stands alone as a thing of beauty. Several other stories featured are simply hysterical. From analyzing drunk driving methods to taking a Russian cruise with a bunch of...activists to railling against the menace of bicycles, P.J. O'Rourke has made an art of sarcasm. I dare you to read this book without laughing out loud.

This was PJ's first anthology and it's a wicked delight. Two highlights: the immortal, "How To Drive Fast On Drugs While Getting Your Wing-Wang Squeezed Without Spilling Your Drink", the essential guide to irresponsible driving: "There's lots of argument about what kind of car drives best. Some say a front-wheel drive car. Some say a rear-wheel drive. I say it's a rental car. There are things you can do with a rental car that are just impossible with any other kind of vehicle." (I may be paraphrasing slightly here.) Equally dazzling is "Ship of Fools", a stunning and riotous account of PJ's trip down the Volga "as seen through the bottom of a vodka glass" in the company of some very dodgy "peace activists": "She thought the Soviet Union was heaven on earth, but she was bringing her own toilet paper."

I've howled over this collection (which also contains the first of PJ's brilliant travel pieces, which have come to dominate his writing for Rolling Stone) innumerable times. Pour some iced Stoli, kick back and enjoy.

P. J. O'Rourke is an incredibly funny writer and incisive commentator on the contemporart scene. This collection of essays, while from a libertarian point of view, should be found enjoyable by all readers. In this book he skewers the Safety Nazis, pro-Soviet visitors to the USSR, the New York Review of Books, horrible Protestant hats, cocaine pirates, and other odd ducks in flight. P.J. O'Rourke is one of the funniest writers around, and I also recommend his PARLIAMENT OF WHORES and GIVE WAR A CHANCE.

P.J. O'Rourke is what a Republican used to be about--the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. Small government and small industry. Trusting people to take care of themselves without a hovering nanny looking after them. This book serves as a position piece for a party that has been hijacked by forces alien to its foundation. And it's pretty damned funny besides.

It's dated, though. Written a good twenty years ago, it addresses such issues as poverty in Marcos's Philippenes and a constitutional crisis in the Turks and Caicos islands. This isn't exactly front-page material any longer. We get an overview of O'Rourke's beliefs and the source of them, but one wonders what you'd get out of them today.

Sadly, the author isn't as eloquent anymore, nor is he as politically inclusive. He's lapsed into a sad neo-conservative agenda that seems almost antithetical to the contents of this book. But at least, between these covers, we still have the writings of a man who boldly said what he meant and meant what he said. And I'll bet he'll sell you on it too.

This book is a collection of tongue-in-cheek political essays and satires. No one does this quite as good as P. J. O'Rourke except for the late Molly Ivins.

"When I was nineteen, I embarked on the obligatory collegiate flirtation with Marxism and announced it loudly to everyone. Once, when I was home at Christmas, my grandmother took me aside. "Pat", she said, "I've been worrying about you. You're not turning into a democrat, are you?"
"Grandma", I said. "Democrats and Republicans are both fascist pigs. LBJ is slaughtering helpless Vietcong and causing riots in America's inner cities and oppressing workers and ripping off the masses. I'm not a democrat! I'm a Maoist!"
"Just so long as you're not a democrat", said my grandmother". (p. x1v)

His essay, 'An Intellectual Experiment', is wonderful. He compares information gleaned from reading an issue of the New York Review of Books to an evening watching network television. It had me in stitches. His conclusions were:

"Whether smart is worse than stupid or vice versa is an important question. Smart means neo-expressionist paintings, which are awful. But stupid means music videos which are pretty awful, too. Ignorance is stupid, but education causes college students. Logic is smart, but Marxism is logical. Smart people don't start many fights. But stupid people don't build many hydrogen bombs. Then again, smart people would never drop one. Or would they?" (p.14-15)

I loved his essays on 'Hollywood Etiquette' and 'The Pick-up Truck". I devour his books. No matter what party line you succumb to, O'Rourke will have you belly laughing.

My wife won't let me read this in bed anymore because I keep waking her up by laughing out loud. P.J.'s story of his boat trip to Russia just about puts me in the hospital. Even if you don't agree with his viewpoints (and I disagree with quite a few) you will find this is a brilliantly-written riot from a keen and intelligent observer of human foibles on all sides. Guaranteed fun.

So far, I've had the pleasure of being an O'Rourke reader for this one and Parliament of Whores (more will no doubt follow). Republican Party Reptile isn't as good if you appreciate PJ for the way he does a detailed analysis which is still funny and controversial - as Parliament was a very organised, topical book. This one is a bit too much of a random knapsack for that.

That still makes it a great book as his pieces will drive home his views on drugs, politics, cars, drugs, international relations, teenaged girls, crime and fast cars. My favourites were Ship of Fools (a bunch of lefties and peaceniks cruise the Volga in the USSR during the Cold War, PJ is with them), Ferrari Refutes Decline of the West (PJ and boss get to deliver a Ferrari from NY to LA over several days of high speed cross country), Holiwood Etiquette (a great take on the neurosis etc) and How to Drive Fast on Drugs While Getting Your Wing-Wang Squeezed and Not Spill Your Drink (self explanatory I trust!)

So if you want to acquaint yourself with an earlier, more personal PJ, this book is good.

Most of the essays in this book are as funny and informative as most of O'Rourke's other works, and unlike "American Spectator's Enemies List", the book is well worth the cover price.