Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
PERFECTION CAN BE A PROBLEM !, May 28, 2008
This review is from: The Scandal Plan: Or: How to Win the Presidency by Cheating on Your Wife (Hardcover)
While untold miles of paragraphs have been written about the upcoming presidential election and the aspiring candidates it's doubtful that any are more edgy, more entertaining than those found in Bill Folman's debut novel The Scandal Plan.
Take a picture perfect candidate, and he is picture perfect, ".....standing on the podium with his spine at attention, the late afternoon sun picking out the orange highlights in his graying head of hair." Problem is Senator Benjamin Phillips, Democrat from Oklahoma, is just too perfect. His credentials are unassailable - he memorized the capitals of every nation in the fourth grade, was active in student politics, Vietnam veteran, Oxford, Harvard Law, and the U.S. Senate. He has worked for the White House all of his life and now with less than three months before the election an AP poll shows him 20 points behind the president.
He's beleaguered by a major political gaff - in Nashville he called barbecued pulled pork on a bun his favorite sandwich when five months prior he had called a New York City pastrami on rye his favorite sandwich. This has become a major scandal - Sandwich-Gate, if you will. Poor Ben doesn't know how to deal with this. The issue worsens when he tries "to have it both ways, claiming that while pulled pork was his favorite hot sandwich, pastrami was his favorite cold one." Oh-oh, another gaff when all know that pastrami is usually hot.
What can be done to save Ben's dream of holding the highest office in the land? Enter Thomas Campman, political advisor extra ordinaire, who believes he can restart Ben's campaign by creating a false scandal. Ben would no longer be picture perfect when people learn that he had once been unfaithful to his wife. What could be more winning than a man who confesses (when his phony former mistress comes forward) to this very understandable error and then asks forgiveness?
There's many a slip twixt the plan and the outcome, all of which are smile provoking. Bill Folman has created a capital comedy of errors -enjoy!
- Gail Cooke
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Douglas Adams meets Jon Stewart, June 3, 2008
This review is from: The Scandal Plan: Or: How to Win the Presidency by Cheating on Your Wife (Hardcover)
Loved it! Really funny and clever. A well crafted satire of the absurdity of how to win political popularity in America. Even though the story is fictitious, there were some really well thought out moments, such as how the ramifications of certain events would play out.
The book makes a really insightful point about how important authenticity is in the White House race - something you can argue that because of which a lot of other Premiers come into favour...Tony Blair, to take one example.
I especially loved the making-fun-of-the-US-media theme. And, also just like when you watch Jon Stewart, you are aware of how much the author is frustrated with, and worried about, how no one really cares about political issues, and in this case how important the effect of being authentic is on the public.
But instead of getting annoyed with the fact that politics has now become the 'third estate' and current general political apathy, Folman just laughs about it and makes up a silly story - something reminiscent of Douglas Adams.
I kept thinking 'this would be a great film' all the way (something I'm sure he wrote with in mind). Definitely looking forward to the next one. Maybe it will be a story about a race of beings who find the perfect democracy...?
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Witty page-turner, June 9, 2008
This review is from: The Scandal Plan: Or: How to Win the Presidency by Cheating on Your Wife (Hardcover)
Thomas Campman, the campaign manager for the democratic presidential candidate, gets hit in the head with an idea while sitting on the toilet, believing he's received a message from God. Ben Phillips has been preparing for the role of president his entire life. He's got an impressive resume, a great deal of public service under his belt and truly believes in what he's fighting for. The problem is he's so clean that the public can't relate to him. Thomas believes what's needed to make Ben seem more human is to invent a small scandal in Ben's past.
The results are funny as a good idea snowballs out of control in this witty page-turner.
It's difficult to believe that this is the author's first book. It's totally out of the genre I normally read, but I will definitely be looking for future books. The chapters don't run on, the characters are interesting, the story flows well, there's plenty of humor, and yet it is suspenseful in that you never know what's going to happen next. This book was fast and easy to read.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
