Customer Reviews

The Sun King

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ignatius fans (and I am one) knew that he could render the shadowy world of espionage. But who knew he had a gift for comedy and romance? Sandy Galvin's stewardship of Washington's only major daily is the only Washington satire of recent years that actually outdoes reality. Ignatius's wisecracking narrator skewers the journalism scene with a light-hearted cynicism that would do credit to Evelyn Waugh. And Galvin's courtship of his lost love--and the painful conclusion of his Gatsbyesque quest--progress from romantic fun into a truly poignant depiction of real-life heartache. I read THE SUN KING in one sitting. The book's a winner!

A tale of a tycoon who comes to town to challenge the powers that be and ends up facing his own challenge with the woman he loves.

Sandy Galvin is the Sun King, a billionaire with a talent for taking risks. Galvin arrives in Washington and proceeds to turn the Capital up side down. He buys the city's most powerful newspaper and wields it like a knife. In his way stands his old Harvard flame, Candice Ridgeway a beautiful and icy journalist known around town as the Mistress of Fact. Their encounter is tangled in the mysteries of their past and narrated by David Cantor, who is an acid-tongued reporter, a big Jerry Springer fan, and is drawn into Galvin's life to be transformed by this unpredictable man. Love is the final frontier for a generation of baby boomers, still young enough to reach for their dreams, but old enough to see the prospect of loss. Galvin can light up a room but can he melt the heart or Candice Ridgeway.

This is a disturbing tale of ambition and sexual desire. I consider it of mature theme.

I had read and thoroughly enjoyed the author's journalism/espionage thriller A Firing Offense, but this is indeed a departure from that. His characters and their interactions do echo those in The Great Gatsby, but not apishly so. David Cantor, the narrator, is actually not nearly as nice a guy as Nick Carraway. In Sandy, the author definitely creates a believable Gatsby for the turn of the century, and Candace makes a creditable high powered woman of our age, as well as an understandably unattainable love object. Mix these characters with all that delicious, I would think none too exaggerated, Washington atmosphere, the author's love/hate relationship with journalism and the media, and his stylish writing and there's enough for a good read. Little did I know I would be emotionally involved enough to feel deeply for the fate of this power couple.

This is not the first Ignatius book I have read, having devoured The Increment a few months ago.

I loved that book and this one is better.

David Ignatius is a keen observer of human nature and gets right at the heart of people's feelings, desires, and motivations.

I won't go into the plot of this book, many others herein have done so.

Suffice it to say that if you like novels because they show you things that matter about people and yourself, then you won't be able to put this book down.

David Ignatius is a man of wit, sensitivity, and excellent fancy. He did a great job of creating an update of a Great-Gatsby like novel, with some well drawn wit and sarcasm to boot. But the book stands on it's own as a fantastic and sensitive tale of romance and power. What a tremendous love story!

And yes, I did have considerable sympathy for Carl Sandburg Galvin, his Gatsby character. Candace Ridgway is cold ambition in the flesh, a Randian heroine carried to her logical conclusion. A (more) pathetic Hedda Gabbler. Facts are her pistols, and her aim is deadly and true.

This is one to cry over, ladies (and gentlemen.)

Since I've always admired Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby," I found "The Sun King" a startling, inventive recreation of Fitzgerald's romantic tale, updated for the 1990s. At first, I was wary--so many scenes and so much of the language seemed to come right out of "Gatsby"! Then I was intrigued by the changes in circumstances necessary to update the novel from the 1920s to the 1990s. What were the circumstances under which the two lovers met and parted? What kept them apart? How would the vastly different roles of men and women in the 1990s change their romance? What was the source of Sandy Galvin's corruption? All these questions (and many others) found more than satisfactory answers in Ignatius's novel. A new Gatsby? You bet! And it is a fascinating look at life inside the Beltway in the 1990s!

I'm continuing to read this fine, literate series. You do not have to read them in order. My favorite is still the first one, "Agents of Innocence."

I am a David Ignatius fan. I have read 7 of his 8 novels and have generally been very impressed with his grasp of countries in the Middle East and the various intelligence agencies in those countries and the CIA. His books are paper turners , really grab you and impossible to lay down. The plots are generally complex and a bit unbelievable, overloaded by Arabic phrases that just take up space, but are nevertheless excellent reading. This novel is a real BUMMER. After having read 5 to 10 pages it puts you to sleep and was next to impossible to finish. I seriously wonder that it was a "ghost author" type novel and not written by him, with the personal knowledge of his other novels which I would give 4's and 5's. It is not possible in this review to give a ( 0 )or I would have done it.
Personally I would not recommend wasting money or time on this novel!!!!!

FINISHED THIS BOOK IN ONE DAY. SUCH A CHANGE FROM HIS OTHER NOVELS, WHICH I FOUND TO BE MUNDANE AND IMMATURE. ALSO WATCHED HIS VIDEO ON INTERNET REGARDING THIS NOVEL AND SENT AN E-MAIL TO HIM APPLAUDING THIS BOOK. I AM PLEASED THAT HE HAS MOVED AWAY FROM THE SPY STUFF, EVEN IF IT IS JUST THIS ONE BOOK.

David Ignaius is incapable of writing a dull book. The Sun King moves along rapidly and at the same time makes fun of how Washington works. This is an entertaining read with some serious ideas to convey. Four stars!