Customer Reviews

Washington, D.C

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

 

 

A vividly accurate portrayal of what people will do to further their (political) careers and to get ahead in life. Although the book takes place mainly in the 40's, you can make a case where it is still relevent in today's society. The character development is good and you find yourself cheering for no one but sympathizing with most. This is the first Vidal book I have read and I look forward to exploring more in his series.

Apparently others disagree, but I thought this was the best novel in Vidal's American Chronicle series. It's also the best one to start with if you haven't read any others in the series, although it's near the end chronologically. I feel that it provides a good background for the other books, making it easier to understand and get into them.
Washington, DC will also stand alone as a great political novel. I'm not generally a fan of historical fiction, but I love Vidal, and this book is one of his best.

Gore Vidal is one of America's most erudite and imaginative historical and political thinkers. He also happens to be one the most intelligent, witty, and capable literary craftsmen this country has ever produced.

In Washington, D. C., Vidal has created a novel that is simultaneously informative and entertaining. The story takes place between the 1930s (FDR era) and WWII. For anyone interested in that historical period, this book will be a fascinating read. The amazing thing is, however, that even if you're not interested in that historical period, you'll enjoy the satirical nuances of the book. Also, Vidal draws his characters with such authenticity that you'll get lost in the interpersonal relationships and forget the historical backdrop.

A vague outline of the novel is as follows: Senator Day twarts FDR's attempt to pack the Supreme Court; he then gets involved in an attempt to be elected president; while all this is happening his daughter's ex-fiance Clay Overbury (who is also Senator Day's aide) marries another woman whose father is extremely rich; and the political intrigue and madness ensue.

This, and all of Vidal's American Chronicle series, should be required reading for every American citizen.

but very very fun nonetheless. Vidal takes us into the mediacracy age of politics, that transition point when TV personality was beginning to trump backroom dealing as the principal factor in national politics. Clay, the protagonist, is so Kenndyesque that it is painful to behold. The backdrop of eroticism in politics is also wonderfully portrayed, as are other human qualities and frailties. For example, when he writes of a Senator consulting a fortuneteller, you can almost forgive a certain first lady for consulting an astrologer: it is scary to make decisions.

This is interesting as Vidal hadn't quite gotten the tone of his American series yet, but clearly it was gestating in him. He is one of the best American writers of this century, underrated in my opinion.

Gore Vidal has written a very vivid and engaging novel about the intrigues and power plays ongoing in our nation's capital. His dialogue is pitch perfect, his characters are duplicitously clever, and his descriptions of the nation's capitol are lush. Though dissimilar in style to, and ultimately not as fine a work as, the anachronistically written 'Burr' or 'Lincoln', 'Washington, D.C.' still stands, along with Henry Adams' 'Democracy', as the gold standard work about the political animals on America's grand stage of government. It is a great, worthwhile read.

This book kept my interest from start to finish. It is written on an adult level, reminiscent of an era when DC was still mysterious.

I'm a resident of DC, and this book reminds me of the Jimmy Stewart movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" not for the story line, but because even though this story was set decades ago, written decades ago, it could have been written today. DC absolutely never changes.

Read this book for a higher-level "West Wing" from the congressional side. Drugs, sex, affairs, power -- its all in there.

I recommend this book on the inside of DC -- and it is enjoyable for all -- Democrats and Republicans aren't mentioned, so it doesn't matter your party!

Enjoy.

I read Gore Vidal's Lincoln prior to reading this one. While I found the former enthralling and a towering accomplishment, Vidal's Washington DC is mediocre at best. Some of the techniques that Vidal came to perfect in Lincoln can be seen here - but the book is loosely written and gives frustratingly small glimpses of President Roosevelt; but not enough to give the novel real weight.

In Lincoln, the author unerringly zeroes in on Lincoln and the context of the times and all the other characters are presented in detail and in contrast.

Here, the Democratic Senator Day and his protege, a Kennedyesque, Clay Overbrook are presented as the protagonists and Roosevelt is kept in the background. This angle does not work and too much time is spent on sexual shennanigans and other sundry episodes to give the book any genuine thrust (so-to-speak).

Neverthless, Gore Vidal has an excellent writing style, and the book ends up being readable - I finished it two sittings.

I've long been a great admirer of Gore Vidal's political and historical essays. But except for his novels Julian (which I read in my youth and greatly liked), Live from Golgotha (which I loathed and could never get through), and Lincoln (which I thought was only so-so), I haven't explored his fiction. Given that this is a presidential election year, I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to dip into Washington, DC, the penultimate volume in Vidal's American Chronicle series.

The novel is a very good tale indeed--indeed, a kind of modern American tragedy. The two protagonists, Senator Burden Day (aptly named) and his assistant and eventual nemesis Clay Overbury, represent two styles of politics. Day, a son of the old school, still thinks that honor and integrity should be important in politics (although he's by no means a naive idealist). Overbury belongs to the political generation that came of age during WWII: media-savvy, focused almost exclusively on appearance and relatively unburdened with the sort of conscience that the older generation carries around with it, and which ultimately destroys Day.

It might be argued that Vidal sentimentalizes Burden Day's generation--although he goes out of his way, it seems to me, to create a complex story rather than one which is morally simplistic. Day, for example, certainly has his human weaknesses and ambitions. But there's definitely a line that Day refuses to cross--a line that the novel's rising generation of "new" politicians don't even recognize--and his own guilt when he wavers at that line is the beginning of his decline. It does seem to me that Day's story captures the tragedy of American politics: the gradual fall of a decent man whose ambitions, even if only on one occasion, get the better of him.

A poignant reminder of the razor's edge of political ambition in this election year.

A vividly accurate portrayal of what people will do to further their (political) careers and to get ahead in life. Although the book takes place mainly in the 40's, you can make a case where it is still relevent in today's society. The character development is good and you find yourself cheering for no one but sympathizing with most. This is the first Vidal book I have read and I look forward to exploring more in his series.

I bought this book expecting to read a historical, political novel. I quickly realized that the politics of the novel only made up about 1/4 of the story. The other 3/4 were used to describe the love affairs of the characters. The political side of this book was first rate, however I was extremely disappointed to find that Mr. Vidal wasted much of his book on irrelevent and uninteresting (not to mention discusting) details that I would have rathered NOT Knowing.