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Boomsday Hardcover – Bargain Price, April 2, 2007

4.3 out of 5 stars 393

Outraged over the mounting Social Security debt, Cassandra Devine, a charismatic 29-year-old blogger and member of Generation Whatever, incites massive cultural warfare when she politely suggests that Baby Boomers be given government incentives to kill themselves by age 75. Her modest proposal catches fire with millions of citizens, chief among them "an ambitious senator seeking the presidency." With the help of Washington's greatest spin doctor, the blogger and the politician try to ride the issue of euthanasia for Boomers (called "transitioning") all the way to the White House,
over the objections of the Religious Right, and of course, the Baby Boomers, who are deeply offended by demonstrations on the golf courses of their retirement
resorts.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

[Signature] Reviewed by Jessica CutlerIt's the end of the world as we know it, especially if bloggers are setting the national agenda. In his latest novel, Buckley imagines a not-so-distant future when America teeters on the brink of economic disaster as the baby boomers start retiring. Buckley takes on such pressing (however boring) topics as Social Security reform and fiscal solvency, as does his protagonist. And get this: she's a blogger.Buckley's heroine is "a morally superior twenty-nine-year-old PR chick" who blogs at night about the impending Boomsday budget crisis. Of course, "she was young, she was pretty, she was blonde, she had something to say." She has a large, doting audience that eagerly awaits her every blog entry. And her name? Cassandra. And the name of her blog? Also Cassandra. Of course, Buckley doesn't let his allusion get by us:"She was a goddess of something," another character struggles to remember, which gives his heroine the opportunity to educate us about the significance of her namesake."Daughter of the king of Troy. She warned that the city would fall to the Greeks," she explains. "Cassandra is sort of a metaphor for catastrophe prediction. This is me. It's what I do." So Cassandra, doing what she does, starts by calling for "an economic Bastille Day" and her minions take to destroying golf courses in protest. Cassandra grabs headlines and magazine covers, and the president starts wringing his hands over what she might blog about next. Her follow-up: a radical but tantalizingly expedient solution to that most vexing of issues, the Social Security problem—Cassandra proposes that senior citizens kill themselves in exchange for tax breaks. Buckley, author of Thank You for Smoking, shows great imagination as he fires his pistol at the feet of his straw women and men. In 300-plus pages, though, it would be nice if he had found a way to endear us to at least one of his characters. Yes, we know that Washington is "an asshole-rich environment," as one puts it, but some Tom Wolfe–style self-loathing might be good for characters who use the word touché. Full disclosure: I'm a blogger of Cassandra's generation, and at times the totally over-the-top, relentlessly us-against-them scenario reminded me that I was reading a book written by someone not of the blogging generation, someone who Cassandra would want put down. Oh, the irony in these generationalist feelings. Then again, maybe that's exactly Buckley's point.Jessica Cutler is the author of The Washingtonienne.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine

Once again, political satirist Christopher Buckley (Thank You for Smoking) delivers a firecracker of a novel that explodes with imagination, irony, and wit. Buckley sometimes overexplains, to show off how smart he is, but he is discussing Social Security here. Besides boring subject matter, the novel contains a completely over-the-top premise and a lead character that strains credibility. So the overexplanation works, for the most part, because it evokes laughs. "If you're looking for a lighter, frothier version of Tom Wolfe," says the Los Angeles Times, "Boomsday is your ticket." Also of note: as the first release of the new publishing imprint Twelve, Boomsday comes packaged in an eye-catching, pop-art package.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B003XU7VWO
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Twelve; 1st edition (April 2, 2007)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 out of 5 stars 393

About the author

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Christopher Buckley
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Christopher Buckley was born in New York City in 1952. He was educated at Portsmouth Abbey, worked on a Norwegian tramp freighter and graduated cum laude from Yale. At age 24 he was managing editor of "Esquire" magazine; at 29, chief speechwriter to the Vice President of the United States, George H.W. Bush. He was the founding editor of "Forbes FYI" magazine (now "ForbesLife"), where he is now editor-at-large.

He is the author of fifteen books, which have translated into sixteen languages. They include: "Steaming To Bamboola," "The White House Mess," "Wet Work," "God Is My Broker," "Little Green Men," "No Way To Treat a First Lady," "Florence of Arabia," "Boomsday," "Supreme Courtship," "Losing Mum And Pup: A Memoir," and "Thank You For Smoking," which was made into a movie in 2005. Most have been named "New York Times" Notable Books of the Year. His most recent novel is "They Eat Puppies, Don’t They?"

He has written for "The New York Times," "Washington Post," "Wall Street Journal," "The New Yorker," "Atlantic Monthly," "Time," "Newsweek," "Vanity Fair," "National Geographic," "New York Magazine," "The Washington Monthly," "Forbes," "Esquire," "Vogue," "Daily Beast," and other publications.

He received the Washington Irving Prize for Literary Excellence and the Thurber Prize for American Humor. He lives in Connecticut.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
393 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2007
If you follow politics, if you are intrigued by the foibles and follies of what passes for our federal government, then you have probably found Christopher Buckley before now. I certainly hope you have and if for some reason he is a new author to you, then you have much entertaining reading ahead.

It doesn't really matter what you politcal bent is, Buckly is hard on all aspects of the political spectrum with his satire.

Buckly has taken on varying scenarios of the Washington scene in past books. Their titles fairly highlight the topic. Boomsday however, took a little while to understand where he was going. The title refers to the generational warfare that is waiting slightly down the road as the Baby Boomers start retiring on Social Security in droves and those in their wake have to basically work the rest of their lives to fund the retirement of those ahead of them. (President Bush has pointed out the problem. The Democrats, before Bush was elected, agreed it was one also. Since that happy moment, the Democrats have gone tone deaf and the problems with Social security continue to fester)

That's where Buckley comes in...several years down the road...another President in office...almost no one paying attention to the impending disaster involving Social Security.

Cass Devine, however, is paying attention. A mover and shaker at a Washington PR firm, she also runs a BLOG under the name of Cassandra. On it she devises a most unique way to solve the problem. It involves "voluntary termination" with government incentives. All of that and much, much more gets wrapped up in one of the strangest presidential elections in history.

I'm not going beyond that with my description of the story. It is flat out funny, biting satire with moments of truth slipping in. The Boston Globe calls Buckley an "authentically comic writer." Tom Wolfe says he is "One of the funniest writers in the English language." They are masters of understatement.

Buy it. Read it. Enjoy it.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2007
If you're reading this, you probably already have a glimmer of the plot of Chris Buckley's amusing political satire. The action is set in the political world of the not-so-distant future, many of its cultural trappings recognizable now. As the cost of Baby Boomer Social Security benefits threatens to break the backs and banks of younger workers, a young blogger named Cassandra Devine leads a generational rebellion. She proposes "voluntary transitioning" - that is, tax breaks for elderly Boomers who agree to commit suicide by a given age, thereby relieving rising Social Security costs. Even within this satirical context such a ghastly idea is too far out there to be treated earnestly, so she maintains that she is simply trying to provoke discussion. The concept, however, catches fire, and soon has a Senatorial sponsor and much media attention.

Much in Buckley's satire has the ring of hilarious truth, wittily retold: for example, the pompous trumpets and kettle drums that usher in each broadcast of Greet the Press. Similarly resonant to political junkies is the corrupting role of an elderly advocacy organization, here a Boomer offshoot acronymed "ABBA," but clearly recognizable as the AARP. By the time ABBA has its way with Devine's proposal, it's even more budget-busting than current law. The Boomers are to be showered with more drug benefits and tax breaks, while their "voluntary transition" would be at too advanced an age to save much money. It's a familiar scenario in Washington, where AARP is forever wading into the Medicare and Social Security debates out of ostensible professed concern for fiscal prudence, only to emerge each time with more expensive programs than before.

Similarly pitch-perfect is a conversation that Cass has with a Boomer friend about the Boomers' limitless capacity for navel-gazing. She sarcastically asks him where he was when JFK was shot, prompting yet another self-absorbed recitation of his and his schoolmates' stunned reaction to the event (which Cass, impatiently, cuts off.) The book has consistent fun with the irresistible target of Boomer narcissism. If truth be told, however, the problem with Boomers and Social Security isn't that they're more selfish than other generations, it's just that there are too many of them. Generations earlier than the Boomers took far more out of the program than they put in, even relative to the Boomers.

Other elements of the novel ring less true: The under-30s respond far too readily and unanimously to Cassandra's calls to action, when their real-life counterparts have been a diverse generation that doesn't assert themselves as a unified political force. Under-30s simply aren't manipulated en masse by the simplistic tactics of Cass and her allied Senator.

The novel, though fresh and hilarious in many places, doesn't lack for clichés. Pompous, blowhard, secretly-libidinous Southern Baptist pro-lifer? Check. Dirty-tricks-spinning President? Check. Unlikely romance between cultural opposites? Check. The material is fresher near the beginning of the novel, and drifts further into banality in the later pages.

The novel nevertheless provides interesting food for thought for those interested in Social Security policy. Tongue-in-cheek though Cassandra's proposal is, Buckley's novel understates, if anything, the difficulties that await younger generations. The tortured methodology of Social Security Trust Fund accounting makes it unlikely that the situation will be transparent enough for under-30s to effectively rebel against. In Buckley's novel, by contrast, resistance is spurred when the Senate votes to raise the payroll tax to fund Boomer retirements. In real life, the situation would be far less transparent, and more pernicious: the federal government wouldn't need to overtly raise the payroll tax, but starting in 2017, would have to find other additional revenues to pay off the massive debt claimed by the Social Security Trust Fund. As a result, young workers would likely see their income taxes raised to pay for the massive cost of boomer entitlements, without the government needing to be forthright as to why. Same economics as in Buckley's novel, but less transparency. Young workers may have little idea what is hitting them, and politicians are unlikely to own up.

Particularly daunting is the fact that the overall fiscal situation is worse than even Buckley's exaggerated novel indicates. Cass says in one passage that she's run the numbers, and if only 20% of Boomers "voluntarily transition," Social Security will be solvent. In reality, about 30% of future benefits are unfunded, meaning that not only would 30% of the Boomers need to decline benefits, but so too would every succeeding generation. Buckley's novel, amazingly enough, understates the problem.

Buckley's novel is light, funny, and shines a bright light on a serious issue. It's only a matter of time before the movie comes out. Because of its subject matter, it has the chance to be a more important political satire than its lightness would otherwise justify.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2007
It is rare when I read a work of fiction, and even rarer when the fiction I do read is outside of the mystery/thriller genres. This book, however, was recommended to me by Amazon.com and when I read the synopsis I was intrigued. So with hesitation, I bought the book.

I will not spoil the plot by writing any more about it than has been written in the book overview. I will say that there are still plenty of twists and turns left in the plot. In addition, the book is extremely well written with good dialogue, fairly quick action and a lot less of the fluff usually found in novels. It reads quickly and is hard to put down.

In the beginning, I didn't see the big deal about the humor that was supposed to be in the book. It was "ha, ha" funny, but I didn't belly laugh. Alas, I jumped to conclusions too quickly. The book had me laughing out loud in a number of places. In addition, the entire book is funny in a morbid and distressing sort of way; similar to looking at a Gahan Wilson or Charles Addams cartoon.

The plot is absurd, which makes the book work. Isn't everything about Washington, D.C. absurd to begin with? The author just takes everything to the next level...or does he? Is this fiction or reality on Red Bull? While reading the book, I had the sense there was a message underlying the main story. I will let the reader figure this out for themselves.

This book will appeal to all, but especially to baby boomers and to the generation of kids that they spawned. If you haven't bought it, or do not know the author's work, I highly recommend this book for a good, fun filled laugh. Just leave room to finish it after you start.
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Top reviews from other countries

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MICHAEL E.
5.0 out of 5 stars Good tale
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 9, 2016
Good tale
Irene
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on August 23, 2014
One of my favourite books and one of his strongest
Fuchs Joan
5.0 out of 5 stars Sehr witzig und wie nahe an der Realität
Reviewed in Germany on September 17, 2013
Eine sehr lebensnahe Satire wie sie sich jeder Zeit abspielen könnte. Auf die Spitze getrieben, aber konsequent durchgezogen. Ich habe sehr viel gelacht, sehr menschlich, sehr nachvollziehbar, ein wirklich gelungenes Werk. Und wieder ein grosser Seitenhieb auf die Politik. Sehr lesenswert.
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Frieda Reschke
5.0 out of 5 stars wie sollen die wenigen jungen Menschen, die vielen alten Rentner finanzieren?
Reviewed in Germany on November 26, 2012
Im Buch wird unterhaltsam beschrieben, wie man das soziale Gefüge wieder ins Lot bringen kann. Nicht immer ernst gemeint aber regt zum Nachdenken an.
kidbodie
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 15, 2012
I enjoyed reading this topical book because it combines the financial crisis currently evolving around the world resulting from the imminent retirement of the baby boomer generation and the resultant impact on future generations with a real incite into the nature of politicians and there 'real' motives.

The characters were both likeable and beleivable.