FULL DISCLOSURE As most any reader of my reviews knows, I am not a fan of the current POTUS. I was North Dakota Hillary Clinton delegate to the state convention and also was elected to preside over the national delegate selection committee. Still, I am reviewing the writing of this book, and will refrain from any thoughts I have regarding its impact on President Trump or on the Mueller investigation of any possible collusion.
As I prepared to write this review, I searched for the most apt quote. Instead of one, I found two that summarize James Comey’s take on serving in government:
‘Success without honor is an unseasoned dish; it will satisfy your hunger, but it won't taste good. - Joe Paterno
Demakis, Joseph. The Ultimate Book of Quotations (p. 466). Unknown. Kindle Edition.
A man's country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle and patriotism is loyalty to that principle. - George William Curtis
Demakis, Joseph. The Ultimate Book of Quotations (p. 387). Unknown. Kindle Edition.
After a too-long introduction, Comey recounts an experience he and his brother endured while quite young. The re-telling of this tale is riveting and indicative of a serious, thoughtful man that impressed me far more than any appearance he has made before congress or the media. I hope every reader will consider what young Comey went through, while going through a predicament that had him contemplating his own death twice, one evening. His frank discussion of his own weakness while confronting a thief is not what one would expect from a man now standing 6-foot eight-inches tall. To admit his cowardice and thoughts for self-preservation requires courage.
Most of the early pages read more as a memoir than as the anticipated, and hyped, expose on President Donald J. Trump. Are these pages necessary content? I will let others decide. The writing, however, is far more engaging than I expected. What is interesting is the life lessons the author flashes back on while a young attorney (idolizing Rudy Giuliani, initially, then learning of his hero’s demand for the spotlight at all cost), and then harking back to earlier lessons as a teen and as a college student. Often, I am put off while trying to track through shifts in time, back and forth, in the way this book wrenches us. With this story, though, it worked okay.
BLUSH FACTOR As with most modern books on politics and crime, there are a few profanities, so consider this while sharing with others. For me, though, the mention of such is notable because of the writer’s penchant, in public, to use such Boy Scout clean phrases as “Lordy” to substitute for more profane forms of exclamation. Still, I had no personal issues with the very few cuss words.
HOW & WHERE SHOULD I READ THIS? I bought, both, the Kindle and the Audible version. I probably also will purchase the hard cover in time, for this is a book I want to refer to again and again. It is that prescient. However, the most gratifying version, for me, is the Audible copy, as it is narrated by James Comey, himself. While listening to him read his own words, I feel, I get a better sense of what he tried to communicate, and to his own character.
HOW MUCH CONTENT IS DEVOTED TO TRUMP & COLLUSION? Basically, the first 40 percent of the book is devoted to other considerations, including memoir and such. So, if you’re looking for juicy stuff, be prepared to skip over the first half. As you do so, though, be aware that you will be missing the most entertaining, informative writing I’ve come across in recent years. At least as compared to other people who’ve served us in government.
I’ve probably already irritated many readers with so much discussion. Still, I felt my take might help others understand that this story is far more than a few salacious sound bites that critics have been repeating to us in the media. I mean, Comey’s life story is outstanding and the telling to us is far better written and more engaging than I ever anticipated.
EXCERPT
Patrice and I were planning to stay in Richmond forever. We had good public schools, and a nice and relatively inexpensive house in a safe neighborhood. After Collin’s death, we had a healthy baby girl in 1996 and added another in 2000. We would raise the five kids in Richmond. I would do work I loved. We were set. Then the country was attacked on 9/11, and my phone rang.
I was home from work one day in October 2001, watching the two youngest girls. Patrice was at church for the foundational meeting of a women’s group she was starting. She spoke inspiringly to the women about growing old together. But she couldn’t hear our phone ring from there. I heard it at home and answered. The man said he was calling from the White House because the president would like to know if I would be willing to return to Manhattan as the United States Attorney, the chief federal prosecutor. I assumed it was one of my hilarious friends, so I began to say, “Yeah, why don’t you kiss my a—” when the man cut me off, saying this was not a joke. President George W. Bush needed to appoint a new United States Attorney, there was something of a political logjam in New York over the pick, and they had decided I was the right person: I had worked in that office, I had done terrorism cases, and I would be acceptable to Democrats and Republicans. Would I do it?
It is difficult at this distance to capture the feeling of the fall of 2001, a time of unity and purpose and anxiety in the country. Of course I will do it, I replied, “but my wife’s not home right now. I will call you back if she has a problem.” I hung up the phone, abandoned my caregiving responsibilities, and went out to stand in the driveway to wait for Patrice, my heart pounding.
After what seemed like hours, she came driving up in our red Ford minivan. She got out, took one look at my face, and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” I answered, standing in the driveway without my little girls. “A guy called from the White House and asked me to be the U.S. Attorney in New York.”
Her eyes started to well up. “You can’t say no.”
“I didn’t say no. But I told him I would call back if you had a problem.”
She began crying, her open hands covering her face. “I’m going back to New York. Oh my God, I’m going back to New York.”
We were going back to New York, where the World Trade Center site still smoked. I would lead 250 prosecutors with hundreds of cases, ranging from terrorism to violent crime to corporate fraud, including what would be one of the most high-profile cases of my career.
Patrice opened the minivan’s sliding door and the large ceramic plate that had held the bagels she took to church slid out. In a moment that was hard not to take as a prophetic metaphor, it shattered on the driveway.
Comey, James. A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership (pp. 48-49). Flatiron Books. Kindle Edition.
BOTTOM LINE
I was prepared for a letdown. And, due to the media blitz and concentration on how much detail the writer spent on Trump’s appearance, I was prepared to even offer negative thoughts. Upon reading it, and especially upon listening to James Comey read his own words, I have concluded that what James Comey experienced, and what James Comey has reported, is classic Donald Trump versus Government. Unfortunately, Trump now IS the government.
We are in for a rocky time.
Five stars out of five.
I trust readers of this review will offer up some advice as to what I did well, and what I did poorly in summarizing what I liked and what I did not like about this book. All viewpoints are respected and welcome, if provided in a similar vein.
Thank you so much for taking the time to consider my thoughts and, especially, for taking a moment to pass on your thoughts.
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About the author
He reminds me of Jimmy Carter...
Inspiring. Can I just say that with all the many expectations I brought to the reading of this book, being inspired was not one of them. Yet, here I am. Inspired.I vehemently disliked James Comey over the Hillary Clinton email debacle. Now I realize that I was unfair. I didn’t know the truth. I didn’t know all the facts. I try so hard to always look at things from other viewpoints. I failed. I thought myself righteous in my outrage. Truly, James Comey chose the only honorable path. It was a terrible path, but it was the least worst option.We, the American public, we are the culpable ones. We are the ones who chose the people who were running for President. We are responsible for not putting Hillary in office. We are the ones who chose not to re-elect Jimmy Carter because he was too good of a man and too kind of a man. Well, not me personally. I was a child then. Carter was judged as weak when really what he was was ethical.Ethical. Good. Kind. What has happened to us that we’re at each other’s throats. People clamor for what is best for them with no thought of what’s best for America. We are America. All of us. Kindness and goodness are not weakness.I digress. The book will take you through a teenager trying to avoid being murdered, a mafia boss in court, pasta made by a serial killer, the truth about Hillary’s emails, and what happened with Trump.There’s no smoke and mirrors. Just the truth. My God, it’s refreshing to just read a book that’s honest. How do I know the book is honest? I can feel the truth ringing from sentence to sentence. This is how the Liberty Bell sounds in my head.This man. James Comey. This man I so unfairly blamed for Hillary losing the election. This man is good and kind and ethical and smart AND he laughs. This man. James Comey. This man would make a good POTUS. I know everyone is going to say that his character has been so besmirched in the media that there’s no coming back from that. I bet someone with a mind like Hamilton Jordan could get him elected. We need someone who doesn’t want the job. An ethical person who will help us make better laws rather than caring if he/she is re-elected. If Elizabeth Warren won’t run, then perhaps James Comey should.By the way, if James Comey happens to be reading this... the problem with privacy and Apple, Google, etc... You’re missing a piece. You saw the lines arcing away from each other leading to increased murder rates in cities. Well, the privacy problem is also lines arcing away from each other. Whatever one’s opinion of Snowden, he did let the American people know they were unfairly and unconstitutionally being spied on by our own government. It’s wrong to pull data from innocent people’s emails. If someone is suspicious, get a court order like the FBI. There is no freedom of speech if everyone’s emails or texts are being scanned by a branch of the government that is supposed to protect us. The desire for privacy isn’t a sign of wrongdoing despite how some twist it into that as an argument. I’m not doing anything wrong when I go to the bathroom, but I still want a door! Imagine if Hitler had been able to scan the texts and emails of his citizens. Absolute power corrupts.Apple, Google, etc have responded by making our data inviolable because of the outcry of the American people. Our freedom of speech is compromised if as an innocent citizen every word we write is scanned as a matter of course. 1984 is not a democracy. As consumers, our spending allows us to have a voice. We demanded the right to privacy from Apple, Google, etc, because we found that we were not getting it from our government.Take us back to the land of the free. Equality. Ethical goodness. Kindness. Gain our trust. If the government can be trusted to only get data with a court order AND that was actually the TRUTH, then people wouldn’t clamor for privacy from companies.Just my two cents, of course. I love this country. I think we have the best county in the whole damn universe. We’ve got some work to do on balancing safety with civil rights and constitutional freedoms. We also have some work to do in learning how to care about each other.I was a kid when the hostages were taken in Iran during Carter’s presidency. Know what I remember?? Yellow ribbons on trees. Everywhere. Remember that? The song? “Tie a yellow ribbon round the ole oak tree.” I saw yellow ribbons tied around oak trees everywhere. I had a hard childhood- was molested for a decade. Those yellow ribbons. They brought tears to my eyes. Each time I saw one, I could feel how the people in America were a community filled with a lot of love and light. I could feel the goodness in people and sustain the belief that, despite my own experience, most people are inherently good. I still believe that.We need love and light back. Maybe we should start tying yellow ribbons on trees again to remind each other that America is still one community where we love, share, and support each other.
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