»Boomsday

Boomsday follows on the heels of Christopher Buckley's amusing Thank You For Smoking, and is itself full of hilarious satire. From the phrase "You can be anyone you want to [in California] , as long as you don't mind being stuck in traffic" to the modest proposal that forms its core.

The heroine comes saddled with a weighty name: Cassandra Devine is a self-taught spin doctor by day, and a revolutionary blogger by night. The revolutionary part comes unexpectedly, as does her sudden prominence in national politics. Abetted by a mischievous Congressman, her adventures become legend. Many of the book's elements reflect or anticipate what one finds in the national newspaper: crushing debt ("stagflation" makes an appearance), numerous and unending wars (the US becomes sends its militia to all nations beginning with 'T'), and unending political campaigns. The high-tech hi-jinks add a nice touch, often at California's expense.

I feel somewhat petty picking on a book for spelling in a second language, but one plot element is that the energetic Congressman speaks French, a by-product of his Yankee upbringing. In one scene mid-way through the book, he is again corrected to speak Spanish rather than French, but the French sentence he was speaking when interrupted had a mis-spelling. (a-propos of mis-spellings, the iPhone corrected my "minutes" with an errant space to "mi urea". Technology! Thou are more temperate, etc. ) This book's lax editing also results in the mis-spelling of the active ingredient in a worn-out saying (Shineola! ha!) and a minor character shifting names over a leaf.

Boomsday brought a smile to my face, and some of its plot twists uncannily reflect the current state of this country. It was not as incisive as Thank You ..., but similarly charming and witty through to the comfortable ending.