Book Review

Boomsday by Christopher Buckley

When the greatest political satirist of our time (Christopher Buckley) decided to take on the most controversial political subject in our time (Social Security) by writing a modern take of the greatest satire of all time (Swift’s “A Modest Proposal), well, let’s just say: You knew I had to hit that.

Buckley’s heroine, Cassandra, is a Gen-Xer screwed in only a way a Gen-Xer could be screwed. Unlike most Gen-Xers, Cassandra finds her way onto the political periphery and decides to do something about it. She wants to introduce a bill that entices senior citizens to kill themselves in return for tax breaks. She calls her idea, “voluntary transitioning”. Without giving away the plot, she finds an unlikely champion in Jepperson, the junior senator from Mass. Her boss, Terry Tucker, a PR executive, rounds out the top characters.

Buckley’s genius is for characterizing the evil quasi-intellectual bubble that upper class office workers in major east coast cities live in. He’s got the jaded voice of the Washington insider down pat. Buckley’s other genius is his sensitivity to class and regional distinctions. The southern preacher and the New England heir each have their own voice and mannerisms that rings very true.  Cassandra’s dad as a California silicon-valley type was hysterical. However, I thought the book was a bit harsh on the Gen-Xers. Cassandra is the only character who isn’t a boomer, the rest he paints as a mob particularly prone to violence (which may or may not be fair).

But the book is less a contrast of generational attitudes and more a study in how politics work (or rather don’t work). Left unsaid is that despite all the money, effort and work the main characters put into getting their particular cause made into a reality, nothing really happens. The characters are changed, but the reality is not. There is a pessimism and fatalism that permeate the book.  I wonder if Buckley wrote this in intentionally, since this is a book about Social Security and Washington after all. Boomsday was amusing enough, and I’m normally a fan of Buckley, but this satire only rates a “neutral”. When you decide to re-invent perfection (Swift’s “A Modest Proposal), you are almost dooming yourself to fall a bit short.