5 STARS I read an advance description of this book and thought it sounded amusing so I requested an ARC. I am so glad the author agreed to share a copy with me. This book is outstanding. It’s well-written and the plot is ingenious and riveting. If you’re a fan of satire in politics (which I am), this book is for you. It is chock-full of clever comparisons to our current political climate, some of which made me laugh out loud. Not content to stick to MAGA-inspired humor, the author also inserts a joke about Jack being “the decider.” That’s the beauty of satire that is well done—it makes you laugh when you might otherwise cry. Jeff Kerr has a gift for metaphors and regaled me with gems like this one: “...he bounced along as if a pole dancer had just invited him backstage for a private lap dance.” Or this one: “Applause rattled against the walls and ceiling like pebbles in a rain stick.” And this visual made me cringe: “...flecks of saliva flying out of her mouth that Jack could see but not dodge.” I also loved that a character had been nicknamed “Jerky because that was his one area of expertise.” Random characters on their way to the Medicare office complaining about the federal government and how all they do is take money from the people was a pithy encapsulation of those who argue against big government while greedily taking whatever they can from it. As the book progresses, the level of services offered by the federal government and taken for granted becomes more and more obvious. As current politicians plot to close the USPS, I wish more people would recognize the importance of these services (particularly when our tax dollars do not actually go toward USPS). It was the conversations that revealed a level of ignorance beyond imagination that were most memorable to me. Jack’s wife Nadine and her best friend Brianna are particularly stupid and one conversation between them had me laughing out loud. Chapter 17 begins with the two of them discussing how to pronounce a word based on its spelling. They proceed to compare it to other words, which they do not know how to spell. When the subject of the cotton gin comes up, Brianna states, “Cotton gin would taste awful.” Then, Nadine (who had up until this point seemed slightly more knowledgeable) states in an authoritative tone that ‘criminal’ has two ‘m’s and since they have already established that Brianna is a terrible speller, it is assumed that Nadine is correct. Nadine made other stupid statements throughout the book, like saying oysters were an “amnesiac.” But Brianna’s statement near the end really summed up the stupidity of so many of the characters: “Well, like the Beatles said, you can’t always get what you want.” I highly recommend this book and I will be suggesting friends and family read it. The plotting is clever, the pacing perfect, and the imagining of what could happen is spot-on. As Aesop’s Fables warns, be careful what you wish for, lest it come true. May 7, 2020
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September 2022
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