This Audio Download Book item from audible.com was reviewed on 4-Nov-2008.
Search ISBN:B000OYD8R4 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. Boomsday: A Novel Reference Book. Classifications : Blogging & Blogs Business & Culture Computers & Internet Subjects Books Satire Humor Entertainment Subjects Books Satire, General Humor Entertainment Subjects Books Audiobook Downloads Audiobooks Form . Click the following link to view the cover of Boomsday: A Novel. Related topics: Blogging & Blogs. Business & Culture. Subjects. Books. Satire. Humor. Entertainment. Subjects. Books. Satire, General. requestid: 68983ab0-040c-4107-9e3b-d0e2ab32ed44
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1) Audio Download Book Boomsday: A Novel by audible.com. Boomsday is not a biting satire, but it is entertaining none the less. Mr. Buckley has written more subtle books, but his nuance of Washington life and intrigue is probably uncomfortably spot on. Too often we look at our national leaders as demigods, as opposed to people who lead lives very similar to our own. The fact that we recognize ourselves in many of the characters in this novel is upsetting to some readers. But not to this one.
Although the protagonist in this text is the least interesting character, she serves as the catalyst by which we meet the more infinitely appealing supporting cast. Their clever idiosyncrasies and obvious faults are funny because many readers share them. The characters of President Peachum and the evangelist Gideon Payne are some of the more enjoyable characters in this text precisely because they are so flawed. Who doesn´t root for the biggest idiot in the room?
My only complaint is the let down of the ending. Buckley builds the climax to dizzying heights, and then can´t top the buildup. The resolution is a let down. But the journey to it was worth the ride.
For another great Buckley DC satire check out his older White House Mess.
¤ 2) Audio Download Book Boomsday: A Novel by audible.com. I haven´t laughed so hard, so often, or so loud while reading a book in years. The parallels that can be drawn between this brilliant piece of political satire and today´s economic situation will leave some readers with butterflies in their stomachs, but Buckley´s talent for satire will leave most readers laughing out loud while pondering whether or not Boomsday could really, or will really occur.¤ 3) Audio Download Book Boomsday: A Novel by audible.com. "Boomsday" is the hilarious satirical novel from Christopher Buckley who brought us, "Thank You for Smoking." After having read a few of Buckley´s previous novels I certainly had high hopes for "Boomsday" and to my delight, was not disappointed. Buckley´s sense of humor is truly border line wicked, but yet ingenious.
Following the lives of a public relations spinster, her boss and Senator and future presidential hopefully, the plot of the novel is so ridiculous that it becomes a brilliant spectacle.
Cassandra Devine, public relations whiz by day and blogger by night sets loose a wild suggestion to deal with the country´s massive Social Security debt. Devine, in her Red Bull blogging haze, proposes that the baby boomers aka, Social Security guzzlers, receive government incentives to commit suicide at age 75. As Devine´s radical idea catches on with Generation-X, the entire country goes wild, spurring a presidential race nearly defined by the Social Security crisis.
Buckley sets out to tackle the very real issue of Social Security of our generation, making "Boomsday" our modern answer to Jonathan Swift´s "A Modest Proposal."
Buckley is able to highlight the circus of Beltway insider politics in a way that is scarily accurate and ludicrous at the same time. His ability to conquer political satire will leave you sore from laughing the entire way through this novel. If you are a fan of humor, then read this book, you will surely not be disappointed. I highly recommend it.
¤ 4) Audio Download Book Boomsday: A Novel by audible.com. With the bottom dropping out of the economy and bad news coming from every direction, Chris Buckley´s satire on similar times sparking a youth uprising against the Baby Boomers - whose retirement after a life of self-indulgence threatens to bankrupt the nation - is almost too true to be funny. Happily, it still is funny. Buckley has great comic chops.
Protagonist Cassandra Devine is a twenty-something PR woman in Washington, bitter over losing a chance to go to Yale because her father invests her college tuition in a dot.com IPO. Forced to join the Army instead, she becomes a scandal queen when, guiding blue-blooded (and headline-seeking) Congressman Randy Jepperson through Bosnia, he drives their Hummer into a minefield. The ensuing scandal gets her kicked out of the military.
Jepperson tries to make it up to her, giving her a job on his Congressional staff, and from there she gets hired by his PR man. She spends her nights blogging about Social Security. And she becomes an overnight sensation when she suggests the government balance the budget by offering tax and inheritance incentives to Baby Boomers willing to commit suicide at age 70. Youths riot in Florida, trashing golf courses and gated communities at her suggestion.
Jepperson, now a senator, sees her platform as his ticket to the White House, while the president, up for re-election, plots with her own father - now a dot.com billionaire - to politically destroy her. A leader of the Christian right fights this appalling insult to life. Political chaos ensues. Great fun.
¤ 5) Audio Download Book Boomsday: A Novel by audible.com. Will the financial security of the US government depend on a large chunk of its citizenry killing themselves?
My only experience with Buckley before this was seeing the film "Thank You For Smoking." That was enough. I picked up this book on a whim, and it contained even more quick witted cynicism and pitch dark satire than I could have dreamed.
Buckley starts "Boomsday" realistically enough, and as he introduces more elements of quasi draconian politics, the plot spirals out of control and becomes patently absurd. But the best part about it is that somehow, it still seems like all of it could actually happen, which is both scary and hilarious.
The sharp dialogue reminded me of Aaron Sorkin´s "The West Wing," only everyone is a lot more pessimistic and sardonic. I imagine Sorkin and Buckley to be like the tiny angel and demon consciences from 90s tv shows on each shoulder, except instead of telling me what to do, they are explaining US politics to me in humorous anecdotes and complicated vocabulary.
"Boomsday" is easily one of the most enjoyable books I´ve read this year.¤ 6) Audio Download Book Boomsday: A Novel by audible.com. 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.¤ Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 2-Dec-2008, , 9X0-550-230-600-250-2IB-JQB-R4B-8 
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