Book Review: Boomsday

It took me longer than usual to finish Boomsday by Christopher Buckley. That's because I was enjoying it so much that I didn't WANT to finish it and rationed myself to a couple of chapters per day.

Christopher Buckley (son of William F.) is a master social and political satirist whose novels (Florence of Arabia, No Way To Treat A First Lady, Little Green Men, God is My Broker) pillory the hypocrisy of the American political and social elites with a trenchant mordant wit. His best known book is Thank You For Smoking, which was made into a moderately successful film.

Here's the premise of Boomsday in a nutshell: Blogger Cassandra Devine turns her justifiable rage at her self-centered Boomer Dad into a crusade to persuade the government to solve the social security problem by encouraging senior citizens (the Boomers) to kill themselves in exchange for tax breaks. This proposal is called "Transitioning. She's not serious about Transitioning, but hopes that by advancing this radical idea she will force the government to take real action to reform the Social Security system that is placing an increasingly inequitable burden on the earnings of the younger generation to fund the retirement of the older generation.

Along the way Cassandra meets double dealing White House staffers, romances a one-legged Senator with Presidential ambitions, and sends the ratings of Congressional hearings through the roof with her memorable sparing with fellow commission member Rev. Gideon Payne, head of SPERM, the nation's most influential right to life group. This all culminates in the most outlandish Presidential campaign ever. The Vatican even gets involved as Pope Jean-Claude the First issues a Papal bull excommunicating any American voting for anyone supporting Transitioning.

Buckley masters the art of revealing absurdity by being absurd. Despite his conservative pedigree, he is an equal opportunity satirist skewering the ways in which all sides try to "spin" anything and everthing to their own advantage. Those of you who are news junkies and/or enjoy social and political satires will really enjoy Boomsday.