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HomeShop at BookSurgeLawCriminal ProcedureThe Midland Kid: Tales of the Presidential Ghostwriter |
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"A comic pre-emptive strike on the Bush legacy" Apr 13, 2008
By Melissa Bailey
(From the back of the book:)
It is the end of the second disastrous term of conservative President Brewster George, and his shrewed political adviser Raymond Kove realizes the President's legacy needs a shoring up of mythical proportions, especially out West. To launch the presidential legacy (and library), Kove hatches a remarkable plan: While still in office, the President will write a popular western, subtly peppering the text with contemporary themes and references - such as the evil villain, Don Hussein - that will advance President George's legacy and improve his image as he prepares to leave office, or is driven from it . . .
Part Tom Sharpe, part Jonathan Swift, with a touch of Barbara Garson's MacBird!, The Midland Kid is a Bush send-up and more: It's also the story of a conflicted down on his luck liberal ghostwriter who oddly identifies with a president way over his head in trouble, and who needs the paycheck to keep his marriage (to an ambitious poet) together. With the help of his one-hundred-year-old great-aunt, the world's oldest living radical, and the inspiration provided by an extraordinary pet mouse named Norman, the ghostwriter finds a way to work through the toxic down-home charm of the Decider. The Midland Kid: Tales of the Presidential Ghostwriter is not only satire pulled from the headlines, but a full-fledged novel that makes a comic pre-emptive strike on the Bush legacy.
ALLAN APPEL's previous novels include Club Revelation, High Holiday Sutra, and The Rabbi of Casino Boulevard, a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. He has been the recipient of two fellowships in fiction from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism. He lives in New Haven, where he is a reporter for The New Haven Independent.
the midland kid by allan appel May 07, 2008
By Lawrence Dubin MD
This is a timely and fun read. I enjoyed it very much and will recommend it to my family.
The First Post Bush Fictional Analysis Apr 25, 2008
By Frances T. Clark
"Bitsie"
I purchased The Midland Kid three days ago and instead of taking care of my long list of "Things To do" I started to read all about A.B. Konig and his wonderful relatives and tenant and his adventures with Brewster George!!! I finished it last night at midnight and I enjoyed it immensely.
I really liked Appel's take on the President. I have often read that as a person the President is quite likable and I found that the author captured that perfectly. The President is goofy and he is well meaning. I don't think I would have liked him in college when he was a frat boy but the stopping drinking and the embrace of a "Higher Power" really makes him quite a likeable fellow. It's just that he is weak and kind of dumb and allows himself to get into evil-doers hands and he has no real judgment or will to resist. Appel has written the first post Bush fictional analysis and although it will be popular and easy for historians and biographers and even novelists to portray him as the Great Satan, I believe this author's view will prevail - but maybe not for another 50 years. The book provided me with a lot of fun during the last few days as well as much food for thought
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