The election of Barack Obama as President of the United States heralded a new era in American politics. He was not universally welcomed, however. The polarising partisan politics of today might be traced back to the reaction of some stalwart Republicans to this pivotal moment and is captured in this novel’s intriguing storyline.
The Big Guy is a moneyed political operator convinced that Obama’s election signals the end of America. He’s at an election function in Phoenix, watching as the result goes against his party. So determined is he to recover what he sees as America’s future, he gathers a cabal of like-minded people to plot a Republican return to power. The friends he assembles are also wealthy, male, white, misogynistic and casually racist. They can’t believe an ‘African’ (not ‘African-American’) has been elected to the White House.
Parallel to the plot is a story of the Hitchens family. The Big Guy’s wife, Charlotte, is an alcoholic; his daughter, Meghan, is in her final year of high school and developing her own opinions. Obama’s election initiates change in all three.
Charlotte’s acerbic wit endears her to the reader, as does Meghan’s frankness. The plotters’ characterisations are (mostly) outlandishly two-dimensional. For all their treasonous intent, the powerful men are little boys playing games. That satirical tenor mocks the underlying (but very real) danger. There are history lessons along the way. The Big Guy says, ‘History is complicated.’ The plotters’ sense of entitlement ensures that the future will be too.
Reviewed by Bob Moore
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A M Homes most recent book is The Unfolding. Her previous work includes, This Book Will Save Your Life, which won the 2013 Orange/Women’s Prize for Fiction, Music For Torching, The End of Alice, In a Country of Mothers, and Jack, as well as the short-story collections, Days of Awe, Things You Should Know and The Safety of Objects, the best selling memoir, The Mistress’s Daughter along with a travel memoir, Los Angeles: People, Places and The Castle on the Hill, and the artist’s book Appendix A:
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