| Title | : | Dick Cheney Saves Paris: a personal and political madcap sci-fi meta- anti- novel |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0615492878 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780615492872 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 240 |
| Publication | : | First published August 27, 2011 |
We first meet a young Richard Bruce 'Dick' Cheney in the year 2791 as he endures another of his Dad's lectures on the terrible no good Gore presidency, the source of all suffering in the world after a series of freak time travel accidents vaporized our dearest celebrities. Soon Cheney is on a joyride through time with his buddy Kimo. Unfortunately, their time machine stalls out on the Interyear and Dick finds he is stuck in the Nixon administration.
Recalling his father's rants, Cheney realizes he has the opportunity to change history. If he can ensure Gore loses the 2000 election, perhaps 800 years later he could finally make his old man proud. Will the assistance of alien pinochle player Donald Rumsfeld be enough? Or will he have to enlist both foul-mouthed mob boss Ralph Nader and the secretly Republication robot Joseph Lieberman? And what does the Iran-Contra scandal have to with any of this?
Forsythe skewers the conventions of modern books and DVDs, with numerous 'bonus features.' Included are a Deleted Epilogue (obviously not deleted); a faux Author Commentary featuring Forsythe and Cheney discussing Cheney's actions in chapter one; and a Reading Group Guide, with discussion questions and an author interview.
Dick Cheney Saves Paris heralds a new voice in the genre of personal and political madcap sci-fi meta- anti- novels. Read the book about which Lost writer Brian K. Vaughan says, 'There is no way in hell I'm gonna read this, much less blurb it.'
Dick Cheney Saves Paris: a personal and political madcap sci-fi meta- anti- novel Reviews
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Dick Cheney Saves Paris is everything it sets out to be and more. Irreverent, illogical, semi-serious, and super entertaining. It goes without saying it's not a straightforward story. Time machines--even those powered by yogurt--have a way of mucking up the linear progression of things, but Forsythe takes the whole alternate universe thing about as far as it can go. What threw me for a loop was the meta aspect of the novel: Forsythe's commentary on how he wrote the book shortly after 2008, let it sit in his hard drive, and then dusted it off and made a mad push toward publication so it would coincide with the release of Dick Cheney's memoir In My Time. Because the subject of the novel is a public figure whose notoriety hinges on recent events, the meta aspects blend seamlessly with the rest of the novel. In fact, I enjoyed reading the "personal" parts as much, if not more, than the novel itself--especially toward the last third as the story winds down. Probably closer to three-and-half than four stares, but comes recommended for indie lit fans.
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This type of humor is just not my cup of tea. I couldn't get into the book and found myself sighing at some of the corny jokes. However, if parodies, especially political and current event ones, are your thing, then you would probably enjoy this book. The writing isn't spectacular and it's definitely humor driven.
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Hilarious experimental fiction.
